Choosing Thesis or Dissertation Topics

Here are some important questions to ask yourself when choosing thesis or dissertation topics:

1) Does the topic interest me?

Writing a thesis or dissertation is a long process, requiring months or even years of painstaking work. If you don’t have a real interest in your topic, you might risk running out of the mental energy needed to complete the task. The greater the interest in a project, the more committed you will be to it; and, with greater commitment, comes greater likelihood you’ll see it through to the end.

2) Is it of interest to the scholarly community to which I am writing?

Although writing a thesis or dissertation is most often a solitary undertaking, it is never a private one. In embarking on such a project, the student enters into conversation with the wider scholarly community. For this reason, the student should settle on a topic that is relevant to the interests and expertise of one’s field.

3) Are the resources available to pursue the topic?

Because students at the graduate level read scholarship of a wide variety and from all around the world, it is only natural that they develop interests in topics beyond the limits of their resources. But without the necessary resources, such interests cannot become topics of research. A student of medieval literature may develop an interest in questions concerning manuscripts, but if that student has no access to manuscripts, then such questions cannot be pursued as a thesis or dissertation topic.

So, if you can answer YES to all three of the above questions, you’ve got a topic. But if you answer NO to just one, you don’t. Where to find topics? Here are some likely places to find workable topics for theses and dissertations:

1) Coursework

Graduate students should be on a constant lookout for good research topics, and one of the best places to do so is in the classroom. Most graduate programs require students to take a number of courses prior to starting their independent research. In offering the student a deeper look into the topics that interest scholars in the field, coursework allows the student’s own interests to mingle with those of the wider scholarly community. For this reason, many theses and dissertations have been expanded from topics first addressed in coursework assignments.

2) Scholarly Journals

Reading scholarly journals in one’s field is also a good way to generate topic ideas. Reading even just one article a week can give a student a good idea of what topics are of interest to the wider scholarly community, as well as insight into the manner in which they are addressed. In many cases, journal articles will even suggest topics for further research, by indicating the questions, issues, and sources hitherto neglected by scholars.

3) Professors

Graduate students should be on speaking terms with their professors, and so should feel free to discuss with them research ideas for theses or dissertations. Professors have the benefit of experience and can tell fairly quickly if a topic is worth pursuing or not. Discussing research ideas with professors is also a good way of finding a prospective supervisor for your thesis or dissertation.