Research Question Example:
The table below shows how a broad topic might develop into a focused research question.
|
BROAD TOPIC |
RESTRICTED TOPIC |
NARROWED TOPIC |
RESEARCH QUESTION |
|
Women in the military |
Women in military combat |
Women in combat serving on front lines |
What factors support women in the military are prepared to serve on the front lines of combat? |
Search Term Examples:
Using the research question above, the table below shows how to construct search terms.
|
Boolean Operators and, or, not |
women and combat |
|
Exact Phrase quote marks “ ” |
women and combat and “front lines” |
|
Truncation asterisk * for word variants |
women and serv* and “front lines” |
|
Nesting parentheses ( ) |
women and (military or combat) and “front lines” |
YOUR TURN!
Your Research Question:
Following the model given, use the blank table below to develop your own research question.
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BROAD TOPIC |
RESTRICTED TOPIC |
NARROWED TOPIC |
RESEARCH QUESTION |
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|
|
|
|
Your Search Terms:
Use your research question to construct search terms in the table below.
|
Boolean Operators and, or, not |
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Exact Phrase quote marks “ ” |
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Truncation asterisk * for word variants |
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Nesting parentheses ( ) |
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Web content should always be cleared with your instructor, and should come from authoritative sources. A quick shortcut strategy you can use is site:.edu or (.gov .mil .org). Using the above Boolean Operator Sample Search Term Strategy, a web search would look like:
Your Turn!
Based on your Boolean Operator Search Term Strategy, what would your web search look like?