6 Developing an Exhibit-Based Research Question
Let’s walk through an example of developing a research question, starting with a specific film, work of literature, or essay. For the purposes of this workbook, we’ll call that specific focus of your essay the “exhibit.” This exhibit may be selected for you or something you choose, depending on your assignment.
So, for example, let’s imagine that my professor assigned an essay analyzing the cultural significance of the film Parasite (2019), by Bong Joon-ho.
Example: Exhibit
Parasite by Bong Joon-ho
When it comes to thinking of a broader topic related to your exhibit, your essay assignment or overall course theme often provides directions for where to take your brainstorming.
What broader topics stem from our exhibit? Here, I’m thinking of the plot of the film and the details of how the plot is presented—the imagery, tone, pacing, and so on—within the social and historical context it depicts. Notice that in my example, I focus on both broad concepts and my observations about specific moments in the film. Identifying the ways that the film’s details contribute to a broad concept will be a big part of the essay I eventually write.
Example: Brainstorming
| Plot point 1 | Conflict between rich and poor |
| Plot point 2 | The ethics of deception in the lives of domestic workers |
| Detail 1 | The image of Geun-sae coming up from the secret basement as a “ghost” in Da-song’s traumatic memory |
| Detail 2 | The image of Ki-jung (“Jessica”) sitting on the toilet lid and smoking a cigarette as sewage floods her family’s semi-basement |
| Tone or genre | Horror |
| Context 1 | The persistence of the Korean War |
| Context 2 | Urban poverty |
Now I need to brainstorm a question that tries to identify a relationship between my topic(s) and my exhibit that I want to explore in more depth. I won’t worry about getting locked in to a bad research question right now. The question will change (at least a little bit) as my research develops! But I need to start somewhere.
Example: Research question
How does Parasite use images of basements to illustrate the horror of class conflict in contemporary South Korea?
At this point I have enough to work with to begin generating search terms. We’ll look at how strong research questions can be used to generate effective search terms in the next section. For now, let’s get brainstorming!
Exercise
