2. Research Criteria 1.Don’t argue moral/ethical questions. 2.Narrow your topic. 3.Timeliness of your topic

3. 1. Don’t argue moral/ethical questions. Is sex ed. the best way to prevent abortion? Is abstinence only education the best way to prevent abortion? Is abortion murder? Is the death penalty wrong? Is the death penalty a deterrent against crime? Research questions normally are those of fact, policy, or values. Which do you have? Try to settle on a question of policy. If you want to argue a question of fact or value, discuss how to avoid the pitfalls of fact and value questions with a teacher or librarian.

4. 2. Narrow your topic. The United States should not have entered WWII. Is this research question overly broad or narrow? It’s better to have a lot of detail about a very narrow or small slice of an issue than to tackle a huge issue that you can’t cover properly in the allotted length of the paper. The United States should have entered World War II before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

5. 3. Choose a current topic Is your topic actually in the news currently? Since this is a research paper, you’ll need to cite current sources, and you can’t cite articles that don’t exist. These sources need to be from reputable news outlets, not blogs or conspiracy web sites.

6. 3. Choose a current topic (cont.) Should cigarette companies pay for health care cost for smokers? 1998-Cigarette companies were successfully sued. Should smoking be banned in public places?

7. Research Criteria 1.Don’t argue moral/ethical questions. 2.Narrow your topic. 3. Choose a timely topic.