What’s the Best Way to Choose a Research Topic for a Dissertation?

I’m starting to plan my dissertation and finding it really hard to pick a strong research topic. How did you choose yours? Any advice on narrowing down ideas or finding something unique but manageable?

Reply 1

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post

by ThinkLabJames

Hey @ThinkLabJames

Choosing a dissertation topic can feel impossible at first, when i was trying to pick mine i found it really helpful to start broad and then narrow it down. I started with thinking about the modules that i had enjoyed most over my time at university, as i figured that having a topic i was interested in would make all the reading a lot easier!

Once i had a generic area, i looked for a specific angle that hadn’t been explored much. Reading recent research or journal articles can help you try and find a gap in the literature. Just make sure that it is manageable!

I would highly recommend having an early meeting with your supervisor to express your concerns about this and seeing if they have any advice.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your dissertation🙂

-Molly
BCU Student rep

Reply 2

gjd800

I did every single one of mine on vibes, tbh. In some ways that's not helpful, but in others it is - what had grabbed you? What do you ind yourself drawn to? Is there anything you love?

Even my PhD thesis was decided on that really, ha

Reply 3

De Montfort University

Official Rep

Original post

by ThinkLabJames

Hiya!

It’s great that you’re already starting to think about your dissertation, honestly, that’s one of the best things you can do! Try not to leave it until the last minute, as getting an early start makes everything so much more manageable in the long run, final year passes so quickly.

First, think about what kind of dissertation you’ll be doing, is it empirical (with data collection), library based, or something else? That can really influence the kind of topic you choose. Then, consider the modules you’ve enjoyed most or areas you’re passionate about. If you already have an idea of the kind of career you want, choosing a topic linked to that can be a great talking point in future interviews also.

Reading recent journal articles is also a really good idea, as it helps you see what’s already been explored and spot any gaps or interesting angles you could focus on.

For my dissertation, I designed a public health campaign inspired by my internship on CPR awareness and out of hospital cardiac arrests. It tied in with my internship and the volunteer work I’d done afterwards and my interest in working with charities and fundraising, so it felt really relevant and motivating.

Also, make sure you take advantage of all the support offered, follow the advice from your lecturers, attend your weekly / bi-weekly catch-up sessions, and keep your supervisor in the loop. It really helps to stay on top of things and avoid that last-minute stress!

Ultimately, just make sure you choose something you find genuinely interesting, a dissertation is a big commitment, and enjoying your topic will make the whole process so much easier and more rewarding. Now that it is over, I am incredibly proud of my dissertation and proud of my proposed campaign.

-Maddie, Health and Wellbeing in Society Graduate from De Montfort University

Reply 4

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

Original post

by ThinkLabJames

Hey @ThinkLabJames,

My advice for choosing a dissertation topic is to think of a few areas in your chosen subject/field that you're particularly interested in - it might be a topic you've covered briefly in one of your modules, or it might be one from a book/article you've read outside of your course. Once you have three or four areas chosen, try and do a quick brainstorm of what you'd like to know more about in those areas and see if you can find any recent research articles related to your ideas. Once you've done some preliminary reading and scouted out relevant journals, you should be able to find a specific niche that you want to explore in more depth.

Make sure to talk to your dissertation supervisor about your ideas; they should be able to determine which topics will work well for a dissertation and which topics won't.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your dissertation planning! 🙂
Eve (Kingston Rep).

(edited 2 weeks ago)

Reply 5

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

Hi there!

I think everyone above has had a completely different experience choosing their dissertation topics (myself included) so here was my experience:

We had to choose our proposed supervisors towards the end of our second year - it was advised to have a chat with staff to see if they liked our topics/ they were actually achievable. If we didn't email with our first and second choice for a supervisor, they were randomly allocated.

I personally knew who I wanted as my supervisor, and luckily they specialised in the broad area I was interested in. I went to her with no ideas for topics but just knowing I wanted it to be within that area of research - together we had a chat about her own personal research interests and things she has wanted to work on but hasn't had the time. From there, we came up with about 3 potential topics for my project!

After that meeting, I went back and did a bit of research into each of the topic ideas and from there picked the one that seemed the most interesting for me. I also planned a proposed method for the project and came back to her with that, which we adjusted a little and then she agreed to be my supervisor for it :smile:

Points you could potentially take from this:

•

If you don't have an assigned supervisor already, then see what each of your academic staff specialise in and have a meeting with the ones that have the most interesting research area (in your opinion)

•

If you do already have an assigned supervisor, then have a chat with them about their research interests and start from there

•

You might find that your supervisor will become more 'useful' to you if your project aligns with their own interests BUT don't give up your own interests to try and appease them - if you have a chat and try to come up with a few ideas that THEY are happy with and then settle on the idea that interests YOU the most - if you find your project boring you probably won't work as hard on it

I hope that makes sense and gives you a good place to start?

Jorja (LJMU Student Rep)

Reply 6

LancashireRep5

Official Rep

Original post

by ThinkLabJames

Hi there 👋

My name is Siobhan and I’m a recent graduate from the University of Lancashire 🎓 This is a great question and I was in the exact same place as you this time last year!

I would say when choosing a dissertation you should consider something that you are REALLLY passionate about because you will be looking at this piece of work for a long time and reading a lot of journals around a certain topic. So, choosing something that really interests you if key to keep focus and not get bored or overwhelmed when writing and researching!

In order to choose an area of interest, I looked at all the modules I had done in the last 3 years and narrowed down the parts that caught my attention and I found the most interesting. For example, I did physiotherapy so I looked into women’s health because we had several lectures about this which stuck with me! From there, I read around recent journal articles to see what researchers were currently debating or what questions hadn’t been fully answered yet which helped me write my question/title. (Remember though that this much change as you find more stuff so be open to alter your question/title here and there)

I would also speak to a lecturer or a supervisor, if you’re assigned one, to talk about options that you can explore and how to use different databases to do so. I would go to them with a broad idea of a topic of interest (like mine being women’s health) and then they can suggest some ideas to help narrow down the search (like my supervisor did with the menopause).

You could also look online to see if there are any journals or topics that interest you! I legit searched up “physiotherapy dissertation ideas in women’s health” when I didn’t know what to do at first which helped me explore options like pregnancy, mental health etc!! This helped me make a list of things that i could have and then crossed them out or starred them based on whether I liked them or not!!

Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to figure it all out straight away as I took me 4 weeks to get my title sorted 🙈 and a lot of other people were the same! The earlier you start the better and always remember there are people to help you if you are stuck 🫶🏼

Hope this has helped and please let me know if you have any more questions at all 😊 Good luck!

Siobhan (University of Lancashire Rep)

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