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Library Workshop Series - Research Skills for Success: Welcome

Thanks to TCU Library for lending materials for this Workshop

Today you'll learn:

  • What it takes to develop a good research question
  • How to identify key words
  • Starting points for your academic research

Good or not so good Research Questions

1) 
How effective are dating apps?

Good research question
Not significant
Some language should be more specific
Not researchable

the pizza burger

2)
Are burgers better than pizza?

Good research question
Too Narrow
Not Complex enough
Not significant

drinking in college

3)
What is the impact of alcohol abuse on the academic performance of college students?

Good research question
Too narrow
Too broad
Not significant

a senior living center

4)
What are the benefits of senior housing & care over home health care?

Good research question
Too broad
Some language should be more specific
Not significant

dry crops in a drought

5)
Choose the best research question

How long has the longest drought lasted?
How has global warming impacted agriculture in the United States?
Does the change in rainfall patterns affect agriculture?
Why should we only eat organic produce?

What makes for a good research question?

Activity Directions

Write Your Own Research Question

1) Look at the examples from the attached spreadsheet concerning the Texas Lottery and Homelessness.

2) Now write your own research question for 1 of these three choices: Health, Social Media, or a topic of your choice. Don't worry about perfection, just get something down. 

3) Now work across the page while answering the questions at the top.

Second Activity

Keywords

As a group, brainstorm and write down as many keywords as you can for this research question:

What are the most effective strategies and social media platforms for grabbing the attention of Generation Z?


Let's try some searching with the

MCC Library Search Tool
 

Image courtesy of apa.org