Professor Joseph M. Piro
HomeE-mail: joseph.piro@liu.edu
Phone: 516- 299-3683
FAX- 516-299-3312
Choosing Your Dissertation Topic
One of the most important tasks you will first need to deal with is selecting a topic for your dissertation. As a doctoral student, you are probably interested in a number of themes. What will become important in choosing your topic from these many themes, ideas, and directions is to prioritize your interests and decide which are the ones you would like to spend the most time investigating and developing. Basically, ask yourself "What am I most interested in learning?"
Before you select your topic, become familiar with the literature of areas you're interested in. Read journals, browse websites, examine prior dissertations, scan Twitter and other social media sites to see what appears to be current in your field, brainstorm with people around you (e.g., your adviser, colleagues, and fellow cohort students) to see what they think of your ideas.
Don't be discouraged if this becomes overwhelming--it's to be expected. You've spent a lot of time and energy in your preliminary doctoral work thinking about some "big" ideas so accept this and use it productively. However, with all of these ideas swirling around you, it may be very easy to become lost or unfocused trying in a "hit-or-miss" manner to find a topic that ultimately speaks to you. In order to approach selecting a topic in the most efficient and effective manner, you might want to consider the "O-P-I-E" approach as a guide to finding a topic.
The "OPIE" approach includes the following four parts:
O- Originality- Your dissertation topic should make an original contribution to the literature. While original may be defined in a number of ways, generally, what you research should be something you can place your own stamp on, an area you are uniquely qualified to explore. While aspects of it may have been researched in the past, because of your own environment, access to specific individuals, or a particularly novel idea, you might be in a position to break new ground and come up with something entirely new.
P-Practicality- That said, your dissertation should be something that is doable. Choose a topic which is big-- but not too big. You need to carefully weigh your resources, contacts, time, etc. and pick a topic that is realistic for you to complete. Developing an initial timeline is a good way to address this. For students who choose to work on a school- or education-related topic, the first instinct, naturally, may be to choose your own school district or community. While this certainly might speed you along, be aware that certain biases have the potential to appear and these need to be addressed sooner rather than later. For example,you do not want to make a case for your choices at your final dissertation defense. Make sure you weigh all these options before settling on a topic. And remember, a dissertation is a degree requirement. Don't turn it into your "magnum opus," something that depletes all you creative, physical, and professional energies. The writing process should be stimulating, joyful, and growth-promoting-- something you should survive.
I- Interdisciplinarity- Remember you're in a program that is focused on interdisicplinary educational studies, so don't be afraid to crossover and mix disciplines. This kind of mixture can result in a vibrant, original, and rich product illuminating areas of interdisciplinary commonality others may not have seen. You might, for example, want to mix a primarily educational topic with aspects of sociology, neuropsychology, or economics. One of the major foci of 21st century learning is this mix of disciplines, and a dissertation can be an excellent vehicle to stitch together ideas from seemingly disparate fields and show how they connect. This kind of approach can also provide some good opportunities to demonstrate conceptual, big-picture thinking, something that may serve you well post-dissertation in the field.
E- Enduring- Perhaps this is the most important consideration. When you select a dissertation,topic it's somewhat like "placing a bet," only this bet relates to the viability of your idea a few years after you choose it. Education is a notoriously fickle area with trends that wax and wane. What might be "hot" at one time cools off considerably within a short period. So, be careful to not be too trendy--don't tie your ideas to issues that were once popular but eventually lose their relevance. Remember-- don't think catchy idea but solid scholarship. For example, if you select a topic related to something like technology, you may want to overarch it with with more enduring themes such as its instructional importance, its potential for collaborative possibilities and the like. From there you can go on to to specifics, but readers still have a recognizable foundation which they can reference.
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