Sources of good research questions

1. The notice board is a starting point; some staff will advertise projects that they want students to work on. Make sure that you understand the ground rules. The project may be part of something larger that the member of staff is working on. If it is, are you going to be happy with the constraints that will be put on you?

2. The literature of the subject is the most legitimate source of project ideas; some good articles even conclude with more research that needs doing on a topic. Often this can be a good source of ideas, particularly if you are lucky to find an article in an area that particularly interests you.

3. Dissertations in the library - a recommendation of most research reports is that more research is required, so look at dissertations, theses and commercial reports to see if they contain any good ideas. Look also in other libraries.

4. Discussion with professionals in your field can also be useful; in fact students who do work placements often negotiate dissertation projects. This can be a good way of discovering something that really needs research, and also of building contacts with potential for employment.

However, not all sources of research questions are necessarily to be seen as reliable:

1. Beware of your own creative thinking. It may be treacherous, particularly if the subject is on some topical theme. Your idea may be inspired, but can you risk it? Topical themes are very dangerous, and probably attract the attention of lots of other students as well.

2. Your friends' creative thinking is also dangerous for all of the reasons in 1 above. In addition, avoid the risk that they can accuse you of stealing their ideas - which they might want to use! Most years we find a student who feels that a friend or acquaintance has plagiarized their idea.

3. Avoid out-of-date research ideas, for example from old journals, dissertations, or low calibre magazines. To choose such an idea immediately indicates your lack of reading around the subject.

Once you think that you have discovered a 'good research question' it is essential that you do some more research to prove that it is good. That means identifying what subject area it is in, and what literature is published related to the topic. Remember that our approach is not to do work that is groundbreaking and original, but rather to prove your competence. Once you have proved your competence by getting high marks in a dissertation you may have earned the right to do more innovative research work.

It is likely that you will modify your research question before you move on to the next stage, which is formulating researchable questions or hypotheses.