Congratulations! You're ready to start working on your dissertation! Feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to start is pretty much how everyone feels at first.
- Determine a topic. You might already have a general idea or a broad starting goal. That's ok for now.
- Literature - Once you have a topic, start to get a feel for what literature has been written already on this topic. The resources in the box to the right might help. Remember, at this stage, you're just looking for ideas:
- What sparks your interest? Why? (There might be different aspects that interest you - don't worry about how to make connections yet - you're just getting a feel for things right now)
- What are most of the articles focusing on? What are the trends? Where are the gaps?
- What isn't interesting to you? Why not?
- Get support! Talk to people:
- Faculty members - your seminar teacher and those you might want to serve on your committee
- Librarians
- Finding resources (books, articles, etc.)
- Your topic (get a feel for what others in this specific field have done)
- Center for Learning and Teaching
- Structuring thoughts and concepts coherently
- Once you have a feel for your topic, start your literature review. Luckily you already probably have some resources from Step 2.
For more help, check out the Sage Research Methods database below.
