Oral Communication · Chapter 7

The Research Question Forge

A topic is a noun phrase; a research question has boundaries. Databases are literal — they cannot guess that by “telehealth” you meant rural adults, compared with office visits, measured on missed appointments, in the last five years. Fill all four slots below and watch what comes back out of the search box change.

Pick a thesis to research

Your question, as the database hears it

You are done researching a question when three credible sources converge on the same answer — or when you can honestly say they disagree and describe how. A question with no boundaries has no finish line, which is why research nights run long.