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This chapter deals with three related issues:
- identifying a problem
- evaluating relevance
- considering audience
In literary studies, a problem can be a new issue or an old issue. When searching for a relevant research problem, you should first determine that there is an informed audience that will consider the issue significant, which means it is worthy of further discussion.
In the following pages, we explore relevance & purpose as they relate to possible research problems in James Baldwin’s story, “Sonny’s Blues.” We use literary scholar Ann Dobie’s work to show how to measure relevance using specific criteria such as materials, purpose, and method. This section also sets up Jada’s forthcoming discussion about how she connected “Sonny’s Blues” to her background and how she used her personal experiences to add a new perspective to this classic story.
Learning Objectives
You should come away from this chapter with a better understanding of
- how to identify a research problem and evaluate relevance using specific criteria
- what makes for a good research question
- how to develop audience awareness early in the research process
These concepts relate to the ideas of scholarship as conversation and searching as strategic exploration, which we will discuss in the following chapters.
