Having a well-formed research question is essential to a successful literature review.
There may be specific requirements, and it is often done in collaboration with a supervisor, mentor or client, but there are some general principles that apply.
What makes a good research question?
Keep it
clear
Clearly state what you are hoping to find out.
Manageable scope
Not too broad and not too narrow.
Relevant
Is it worth asking? Can you access the research you need?
Answerable
Make sure it is a question (not a statement) and that it can be answered.
Selecting the right scope is essential for any research question, but particularly review types such as systematic and scoping reviews where you are required to check every result you retrieve.
Change scope to change results
Broader
=
increase
Narrower
=
decrease
Think of ways to make the research question broader or narrower, then click to reveal answers.
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These videos provide more details and examples of developing a research question.
Watch this video (7 minutes) on developing a research question from from University of Melbourne Academic Skills.
Watch this video (40 minutes) on getting your STEM research question just right for review from the University of Melbourne library.
Particularly relevant for review types which require exhaustive searching such as systematic and scoping reviews.
There are additional considerations for specific types of research, see the following library guides for more: