Research planning: Define the topic

A systematic approach will establish the building blocks of your research project.

• Clearly describe the question you've chosen to study.
• Summarise the state of the art in knowledge about the question, and where your project could provide novel insight.
• Identify the ...

The 'literature review' section in academic research demonstrated that researchers have thoroughly and systematically reviewed relevant findings of previous studies on the topic.

• Your research project should include something similar to a 'literature review.'
• Wr...

Two basic rhetorical positions can help you frame the novelty-and-importance argument in academic research.

• Build on or extend a set of existing ideas. 'Person A has argued that X is true. This implies Y, which has not yet been tested. My project will test Y. If I fi...

These questions should drive your analysis.

• Your question(s) should be phrased in a way that you can't answer 'yes' or 'no.'
• It should have multiple plausible answers.
• It should be framed in terms of How? or

Planning research projects requires creativity and sharp analytical skills.

Any research planning uses the same four steps:

1. Orienting yourself to knowledge-creation
2. Formulating your research question.
3. Reviewing ...

Orienting yourself for research planning requires you to stop thinking like a student, which treats knowledge as something created by other people.

• Instead of consuming information, adjust your thinking to a producer of information.
• Question previous...

Write a short statement of about 250 words about the kind of data that would help address your research and how you'd analyse it.

• What are the main concepts or variables in your project? Include brief definitions.
• Do any data sources exist on those concepts, if ...

Your background information should come from scholarly books and journals, or reputable mass media sources. Use search engines such as JSTOR and Google Scholar.

Create an annotated bibliography by providing at least ten sources relevant to your topic.

• Name of author(s).

Forming a good question is often the most difficult part of the planning process. This is because the exact language of the question frames the rest of the project. Most researchers do this step repeatedly as they change their question in light of previous research and other cons...