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Use the links below to help you design your own academic question.
There are many ways in which questions can be phrased but there are three main types: closed, open and implicit.
By looking closely at the choice of words you will get an idea what you need to include in your essay.
This tool will help you to define and focus your question.
These past questions encourage an analytical and evaluative approach – they may help you to think of your own question.
Play the interactive quiz to identify the characteristics of a good academic question.
Match up the question terms with their correct definitions by dragging and dropping.
Follow these hints and tips to help you define your question.
Keep focused – choose key words to help shape your future structure
Avoid too much description – make sure you give yourself an issue or problem to explore.
Challenge yourself – don’t make your question too easy, does your question presuppose a black/white answer or a pre-existing one which doesn’t allow you to demonstrate higher thinking?
Be realistic – don’t make it so broad a question that you can’t answer it or too narrow that you can’t analyse and evaluate.
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