 defining a research question and doing background research. A big part of getting ready to do research is coming up with a question that clearly indicates the focus of your research. If you begin your research without a specific question in mind, your research will take longer, be more difficult, and you risk becoming overwhelmed. A good research question allows you to clearly identify what it is you want to know. It's a balancing act to come up with a question that is focused enough to be meaningful, but not so specific that you can't find any information. For example, think about these research questions. Question 1. Why do people drive electric cars? This question is too vague. The topic is too large to write a short research paper about. Question 2. How many Ontario drivers prefer electric cars over other types of cars because they like how they look? This question is too specific. It would be very difficult to find an answer. Question 3. What are some of the reasons Canadians choose to purchase electric cars? This question is just right. It's a little narrower than question 1, but not as specific as question 2. There are some common problems you may encounter when trying to come up with a research question. Some students have trouble deciding what area to focus on from a range of topics that they find interesting. Sometimes, you might know a general area you want to focus on, but not a specific enough topic within that area. Some students may be able to settle on an area and a topic, but have problems trying to properly put their research question into words. Getting background information on a topic helps you to figure out if your topic is manageable. If you find that there's a lot of information or very little information on a topic, you can adjust your research question to focus on an area that is either broader or narrower. Background information can help you identify some more specific subtopic areas within a broader subject in order to come up with a specific question for research. Background research is also good to learn more about the language and words used to describe a topic. This can help you when you are trying to put your research question into words. When doing your background research, you are trying to locate introductory sources that give basic background information about your subject. You can find this information by searching the internet or by using the library to search for general reference sources. Encyclopedias are a great place to find background information. A Google search provides a Wikipedia article. A search through the library provides a research starter and an Encyclopedia Britannica article. The library search was just as fast as the Google search, but the library search provides results you can feel certain are reliable. Some good general reference sources you can search for using the library are Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books. The library also has access to a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals that may help you gain background information on your topic. Now that you have thought about what you want to research, have come up with a manageable research question and have done some background research to focus your question. It's time to put your research question into the language that the search tools understand.