Focusing your topic

Please fill in the blanks.

1. Your research question or topic:
 How does listening to music affect our academic performance?

2. Rewrite it by filling in the blanks:

 I want to study how music affects your learning because I want to better
understand to identify what would be best for a college student to do to study
more efficient.

3. Can you state your topic in the form of a question?

 How does listening to music affect our academic performance?

4. Does your question generate more questions? Please write 3–5 questions your topic
brings to mind.
 Is it better to study is complete silence or with music?
 Would studying with music cause for a lack of productivity?
 Could music bring negative effects to learn?
 Would music be considered multitasking?
 Should students use music to study?

5. What does your topic question suggest to you about organizing your paper?
 My topic question suggest for me to organize my paper by giving an insight of the both
perspectives (the positive and negative effects), and then decide which has a better
point for my research question.

6. Check anything on this list you think apply to your topic question.
_√ _My question will generate a lot of information.
_√ _My question will help me decide what information to use and what not to use.
_√ _My question will lead me to new ideas but may not be able to be answered.
_√ _My goal is to write a paper that will answer my question.
_√ _My goal is to write a paper that will better help me and my readers understand my
question topic and its significance.

7. Rewrite your question in your own words, but make sure it is in the form of a question
 How does listening to music affect you when you are studying?

8. Who is the question about?

 This question is focused mainly for college students.
9. What relationship, phenomenon, situation, or aspect of the “who” is the question
about?
 The question is in relation to students, but I am focused on college students
because they are the ones that study the most and use music while doing that
as well.

10. What kinds of information might you need to explore this question?
 I would need to find out sources that show research articles about music and
the effects it has on the student’s learning performance. I also want to identify
more sources to show more perspectives of my topic.

11. Where might you find this information?

 I would find this information on a library database or from any academic
source.

12. How can this question help you organize your paper
 The way I plan to organize my paper is by giving another perspective of the
topic, and then I would state the research that has proven music to be either a
positive or negative for studying.
 For example, I would respond to some opposing views (such as the positive
side of listening to music while studying) with research sources I found.