Crafting a Research Question

Coming up with a good research question is essential for any research! Whether you're joining a faculty-led group or initiating an independent research project, research questions will be central to your work.

By the end of this activity, you'll be able to:

  • Generate potential research questions

  • Refine and improve your research questions

  • Explain the broader significance of your research question

If you are joining a faculty-led project, you can still benefit from working through this tutorial. Learning about the process of generating a research question can prepare you for your future independent projects. 

This workshop was created by UCLA's WI+RE team.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License CC-BY-NC-SA
Other Attribution Information: 
Authors: Giselle Burns, Kian Ravaei, Xinyi(Alex) Yan Contributors: Janet Goins, Kelly Kistner, Tama Hasson, Renee Romero, Doug Worsham Attributions: CIMER (Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research), UCLA Undergraduate Research Center - Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. UCLA Undergraduate Research Center - Sciences