Imagine that you’re a master’s or PhD student starting your thesis 6 months late… Or worse still you started on time but for some crazy but legitimate reason, your topic was changed 6 months after, and you find yourself starting all over… That must be frustrating! While writing a thesis/dissertation is a daunting task, choosing a topic is critical since it’s the first step in making the process less stressful. First, you should choose a topic in your area of interest; probably something you may like to continue with in future. The choice of a topic could be from a list of proposed topics from your department or from a few ideas that you gathered throughout the period of your study. These ideas could be fine-tuned by reading material on related topics, or by talking with classmates, senior students and professors in the domain. Always carry around a notebook to jot down the various ideas.
Additional things to consider include:
- The availability of a supervisor; choose one with extensive competence in the field of your topic of interest. A supervisor who will be available to guide you throughout, giving constructive and timely feedback as you progress.
- Your research should provide a solution to a problem in a specific company, in your community or in the society at large. This will expose you to employment and research grant opportunities.
- Although it’s beneficial to work on something original and innovative, it’s preferable to avoid topics with limited and/or difficult to access literature on the subject; especially when you have limited time to submit your work.
- What about the costs? Your research shouldn’t be financially overwhelming. However, you could have a costly but promising topic; a possible cure for cancer for instance; such that the results obtained can be of great interest. In that case, consider applying for research grants. Meaning you’ll need to submit a captivating research proposal to convince the sponsor of how pertinent your study is. Your supervisor(s) will be of great help with that.
Overall, in choosing a thesis topic, start with your area of interest and consider the availability of any possible supervisors. Your topic should be innovative and relevant to a company or your community. Avoid topics with limited literature, or which are costly or even both. If you do have a pertinent but costly topic then apply for research grants.
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