Finding Ideas by Generating Questions

'Generating Questions' is a method you can think about using when producing a specific assignment, as one way of getting used to the process. Let's take a possible question from a first-year politics course as an example. I don’t necessarily expect you to know anything about the topic below from the point of view of a university politics course. The point of this method is to define your own thoughts as a preliminary to further work.

Imagine working on this title: ‘What is racism? Can it be eradicated?’

You would make a list of as many questions as you could that this title suggested to you. Of course, you would not be expected to answer any of these questions – just to pose them.

• What do we mean by race?
• What are the causes of racism?
• Is racism mainly to do with black and white?
• Is racism an innate human characteristic?
• Are there some societies where racism doesn’t exist?
• Are there different kinds of racism?
• How has racism manifested itself historically?
• Can anyone be racist?
• What is the connection between racism and religious intolerance?
• What effect have laws against racism had?
• Is policy-making and the law an answer?
• How am I personally affected by racism?
• Is there a difference between racism and prejudice?

These questions are very varied and you will realize that neither this assignment nor even a fairly general politics course could answer all of them. They certainly do not begin to form a plan for an essay. It is also interesting that all of these questions could lead to further questioning, which is an important part of being able to be searching and analytical in your writing. It is always important that the student as well as the tutor asks questions.

Generate questions for yourself when you embark on a new course, and as you are about to read a book or article, or attend a lecture. Formulating the questions helps you to be clear about how you conceive the subject and what you hope you will get from the materials and other sources of information. It starts you thinking in a purposeful way as you explore different sources for ideas.

As you embark on your study you can expect to encounter various ways in which you will be helped towards tackling assignment questions. Firstly, your course syllabus or handbook should give you a good idea about how the particular topic of your chosen assignment fits into others.

Lecturers may also suggest appropriate ways in which you might think about the topics. Handouts may direct you to particular readings, or provide a series of different definitions. In discussion groups of various kinds you may be asked to introduce particular topics. This will give you the opportunity to explore your own understanding in the company of others who do not necessarily share your views.

You may find that you have to defend your opinions, or listen to others and change what you think on how you approach a topic. In all of this it is always a good idea to do your own thinking first, to put together and make concrete your ideas, see how they relate to what you are learning at university, and develop them by more thinking and reading.

Here is another example. The topic is "What is happening to the family in modern Indonesia"

Here are some questions (in no particular order) that could help a writer organize his or her thoughts:

• What exactly is 'a family'?
• Parents – parenting – should it be taught?
• What is the impact of different cultures or traditions?
• Are there different models of what is a family?
• What ever happened to the extended family?
• Is the nuclear family on its way out?
• What do we know about the "Ideal family" in ‘TV ads’?
• What are the new kinds of family emerging – e.g. shared parenting, civil partnerships.?
• What about if families are difficult and can be completely dysfunctional?
• Why is there a high rate of divorce?
• Family Christmas – do I want it?
• What does "family values" mean?
• How and why do politicians talk about "family values"?
• Are families in decline?