A useful way to think about your project is to describe it in a three-step sentence that states your TOPIC + QUESTION + SIGNIFICANCE (or TQS):

Don’t worry if at first you can’t think of something to put as the significance in the third step. As you develop your answer, you’ll find ways to explain why your question is worth asking!

TQS sentence example:

I am working on the topic of the Apollo mission to the moon, because I want to find out why it was deemed so important in the 1960s, so that I can help my classmates understand the role of symbolic events in shaping national identity.

Note: The TQS formula is meant to prime your thinking. Use it to plan and test your question, but don’t expect to put it in your paper in exactly this form.

Adapted from Kate L. Turabian, Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers, 5th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019), pp. 14–15.

Start researching your topic more broadly to help you narrow your topic.

Think about:

• Which aspects am I most interested in?
• Is there a particular group of people to focus on?
• Is there a particular place to focus on?
• Is there a particular time period to focus on?
• What's the right scope for this particular research project? (For example, how much can I meaningfully address in this many pages?)

Now use your narrowed topic to develop a research question!

Your research question should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your subject area and/or society more broadly

Adapted from Shona McCombes, "Developing strong research questions." Scribbr, March 2021.

Adapted from: George Mason University Writing Center. (2008). How to write a research question. Retrieved from http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/?p=307.