Where Can I Get Ideas for My Thesis or Dissertation Topic?

由扬•艾伦学术和学生事务副院长和康奈尔大学研究生院作家

研究生在哪里获得论文或论文的想法和主题？当您申请研究生院时，您可能已经对您想研究的内容有所了解。或者，您可能已经选择了一项研究生课程，以便有机会与特定的教师一起学习，该教师您读过并钦佩作为本科生的研究。正如您的顾问或多个教职员工的建议或指导的那样，您开始想到一个与顾问研究有关的研究项目，即较大项目的组成部分，或者是针对较小的相关项目的原始想法。

Once you started graduate school you likely read many articles or books focusing on research, theory or critical analysis. These assigned readings, and the related publications you read as resources and citations for the class papers you write, will prompt other ideas as options for your research.

主题思想的另一个来源已经完成了论文和论文。开始本地，阅读研究生与同一顾问完成的论文和论文。一个更大的存储库是存档ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Global, with over 5 million titles and full-text manuscripts from 100 countries. Scan titles. Read abstracts. Begin to read full texts of those that interest you. You will begin to think of other research questions from the gaps or next steps in this literature.

一旦有了想法，就开始考虑哪一个是最好的选择。如何？列出一系列因素并评估每个选项：

• 这个话题会在您需要成功完成研究并编写手稿的时间内维持您的兴趣吗？为了撰写论文，这可能是6到12个月。对于论文，可能是一年，两年或三个（取决于您的研究生学科）。
• Will this topic be novel, one that hasn’t been done before? A dissertation must make an original contribution to the research or scholarship in your field. You will read extensively to become familiar with the existing research before you can determine that your research question(s) is a new one. A thesis is usually smaller in scope than a dissertation, requiring fewer resources and less time. It can also replicate an earlier study while still contributing to the literature.
• Will your advisor and other members of your graduate committee be willing and able to guide you through this project?
• 您或您的顾问和研究生课程是否需要该项目的资源？实验室，设备，材料？访问档案，在线材料，也许是前往现场网站的旅行资金？通常，您是否会有资金和其他资源来支持您想做的研究？
• Can you complete this project before your advisor’s support and your funding end? In other words, is this project doable by you? You may have a great idea but need to wait until you have more funding, as a postdoctoral fellow or faculty member with graduate students of your own, to attempt it.

您如何决定？与高级研究生交谈。与您的顾问和其他教师交谈。一旦您认为将主题范围缩小到一个或几个，就开始写作。草稿研究问题或假设。写一个您阅读的文献的摘要。在以前的文献和奖学金的背景下，您将自己的研究问题放置。您可以从头到尾开始设想这个项目吗？从概念化到设计到方法论再到结果？如果是这样，并且您的顾问批准了，那么您就有一个研究主题！

Congratulations. You can do this!

___________________________________________________________________________________

有关更多信息，请查看Module 1: Getting Started on Your Thesis or Dissertationsfrom theProQuest Dissertations Bootcamp.