Starting a Research Project

Research Topics & Questions

You might be assigned a topic for a research assignment, or you might need to come up with one on your own. Here is an example of a broad topic:

university students and stress

Before trying to find scholarly articles on a topic like this one, it is important to narrow it down to a more manageable research question. Consider what aspects of the topic interest you. This can involve reading about the topic in your course textbook or searching for background information through Google, for example.

Let’s say I’m interested in exploring coping mechanisms for stress. A relevant research question might be:

How do university students cope with stress?

This question is much more specific than the initial topic of university students and stress.

Check Your Understanding


Next we will explore how to identify the key concepts in a research question.

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Library Research Skills for Psychology Students Copyright © 2021 by Augustana Campus Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book