e) Developing a Research Question

Developing a EE Research Question

Try organizing your thoughts with one or more of these graphic organizers.

Research Question Organizer

The organizer helps you go step-by-step to developing a research question or thesis.

Focusing on a Topic Worksheet

Try using this worksheet to go step-by-step through developing a topic.

From the Guide:

Try to incorporate an IB command term in the research question if possible.

A Good Research Question is...

Analytical: Answering it requires you to prove a point and provide evidence, not just answer yes or no.

Arguable: There is more than one side to the issue. You could argue for or against, and still have good points to make

Researchable: You can find enough good, authoritative material as evidence to support your claims

Focused: The question is broad enough to give you plenty to discuss but narrow enough to allow you to do a thorough job.

Creating a Good Research Question

Developing Your Research Question

If you don't know much about your topic, you may actually need to spend a few days (or weeks!) doing research so that you can learn enough to be able to develop a good question.
The research question in the Extended Essay guides everything you do, so it is important to spend the time it takes to write a good one.
Source: IBO

Background research:

Provides a good overview of the topic if you are unfamiliar with it.
Helps identify important facts -- terminology, dates, events, history, organizations, etc.
Can help refine your topic.
Usually leads to resources that provide additional sources of information.

Background information can be found in