Developing Strong Research Questions with Scrible

This week’s Tip Tuesday is all about guiding students through the initial stages of research—specifically, crafting and refining strong research questions. 

Why is this important?

Many students struggle with research because their questions are too broad, vague, or unfocused. Not all questions are created equal:

 ❌ Too Broad: How does social media affect teenagers?
 ✅ Stronger: How does daily use of Instagram impact the self-esteem of high school girls in the U.S.?

A well-focused question gives direction, narrows scope, and lays the groundwork for deeper analysis and stronger writing. Teaching them how to refine their questions early saves time, improves engagement, and leads to higher-quality research. 

Here's a step-by-step approach:

1. Start with a Broad Topic

• Brainstorm General Interests: Encourage students to list topics they're curious about.

• Use My Library: Students can save articles related to their interests in any of their libraries for initial exploration.

2. Narrow the Focus with "5 Ws and H"

• Apply Guiding Questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

• Annotate Key Information: Students can highlight and comment on relevant sections within their saved articles  to pinpoint specific angles. 

• Use Annotation Keys: Create custom annotation keys (e.g., “background info,” “counterargument,” “evidence”) so students can tag and color-code their highlights for easy organization and deeper analysis.

3. Formulate the Research Question

• Combine Insights: Review annotations to synthesize information and help draft focused questions using our Outline feature.

• Organize Thoughts: Before writing an essay outline, students can use Scrible’s Outline feature to map out key subtopics, questions, and gaps in understanding. This helps them test the scope of their research question—is it too broad? Too narrow? Are there clear avenues to explore?

Clarification: At this stage, students are not making a claim—they're framing the question their research will attempt to answer. The claim or thesis comes after they’ve gathered and analyzed evidence.

4. Refine the Question

• Conduct Preliminary Research: Use Scrible's universal search function to review your annotations to assess the availability of information on the drafted question.

• Adjust Scope: Based on findings, students can modify their questions for clarity and feasibility, or they can conduct additional research as necessary.

5. Collaborate and Seek Feedback

• Share Libraries: Students can share their Scrible Libraries with peers or instructors for input.

• Engage in Discussions: Use shared annotations and comments to facilitate constructive feedback and further refinement. 

By integrating Scrible into each step, students can effectively develop and hone their research questions, setting a solid foundation for their research projects.