Choosing a dissertation topic

Choosing a topic

You may already have an idea of something that interests you. If you do, start to jot ideas down, e.g., main topic areas, questions you want answers to, anything that comes into your head.

If you don’t…

• Start to read around the subject you’re studying and see if anything generates an interest.
• If you work, what problems occur in your workplace? How could you help to address these?
• Talk to others about your ideas – what do they say? Do they agree with your views?

Narrow down your list of topics:

• Which are most interesting?
• Which have plenty of literature?
• Where have you identified gaps in existing literature?

Start to formulate some questions you would like answers to, then begin to refine and order them. Make sure to leave plenty of time for reading.

Clarify exactly what you want to investigate: e.g., if you want to find out about the relationship between students and their tutors:

• Which students? (1st year? which college/school? Any particular group of students?)
• Which tutors? (Personal/academic/seminar tutors?)

You also need to think about how you are going to do your research and whether it is feasible – remember that you have a limited amount of time and topics often expand beyond your expectations.

Take this time to start to write down some of your ideas. This will help you to think about the direction you might wish to take.