Criteria

On the surface it seems pretty easy to score 2 marks just by making sure that the research question is clearly mentioned in the introduction, but it's not so simple. The problem is the research question has to be chosen before the essay is written and its not always possible to know if it is going to be possible to treat it effectively within the word limit, it is the supervisors job to help the student to narrow down their research question to something manageable. The EE guide has several examples of this

The research question must also be focused on physics. This seems obvious but sometimes the line between physics and chemistry can become a bit blurred (not to me). So an essay looking at the frictional properties of surfing wax must stick to the physical properties and steer clear of the chemical reasons for them. Of course chemistry can be used to help the argument but it shouldn't become the focus.

As has been mentioned several times a good research question is vital for a good essay, so even though it is worth only 2 marks it would be very difficult to score well in most of the criteria without a good one.

The format of the research question can be the same as in IA "What is the relationship between the resolving power of the eye and the pupil size?" but be careful as you might not be able to find out what it is so it might be safer to say "Is the resolving power of the eye affected by the size of the pupil?". If you find that you are not going to be able to answer your research question then it can be modified.