Researching and writing a dissertation is a defining time in the life of an academic. The dissertation gives young scholars the opportunity to make the first independent contribution to their respective discipline. At the same time, the doctoral thesis is a giant undertaking that commands great respect from many PhD candidates, occasionally even frightening them. It is therefore very important to use a methodical approach as you develop your dissertation topic and constantly ask yourself the following questions: Can I fully identify with my research topic? Is it relevant for the discipline? Have other scholars tried to answer the same questions in the past? Is it a realistic project to be completed in three or four years? And most importantly: Does it help me reach my goals?
The dissertation topic: where to start
If you are contemplating a dissertation, you probably have done most of your Bachelor's work and might even be pursuing your Master's degree at the moment. Very likely, then, there is a specific discipline that fascinates you more than others - which means that you have already taken the first step in the right direction. Follow your interests under all circumstances, attend advanced seminars in that field and read the newest research literature. Try finding a set of questions that you care about passionately and that have not been sufficiently answered in the past. At the same time, try to determine clear boundaries for your project as early as possible: A clearly defined sociological data pool, a newly discovered collection of letters from World War I, a biological species, the late period in the corpus of your favorite author. The more precise the question, the smaller the danger that you will end up with a project much too large to manage in three to four years.
Once you have sufficiently delineated your area of research, you should start thinking about methodology. In other words: How do you intend to answer the question that you so passionately care about? Maybe there are two competing theories for data analysis or literary criticism, which currently divide your discipline? Look into those approaches and develop a good reasoning for choosing one and not the other. For many scholars this is a tedious process but at the same time an indispensible part of every dissertation project, or any academic project for that matter. A well-developed methodology is like a guide that will help you throughout the dissertation when you run the danger of drowning in a flood of facts and data.
