Defining a research question

Defining a research question is often the most difficult part of writing a thesis proposal. You need a question that

• has not been adequately or appropriately addressed in the scholarly literature;
• does not have an obvious answer, but is answerable;
• deserves research because it will make a meaningful contribution to our understanding of a larger problem or issue;
• can be explored in the context of a one-year research project at Georgetown;
• you have the skills, background knowledge and resources to investigate.

Start by brainstorming and reading about topics that interest you. As you do so, note aspects of those topics that are perplexing in some way, because they are not adequately explained, or they don't make sense, or you would have expected something different, chances are, these aspects warrant further exploration. Ask your professors for ideas about questions to consider and sources to investigate as well, and keep a running list of questions that come up.

• Eliminate questions that are unanswerable. Many fascinating questions simply can't be answered because we can't accurately measure people's perceptions or individual motivations, because the information or evidence we need does not exist, or because the methods we would need to use to find the answer are unethical.
• If you are stuck on an unanswerable question or an infeasible project, try to reframe it. You may not be able to say conclusively whether German women believed Nazi propaganda about the need to reproduce, for example, but you can investigate Nazi policies on childbearing and draw some conclusions about the effectiveness of propaganda in promoting and enforcing those policies.
• Remember that you need to find a question we want to know the answer to if no one will care what the outcome of your thesis will be, why write it?
• Think about how you might find the answers to some of the questions you have identified. Do you have the language skills you will need? Can you access the key documents, interview the important people, manipulate the relevant data?

When you have a broad topic and a list of potential questions, ask professors in the field for advice. They know the scholarly literature and will be able to help you figure out which questions are best suited for an honors thesis. Ask professors you know to direct you to colleagues who are interested in similar questions and might be appropriate mentors.

Beware of topics no professors seem to know about - it is extremely difficult to write a good thesis if there is no professor on campus who has experience with the field your question addresses. You would hate to get halfway through your thesis and find a book that covers your question in more depth than you ever could and clearly is known to every scholar in the field. You should be prepared to modify your approach or your question to take advantage of the expertise your mentor can offer.

Once you have a question and a mentor, you can start drafting a proposal.