The result of the narrowing process is a research question that can be tentatively answered by a hypothesis, a statement of what you anticipate your research will show. Like a working thesis, a research hypothesis must be manageable, interesting, and specific. In addition, it must be arguable, a debatable proposition that you can prove or disprove with a reasonable amount of research evidence.

For example, a statement like this one is not arguable because it merely states a fact: “Senator Joseph McCarthy attracted great attention with his anti-Communist crusade during the 1950s.” On the other hand, this statement is an arguable hypothesis because evidence for or against it can be found: “Roy Cohn’s biased research while he was an assistant to Senator Joseph McCarthy was partially responsible for McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade.”

In moving from your general topic of interest (here, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade of the 1950s) to a useful hypothesis such as the one in the previous paragraph, you first narrow the topic to a single manageable issue. After background reading, you then raise a question about that issue (“To what extent did Cohn’s research contribute to McCarthy’s crusade?”) and devise a possible answer, your hypothesis.

Sample: A student researcher’s hypothesis

Student David Craig’s hypothesis, which tentatively answers his research question, is precise enough to be either supported or challenged by a manageable amount of research.

Find out more about how David Craig identified and narrowed his topic and turned this hypothesis into a working thesis for his research project.

Student Writing: A student research essay, MLA style (David Craig)