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SETTING YOUR DISSERTATION

QUESTION

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Starting out …

Define your topic.

Put your ideas into words.

Define your search boundaries.

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Define your topic Look through the dissertations of previous students in your department. There may

be a topic to inspire you or they may have identified a gap in the research that needs further investigation.

Go through your previous core texts. There may have been a module you particularly enjoyed. Why was that? Is there an component of that module that could be developed into a dissertation?

Do you have interests outside of University that you might want to base your topic on? As long as it is relevant to your course it may not matter that the topic hasn’t been integral to any modules.

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Put your ideas into words

Think about it, talk about it, read about it.

Write stuff down – anything you can think of! It doesn’t matter how either – be as creative as you want.

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Define your boundaries

Where?

United Kingdom? Europe? International?When?

Last year or two? 21st Century? Last 100 years? Who?

Particular groups of people? Anyone?

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Try and be as precise as you can

A precise question is better than a vague one:

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Final thoughts

Don’t wait until you have a fully formed research question before discussing your ideas with others, as their comments and questions may help you to refine your focus.

It is helpful to have a precise research set early on in the dissertation process but you may find that your question develops as you find new information that interests you. Discuss this with your supervisor.