One of the first few steps in dissertation making is choosing a good topic and looking for an advisor. Since the two go hand in hand, it’s best to consider both together. It’s important that you not only choose a topic you love, but also something your advisor will be interested in.
For example, let’s say you went along with a topic recommended by your advisor because you wanted to please him. This would be fine in the beginning, but think about it real hard. Because you didn’t choose the topic by yourself, you could get disheartened along the way and lose some steam. And during those moments, you may find other areas where you are more interested in, and you could end up getting angry with yourself for not choosing a topic out of your own internal curiosity.
But on the other hand, you could have a difficulty finding an advisor, most especially if you chose a topic you are passionate about but a topic where no faculty is interested in. And, even if you do find a faculty member who will back you up, you may have a hard time getting the help of your advisor, since he could have no personal interest in your topic and therefore might not put you high on their priority list.
Therefore, it’s best to balance both advisor and the topic you choose. When coming up with ideas for a topic, look around you and observe which ideas get you curious or excited. You could also attend conferences, talk to colleagues, and do research on acceptable dissertation topics. Jot your ideas down, and at the end of the day, choose the most doable, feasible, and interesting topic for you.
A major part of the process of writing your dissertation is idea development. This is not an easy task. Recognizing the potential difficulty of this task allows you to better manage your expectations. You should plan to struggle with this and if you do not need to struggle, consider yourself very fortunate. Leave yourself plenty of time to notice which ideas get you excited or curious. When you are in class, at lectures, reading articles, jot down topics of interest when inspired in a small notebook or on paper you compile in a folder. Talk to faculty and classmates about different ideas. Attend conferences. Find out what kinds of topics constitute acceptable dissertation topics. Remember that you are preparing to continue with research beyond graduate school whether you actually do or not. The dissertation is not simply an exercise to impress faculty or prove to yourself that you can do it. It is an opportunity for you to find a way to study ideas that you find important and that are important to the research community at large. Keeping this in mind will facilitate the process. You will most likely find a great deal of published literature on your topic. You will be able to write about the link between your topic and its relevance to the research community. Should you decide to publish, you will need to know how your topic fits with the research community beyond graduate school and if there is a future in investigating your topic.
Finally, in choosing a topic, keep your idealism in perspective. While your finished published dissertation may jumpstart you into an instantly successful research career, most often your dissertation will be a stepping-stone to other research projects. If you stay in a research career, your work will improve as you continue at it, so do not expect this project to be your life’s work but rather as something pointing to future areas in which you may have interest. I am not suggesting that you should not try your best but keep this in mind if you find yourself becoming perfectionistic and immobilized. The long road ahead and desire to succeed often overwhelm students. Getting down to work by talking to people, reading articles, and writing down ideas is the best way to get going. Staying mired in fantasy about future success greatly inhibits progress. Often graduate students are attracted to the Ph.D. because of the opportunity it affords for thoughtful consideration of ideas. However, ideas often come about more readily in trying to put them into action through writing or conversation, rather, than keeping them circulating repetitively through one’s mind in isolation.