I'm going through the doctorate application process, and am realising what a task it is to come up with even a preliminary proposal (topic, methodolgy etc). I know that soem programmes include much of this process within the programme itself, whereas for many traditional doctorates all of this is (formally, at least) merely a preliminary. Any ideas as to how I can get from a fuzzy notion to something clearer and more appealing to the university? Does any have a loose "methodology" or thought process I can work through? Even some general experience-based comments would be helpful at this stage.
Ms. Angela, The way I see it is such that your dissertation/proposal (topic and content) will be a bit easier if it is driven by your own passion for a specific subject. The specific subject must first, appeal to you. If it is appealing to you, this gives you the strength to convince your university (committee members) that you know the subject that you desire to investigate. I do not see any reason why you would want the university to drive your interest (this is possible, though, but seems problematic). You may visit umi at: http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/gateway?return=http%3A%2F%2Fwwwlib.umi.com%2Fdissertations%2Fresults%3Fset_num%3D5 or http://www.dissertation.com in order to preview dissertations that have similarities with your interest in order to undesrtand the various methods that you may utilize for your own dissertation/proposal. The bottom line is that your dissertation must attempt to investigate a particular subject that answer a specific problem(s). Your review of literature must be exhaustive that demonstrate a mastery of the subject and you must use a valid method to answer your research questions or hypothesis. Also, your bibliography must be extensive to demonstrate a thorough investigation of the subject. I wish you good luck in your journey. Thank you.
I would agree with much of what cehi said above and would add a few thoughts of my own. It is very important that you have enough interest in the research area to carry you through the process. It does not need to be the subject in which you are most interested, your life's work. In fact there may be an argument for avoiding a subject for which you feel the most passion. That argument involves my second point. You have to find a supervisor who feels (s)he can support your research. You can have the nicest proposal ever written but if the department doesn't have a faculty member who knows enough about the area to serve as your advisor then you're proposal will get rejected. I recommend listing the faculty members, their own dissertations topics and later research areas and see if one of these comes close to an area of your own interest. Back to my previous argument...your ultimate topic is the result of interaction and compromise between yourself, your advisor and perhaps the department. If your topic is the thing about which you feel the most passion in the world then you may be unwilling/unable to make the necessary compromises as you move through the process. Good luck in your efforts. Jack
Jack makes a very good point; completing the dissertation requires significant compromise. If you cannot make compromise, you cannot complete the dissertation and you cannot graduate. Remember more than half of the people who get to the dissertation phase never complete the dissertation and end up ABD for life. In my own process, I began with a topic very close to my heart and wrote over 100 pages with the approval of the committee. However, my chair ultimately decided he did not like the topic and could not support the research. This meant a year was lost. I ultimately got a new committee and a new chair. As I began the process a second time, I applied things I learned from the first process. First, I researched the members of my committee. I did a couple dissertation searches reviewing my committee members and the number of dissertations they had successfully chaired, the date of their last successfully completed student and the topics that they had been successful with students on. Second I went to my new committee chair and explained generally the topics I had interest in and asked him which of those were of interest to him. Third, I asked him which of his research areas could have a match to my research intersts and was it possible to tie our interests to a common topic. Fourth, my chair helped me to reduce the topic. He made it clear that the dissertation was not the culmination of a lifes work on a world problem I was solving, rather, it was the first step in a new topic for me and for others. It was the beginning. Finally, he helped me understand the most important part of the dissertation, the part about getting done. None of the rest of this matters if you never finish. I guess what I am saying is you need to match your interests to your chairs interests. You need to reduce your topic to the smallest piece you can yet still have a topic that brings new information. Don't make it so big or complicated that you cannot finish it. It is too easy to get lost along the way. If you match you interests to your chair's and you keep it small you increase your chances of finishing. Finally, compromise, compromise, compromise, graduate! It is a beginning not an end.
Choosing a Dissertation Topic When choosing my dissertation topic, I found this website <http://www.gened.arizona.edu/nparezo/Dissertation%20Choice.htm> useful. I hope you find it so. Best Wishes, David
