Essential steps for writing a research question - The art of finding your topic without going in circles

[Voice-over]
Thursday afternoon. Fred isn’t sure what happened, but after a promising start, he’s stuck. What he had to do was pretty simple: find a topic and a research question. His topic? The birth of Marxism. Fred felt lost, but he looked over at Jules.  Jules is a friend who often hangs out at Fred’s place. Jules usually has nothing to do. Jules is what one typically calls a career student. Which means he’s a guy who started a degree. And then stopped. And then started again. In between, he was a waiter on a ferry, a badminton instructor, a prison guard, and a butcher for a grocery store. Jules was usually worthless. But that day, Jules was offering Fred his help. Ideally, it would have looked like this:

[Dialogues]
Jules: Ok./ This research question./ Define the socio-historic conditions of the emergence of Marxism in Germany,/ taking into account the life of its founder Karl Marx (1818-1883),/ and the sociological context he lived in.  
Jules: Is that it?
Jules: Ok, sign this.
  
[Voice-over]
In reality, it happened like this.

[Dialogues]
Jules: I’m worn out…


[Voice-over]
I don’t want to disturb you, gentlemen, but I get the impression that you’re lost. You need to take a step back.

You know that as a university student doing academic studies, you will regularly have to complete research projects.
	
And as you know, this skill constitutes one of the bases of your studies—one of the essentials of your job as a student. Without good research, you run the risk of wasting precious time and drowning in spiraling information —resulting in a work of poor quality.

To make it through, it is vital to follow several steps. Most of the time, you will either start from the instructions given by your instructor, or come up with a topic yourself from a general theme—perhaps from a class you’re taking. This will frame and shape your initial reflections.

First, review your objectives. Evaluate your available time and the level of depth required. Do you simply need to address a topic? Do you need to go deeper? Do you need to find specific information or a general overview? Do you need to write a paper or simply research a topic? If you need to write a paper, what kind? A term paper, a literature review, etc. 

Once you have determined the extent of the work to be done, review what you already know. After this step, you will certainly notice what’s missing. 

To organize the missing information, use the WWWWWH method. You simply have to respond to the following questions: 

•	Who? Who are the people involved?
•	What? What are the facts?
•	When? During which period?
•	Where? Where did it occur?
•	Why? What are the reasons for these events?
•	How? How did the events play out?

Once you have gone over these questions, fill in the missing information. 

To do so, you can use general reference sources such as encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Once you have found the missing information, you will have an overview of your subject, which will allow you to formulate a general one-sentence research question.

You will repeat this exercise hundreds of times during your studies. If you master the technique by paying close attention to each step, you will no doubt save time and avoid missing the mark.

[Dialogues]
Jules: 5W, 5W, 5W…
Fred: It’s original.
Jules: Who, What, When…Where…Where…Why…How
Fred: What? Why?
Jules: Who, What, When, Wh… hmm