Consider these brief definitions:

  1. Concussion concerns in football (America football)
  2. Mississippi water crisis
  3. Voting Rights in the United States

Topic: A subject in which we are interested.

Issue: A situation that has become the subject of discussion and possibly disagreement.

Question: The specific focus of our curiosity, confusion, search for knowledge.

Even if you already have a sense of what your research question will be, go through the steps of the following exercise. It models the kind of critical thinking necessary to move thoughtfully from the abstract to the concrete. These steps also model the critical thinking process of pursuing your own interests as a researcher and writer.

The movement from topic to issue to question focuses thinking from the general to the specific. To illustrate the difference between these terms, let’s use an example (immigration):

Example:

Topic: Immigration. (very general; can clearly be broken down into sub topics)

Issue: Every year, thousands of immigrants arrive in the United States hoping to be allowed to stay in the country legally as refugees from dangerous circumstances. (describes a situation; adds key specific points: geographic location, reasons for immigration, and legal uncertainty upon arrival)

Question: What are the economical benefits of revising the process for immigrants to pursue legal residency as refugees? (seeks to understand the issue in more detail; interested in the experience of the people involved; interested in causes and/or effects)

Another Possible Question: Are the criteria for judging refugee status fair? (evaluates key ethical elements of the issue, but is a yes/no and subjective question would NOT be an effective research question)

DIRECTIONS: Choose three topics and issues and follow these steps, for each topic, as a way to focus your own interests and to chart a direction for research:

  1. Name your topic. Write no more than a sentence. Likely,  just a few words will do.
  2. Now identify the issue in which you are interested. Remember that your issue will be more specific than your topic. It will be one example of what your topic looks like “on the ground” or “in the real world.” Write no more than two or three sentences.
  3. Now write out some (at least 2) questions that come out of the issue you have identified.
    • What aspect of the issue you have identified intrigues your or do you deem most important?
    • About what aspects of the issue do you want to know more?
  4. Place an asterisk (*) beside the question that you would preferto use for your research question.