About Your PhD Thesis Topic
Congratulations! You’ve finished your classwork, and now all that’s left is to do your dissertation and you’ll have finished the PhD! This should be a snap..right?
Er… not hardly! The dissertation is actually the most difficult part of earning a doctoral degree, and more than a few (million) people have ended up with the dreaded A.B.D.: All But Dissertation. Step one of making sure this doesn’t happen to you is making you you choose the right PhD thesis topic. How should you begin?
First off, of course, you’ll want to choose a topic that actually interests you; otherwise you’ll have a horrible time trying to get yourself to concentrate on getting your research done. Ideally it will interest your adviser as well, so he’ll have helpful things to say on the subject. For example, suppose you’re choosing a topic for a PhD in computer science. By this point, you should have an idea of exactly which areas of computer science you’re interested in. Maybe computer security intrigues you and artificial intelligence annoys you no end, or vice versa. Pick an area you’ll be happy working in for at least the next year. Better, one you’ll be working in for the foreseeable future, if your plans lie in academia; it’ll be easiest to find a position with a department looking for someone in the field you did your dissertation work in.
Now that you have your field, it’s time to pick a topic. With any luck, you’ve done enough reading to have a general idea of what is and isn’t already known in your area. You’ll want a topic that has some interest (to show that it’s significant) but not too much (you don’t want to pick a problem that’s too hard, or that someone else will likely solve before you get a chance, which are the two most likely choices if many other people are also trying to solve it). You want something, preferably, that you can apply the background knowledge you already have to solving, reducing the amount of reading you need to do in order to get up to speed before you can begin your work. Ideally, you might also have a few ideas about how you want to begin attacking the problem; perhaps you’ve read (or written) another paper recently that had ideas or techniques that might be applicable to the new problem. Making new connections is often how important discoveries are made!
Once you have your topic, you’re good to go. Just remember to make time for research every day, and soon enough, they’ll be calling you “doctor”..