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University of Denver

University Libraries

Research Guides

Health Professions Highway

Created Summer 2017 for teaching science research to students enrolled in the Health Professions Highway program.

Developing a Research Question

Developing a Research Question

  • Step 1: Conduct background research on a general topic of interest
  • Step 2: Look for aspects and details to further define your research topic’s parameters
  • Step 3: Create an outline for what you want to learn about your topic
  • Step 4: Generate keywords to use within your search strategies
Example:
  • Step 1: Diabetes
  • Step 2: Insulin treatments
  • Step 3: Diabetes diagnosis; symptoms; insulin treatments; living with diabetes
  • Step 4: diabetes; treatment; insulin; pancreas; medication; transplant

Source: "lombardo_110315_01_sz_hr2400x1600.jpg" (Public Domain) by uci_innovation

Define Your Research Topic

It helps to think like a journalist to seek to answer the who, what, when, where, and why of your research question. By selecting your research topic, you've identified your what. Below are some tips to help you more clearly define your research question:
  • Who - Is there a person, group, culture, or demographic that would help you narrow your research?
    • Person, culture, species, demographic, etc.
  • When - Is there a time period that you plan to focus your research? 
    • All time, a specific time period, or comparing two time periods, etc.
  • Where - Is location or geographic important to your research topic?
    • country, state, geographic region, etc.
  • Why - What event or aspect are you focusing your research?
    • events, impact, feelings, relationships, etc.

Credo Reference

Credo Reference

Credo Reference can be a great starting point for your research. It is a collection of reference books and encyclopedias that can give you an overview of your topic and suggest ideas for keywords and perimeters to help you more clearly define your research topic.