The Research Question
In Assignment 1 you were asked to jot down ideas or areas of interest about Native American culture while reading Hillerman's The Dark Wind. Although you may have thought you were doing this just for fun, there was another reason: to help you choose a topic for your first paper. In fact, you did just that for the Note taking assignment.
As you consider your topic and the three or more sources you have already found, a number of questions probably come to mind. It is these questions that will guide your research and help you decide on the precise focus of your paper. For example, if you were interested in the kachinas and some of the ceremonies, the Niman Kachina ceremony for instance, you may have asked the following questions:
What are the kachinas and what role do they have in the Hopi way of life?
All of these questions could lead to interesting research. Some may be too narrow for a 4-6 page paper while others may be too broad, but your question and focus can be refined as you work. Having a specific question can also save you considerable time by eliminating sources that do not help answer your question. If you decided on the Niman Kachina ceremony, for instance, you can eliminate books or sources that deal with kachina dolls sold in Scottsdale.
The research question you choose will drive your research, and if you choose a burning question that you really want answered, then your research will be interesting and motivated. If you choose a question just to get the assignment completed, your research will be dreary and tedious.
Assignment six asks you to post your research question to the class bulletin board along with an explanation of why this topic interests you, how you arrived at this topic from the novel, and anything you already know about your subject. Remember that the subject of this paper is limited to Arizona, so your research question should show this limitation.
At this point, you may want to watch the Power Point lecture from assignment 7. This lecture has a section that demonstrates the Research Question.
Watch PowerPoint lecture (Assignment 7).