Purpose – The paper seeks to provide an overview and update of thinking in relation to the theory and practice of formulation of answerable research questions within evidence based information practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the healthcare and information literature on question formulation, augmented by structured and purposive internet searches. Findings – Although a few key authors have published extensively on all aspects of the evidence-based information practice process, including question formulation, there is little in the way of empirical research. Research limitations/implications – In the absence of an empirical research base from within the specific domain of information practice, this conceptual paper extrapolates findings from healthcare research to general librarianship. Practical implications – This article models the process of question formulation using a proposed conceptual framework (SPICE) and encourages practitioners to identify their own practice-based questions. Originality/value – This is the first article specifically to address question formulation for a general (i.e. non-health) library audience.