 When you're first starting a research project, it can be tempting to jump into searching without a plan. But it's helpful to take a few minutes to think about your topic and your research questions first. What's the difference between a topic and a research question? That's what we'll cover in this video. Let's start by thinking about a topic. Your topic is the what of your research. It's the kind of thing that you would be able to explain in a phrase or two if someone asks you about it, like the relationship between mentorship and teacher retention. At the beginning of your project, your topic may be a little bit vague, but no worries. It will become more specific as you learn more about it. If you're not even 100% certain what teacher retention is, that's okay too. You will learn more about your topic during the search process. You can go ahead and start doing some background research on this topic, and after you familiarize yourself with the basic issues, you'll probably realize that you need to get a little bit more specific, both in your topic and in your searching. Here's where research questions come in. Research questions are those things that you're trying to figure out through your research. Basically, what is it that you want to know? In the example topic I just mentioned, there are many possible research questions. How do mentorship programs impact teacher retention? Why do some teachers stay in the profession while others don't? What kinds of mentorship programs have been implemented and what were their results? Each of these research questions addresses a different aspect of my original topic. The questions you choose to research will depend on the context and scope of your research, and you might not be able to research all of them for a particular project. In fact, as you seek to answer your research questions, your topic will probably get more specific as well. While an individual source may answer more than one of your research questions, it's unlikely that any single source will answer all of them, and that's okay. You'll need multiple sources to help answer the research questions you've chosen to address. For help developing a topic or research questions, ask your professor or a librarian for help.