Geography: Geography Home

Welcome!  This guide provides an overview and links to important sources of information for research in the field of geography. For personalized help, contact your librarian.

Think about your topic and what question you want your research to answer.  Your research question should be:

• Clear: it provides enough specifics so no additional explanation of the goal of your research is needed.
• Focused: it is narrow enough that it can be answered thoroughly in time and number of pages/sentences the writing task allows.
• Concise: it is expressed in the fewest possible words.
• Complex: it is not answerable with a simple “yes” or “no,” but rather it requires putting together and analyzing facts from multiple sources
• Arguable: its potential answers are open to debate

As you research, your research question will evolve.  So, be flexible and curious!  You may wish to revisit your research topic and these questions after you have finished your initial research to refine your question.

For more information on the research process, go to our Research Assistance guide.

Adapted from George Mason University Writing Center website.