Asking ‘essential’ questions that you want to research
The goal of this lesson is find a question to investigate based on a subject that you’re interested in learning more about.
Open this Google Form (will open in a new tab) to record your answers.
Step one:
The links to the library research databases below lead to subjects that you may be interested in. Pick a subject from one of the lists that open:
Step two:
After you click on the subject, open the ‘overview’ article. This is the one at the top of the page. Click the “View More” link. The example for the subject Lyme Disease in Science in Context is below.
Step three:
Before you read the article, click on the citation tool link and copy the citation.
Step four:
Open the Google Form (will open in a new tab) and paste the citation into the first question.
Step five:
Scroll down through the article and look for a specific area that interests you. Remember we’re not asking you to just paraphrase or summarize this article, but to find ideas that you’d like to learn more about.
Say you’re interested in Alternative Treatments for Lyme Disease:
Step six:
Look for terms / keywords/ topics in the paragraph that you think would be worth looking further into, and add them to the next question on the form (should still be open in another tab).
Step seven:
Using the keywords you picked, write a question that is worth researching. A good question should:
- not be easily answered through a Google search, and
- have opposing answers depending on who you ask.
With that in mind, add your question to the next question in the form.
Step eight:
Hit submit!