C225: Research Questions and Literature Review

Research Questions and Literature Review builds the skill of turning a broad interest into a genuinely researchable question — and grounding it in a thorough review of what's already known.

What C225 covers

The course focuses on how to conduct a thorough literature review that addresses and identifies important educational research topics, problems, and questions, and helps determine the appropriate kind of research and data needed to answer one's research questions and hypotheses. Research Foundations is a prerequisite for this course.

The C225 performance assessment

Expect a performance assessment requiring you to conduct a literature review on a given educational topic and formulate a specific, researchable question grounded in that review.

Key topics in C225

• Conducting a thorough literature review
• Identifying researchable topics and questions
• Determining appropriate research data

Writing tips for C225

Follow the task instructions and rubric line by line

WGU performance assessments for C225 are graded against a fixed rubric — every rubric line has to be visibly addressed, usually with a labeled heading that mirrors the rubric language. Skipping a rubric point because it seems minor is the single most common reason a competent submission comes back "Not Yet Competent" for revision.

Cite genuine scholarly sources, not general web content

Research-focused courses like C225 are graded on the quality and credibility of the sources you draw on. Evaluators are checking for peer-reviewed, academically credible research — not blog posts or general web content, even if the content itself is accurate.

Because WGU is self-paced, don't let "no deadline pressure" become no submission

There's no weekly due date forcing progress, which means procrastination costs more at WGU than at a traditional term-based school — a stalled task can quietly eat weeks of a term. Treat your own target date for each C225 assessment as a real deadline.

Why students seek help with C225

Candidates sometimes formulate a research question before genuinely completing the literature review — the rubric typically wants the question shown to emerge FROM the literature review's gaps, not asserted independently of it.

How GradeEssays helps with C225

Share your research topic and rubric, and your writer will build a literature review with the research question genuinely derived from the gaps it identifies.

Prerequisites and program context

C225 requires Research Foundations (C224) as a prerequisite.

• Master of Arts, English Language Learning

Related courses