The next three questions relate to common exercises during the Analysing step of your research. This is a follow-up onthe”in practice”readlng.
Topics covered:

• Create a research question based on a mind map
• Understand sub.questions
• Prepare astructuredsearch withthe searchtable

Below you’ll find the exercises.

Q1. Research topic
With the (partial) mindmap below we created the following research question:
“How can the automotive industry contribute to the improvement of air quality by adapting existing fuels?”

Which areas and/or topics are related and linked to each other in this research question?
(Hint: use the mindmap to help you determine overarching areas or topics for this question.)

a) environment & air + environment & fuel

b) environment & air + diesel

c) environment & fuel  + air quality

d) environment & fuel + recycling

Q2. Sub-questions
What are you researching with the following sub-questions? Match the question to the correct question type.

a) Who would benefit from the improvement of air quality?

b) Why should the automotive industry contribute to the improvement of air quality?

c) Where is the greatest need to improve air quality?

d) What is the definition of “automotive industry”?

e) How can research on fuels contribute to the improvement of air quality?

 

1) geographical demarcation

2) relations between terms

3) definition of terms

4) benefits of the research

5) target group of the study

Q3. Search table
Complete the search table below for the research question by placing the concepts and synonyms/related terms at the bottom to the correct block in the table.
Research question: “How can the automotive industry contribute to the improvement of air quality by adapting existing fuels?”

Concept 1 automotive industry	Concept 2 …	Concept 3 …
Synonyms/related terms: automo* industr* car vehicle* . . . . . .	Synonyms/related terms: air quality airpollut* gas emissions environmental pollut* exhaust gas air purificat* . . .	Synonyms/related terms: bio fuel* biomass fuel* ethanol fuel* diesel petrol gasoline hydrogen fuel* . .

An asterisk (*) replaces 0 or more symbols; this is called truncation.

 

air quality,  vehicle emissions, fuels, electric*, biofuel*, automo* sector*, automobile*, cars