How to Make Any Question More Essential With Three Easy Steps
An essential question is an incredibly powerful tool for discovery learning and critical thinking skill development. The truth is you can make any question essential with a few adjustments. Let's see how to turn basic non-essential questions into essential ones.
Basic questions are ones that can be answered in a very short order, typically with the help of something like a Google search. An essential question, on the other hand, is something more. It's not a destination at all—usually, it's the point where your journey begins.
An essential question is big and open by its very nature. The truth that we search for with these questions is all the more valuable because of that openness. You can make any question essential just by keeping a few key things in mind.
Ask "Why?"
In order to transform any question into an essential question, you constantly need to be asking "Why?" as much as possible. This is the key to going deeper and penetrating the superficial knowledge on the surface of an answer to really start to get at the truth underneath.
Start with your basic question, something like:
"Do the songs that we listen to, the books that we read, and the movies that we watch play an important role in shaping society as a whole?"
The answer to this question is an immediate and obvious "yes"—art is one of the most important aspects of a civilized culture in general. Though the question may be thought-provoking on the surface, it is not an essential question because of how easily you have arrived at the answer.
There may be no single "right" answer to a question, which may be initially frustrating.
To take this question and turn it into something more valuable, amend it with a simple "Why?" Suddenly, you're now going beyond a simple "yes" or "no." You're creating a springboard for further critical analysis and intellectual discussion. With that, an essential question is born.
Embrace the Open-Ended
One of the core requirements for making a question essential is that it be open-ended in nature. Not only is the answer not something that you can easily arrive at, you may never get there at all. There may be no single "right" answer to the question, which may be initially frustrating.
In order to make any question essential, you need to figure out a way to move away from a single answer. Push yourself towards uncertain territory. While the "why?" of it all is certainly a great way to arrive here, it isn't the only way.
Be sure to identify the additional questions that your basic answer has created. You can then use them as springboards for higher-order thinking and support or justification for that initial answer. Then, you're well on your way to taking your basic question and turning it into something much more.
Use the Perspective of Age
A true essential question isn't only open-ended, but it may also change as time goes on. If you begin with the concept of art playing an important role in society, for example, take things further by asking the question again from the perspective of a different era.
- How has the way that art played an important role in society different now than it was in 2000? In 1985? In 1960?
- How has our relationship with art evolved?
- Are we better for it?
- Are we worse?
- Why did those changes occur?
- What will happen in the future?
How would your perspective on the answers to these questions change if you were ten years older than you are right now?
Suddenly, you begin to break a basic question down into a series of parts. You may be moving away from one true answer, but you're now closer than ever to the most important thing of all: truth.
You can make any question essential if you approach things from the right angle. Remember that while answering a "yes" or "no" question correctly is valuable in its own way, that isn't where this story ends.
By digging deeper and always remembering to ask "why," you can begin to uncover the true meaning of the topic you're researching. You will come away with a much more valuable perspective on certain issues because of it.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Originally published Nov 4, 2018, updated September 30, 2021