1. From Topics to Questions:
Booth et al. The Craft of Research
Chapter 3:

2. 3.2 From a Broad Topic to a Focused One (43)
If you can state your topic in four or five words, then it is too broad. You have to narrow it:
Examples:
Too Board:
The history of commercial aviation (five words).
Style and youth movements (four words)
More Focused:
The crucial role of the military and the DC-3 in the
development of early commercial aviation.
The critical role of aesthetics in the identity of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the student wing of the civil rights movement.

3. 3.3 From a Focused Topic to Questions (45)
1) What are the parts of your topic, how do they relate?
Example:
Style, identity and civil rights
2) Is it part of a larger story or discussion?
3) How has the topic changed?

4. 3.4 From a Merely Interesting Question To Its Wider Significance
Will my question interest other people? To address the
significance and objective of your question conduct the
following experiment:
Step 1: Name the Topic: I am trying to learn about…
I am working on Lincoln’s beliefs about predestination in his early speeches.
Step 2: Add a Question: I Want to Find Out Why…
I am working on Lincoln’s beliefs about predestination in his early speeches because I want to find out
what/where/whether/why/how his belief in destiny influenced his policies…

5. 3.4 From a Merely Interesting Question To Its Wider Significance
Step 3: Motivate Your Question: Help the Reader Understand
something… (50)
I am working on Lincoln’s beliefs about predestination in his early speeches because I want to find out what/where/whether/why/how his belief in destiny
Influenced his policies…in order to help my readers (and the world) understand how religious beliefs may have influenced his military decisions.