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Introduction
Developing a Thesis
Strong Questions Are Powerful
    Techonology
Determining Search Strategies
Quiz

Strong Questions Are Powerful Technology
from Beyond Technology: Questioning, Research and the Information Literate School. FNO Press, 2000.

Think of your research as a set of questions you want to answer.

Often it is helpful to state your topic in the form of a question or questions, then isolate the key ideas or concepts. For example, instead of saying that you want to do a paper on "genetics," pose the topic in the form of a specific question: "What are the scientific and ethical issues of reproduction research, specifically those related to cloning?"

Developing your thesis involves asking sets of questions.

Answering the questions becomes the paper itself.

Everything in between is the research process.

The BIG Questions

Three prime questions to ask are:

"why," "how," and "which"

Wrestling with these questions provokes thought and comparison.

WHYdo things happen the way they do?

Why do so many Americans receive welfare payments?

"Why" questions require analysis of cause-and-effect and the relationship between variables.

HOW could things be made better?

In light of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks,
how can the United States insure the safety of its citizens without violating civil rights?

"How" questions form the basis for problem solving and analysis.

WHICH do I choose?

Which candidate for the 2004 election proposes the best economic platform for the majority of Americans?

"Which" questions require thoughtful decision making--a reasoned choice based on clearly stated criteria and evidence. "Which" questions determine who we become.

Subsidiary Questions

Your BIG questions should spawn plenty of related questions. An
effective way to uncover additional questions is to take a sheet of paper, and, for ten minutes, brainstorm every possible question you can think of. You could brainstorm on your own, or with a study partner or group.

These subsidiary questions combine to help build answers to the BIG questions. Subsidiary questions lead to insight and the construction of new knowledge.

Hypothetical Questions

Hypothetical questions are designed to explore possibilities. They are especially useful in testing hunches, suppositions, and theories. Hypothetical questions are helpful when trying to decide between several choices or in problem solving. They often project an option out into the future--I wonder what might happen if . . . ?

What if the South had won the Civil War?

Telling Questions

Telling questions are very precise. They can help focus the process of gathering sources so that we keep only very specific evidence, information, and/or facts which shed light on the questions at hand.

Instead the process of answering a BIG question like "is Mobile a safe place to live?" one could ask telling questions like:

"What is the violent crime rate in Mobile as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice? How has it changed over the past 10 years?"

Clarification Questions

Often, a collection of facts and/or opinions does not make sense by itself. "Clarification" questions do exactly that--they attempt to make meaning clear.

• Defininitions of words and concepts

Here are a few sample clarification questions:

What does this author mean by "violent crime rate?"
Is it the same definition and standards used by the FBI?
How did this writer gather data?
Was it a reliable and valid process?
Does the writer show the data and evidence to support the conclusions reached?

• Examining the Coherence and Logic of an Argument

Are there questionable assumptions at the foundation or below the surface of the writer's argument?

Do the ideas flow logically from one to another?

Provocative Questions

Provocative questions are meant to challenge and throw conventional wisdom off balance. Provocative questions encourage doubt, disbelief, and skepticism.

Organization, Sorting, Sifting

Your BIG and subsidiary questions will begin to group themselves. These groupings and connections between your questions provide organization and coherence for your paper.

They will form the basis for search terms you can use in the online catalog or appropriate periodical indexes.

Questions enable you to sort and sift through the sources you discover to:

1. gather only the very specific evidence and information required
2. gather sources which "cast light upon" or illuminate the main
   question at hand
3. gather only the most reputable, authoritative, and accurate sources
   
   McKenzie, J. (1997) "Telling Questions and the Search for Insight." FNO. http://www.fno.org/sept97/telling.html

As you formulate questions and gather sources, the questions may change, your thesis will evolve--requiring additional searching, reformulated questions until you arrive at your final thesis statement.

Once your working thesis statement has been defined, you are in a position to map out the types of resources likely to answer your questions and support/disprove your thesis. The next section discusses ways to develop an initial search strategy based on your working thesis.