What are the main approaches to choose a topic? Mention some criteria for topic selection

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WHAT ARE THE MAIN APPROACHES TO CHOOSE A TOPIC?

• MENTION SOME CRITERIA FOR TOPIC SELECTION.

An Academic presentation by Dr. Nancy Agnes,
Head, Technical Operations, Tutors India Group
www.tutorsindia.com Email info_at_tutorsindia.com
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TODAY'S OUTLINE
Background Steps to Choose the Right Topic
Identifying Areas of Interest Read a
Lot Narrowing the Field Determine the Type of
Investigation Deciding Significance Ensure
Achievability Topic Endorsement Conclusion
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BACKGROUND
A key step before embarking on a scholarly
research would be choosing the right topic. The
topic you choose would be a decisive factor in
determining the time that you would require to
complete your research. For a large majority of
students, topic selection is a task that is
nothing short of a nightmare, mainly because of
the complexity associated with it. For instance,
researchers need to ask themselves whether the
chosen topic is unique, whether it is valid for
the course being pursued.
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If by chance, the topic you chose is not
appropriate or does not offer value to the
domain, the whole endeavour is wasted.
Therefore, it is of utmost significance that you
are thorough and meticulous while choosing the
research topic for your dissertation. One of the
key points to be kept in mind while choosing a
research topic is that you consider the
prerequisites of your academic / research
programme. It would be instrumental in deciding
the level at which an investigation would
require to be carried out. Certain projects
might have stringent norms as compared to others.
Even after the requirements are taken into
consideration, it is not always easy to choose an
appropriate research topic for your dissertation
or thesis. However, we have outlined certain
pointers that would be helpful to you during
topic selection.
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STEPS TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT TOPIC
IDENTIFYING AREAS OF INTEREST The starting point
during topic selection could be deliberating
about your areas of interests within the subject
of your examination. It would be a smart move to
choose a domain that you are familiar or
well-versed with. This will place you in
familiar environment.
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READ A LOT Though you might be a master of your
domain, it might not hurt you to engage in
further reading. You can read books or research
papers from your library or you could find
appropriate reading materials (books, research
papers) from leading online databases. A point
of significance here would be that if you have
limited resources or are hard-pressed for time
to search for relevant papers, you might also go
through the reference lists of the few papers you
have found. This will help you to find other
similar articles with ease. While reading, you
can note down key points from the papers you
find.
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NARROWING THE FIELD After reviewing a few
papers, and noting down key points, you should
now focus on narrowing down your research area.
Though the process can be cumbersome and
time-consuming, it is necessary that your theme
is quite explicit. Your focus should be on
identifying a specific topic that has not been
extensively researched in the past, or a topic
that is being largely discussed within academic
circles or any topic that is currently in
vogue. In the rare event that you select a topic
that has been covered extensively through
previous research, it would be challenging to
establish its relevance.
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DETERMINE THE TYPE OF INVESTIGATION Investigation
s can be of different kinds. Therefore, it would
be wise if you determine in advance the research
approach that you want to adopt for your
research. Will your focus would be mainly
on Gathering distinct information Evaluating
current information Interpreting social
articles Conducting a comparison of insightful
methodologies There are several papers that
combine more than one of the above elements. At
times, the kind of examination would be clearly
evident. For instance, if your subject involves
examination of post-war Irish verses, then
presumably, you would be interpreting sonnets. A
key concern here would be that collecting
distinct information would require time. In case
you do not have much time to spare, it would
better serve your purpose to dissect prevalent
information from auxiliary and essential sources.
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DECIDING SIGNIFICANCE Your subject would no
doubt be fascinating to you, however, it is
essential to ascertain that it is socially or
scholastically applicable. Significance from a
scholastic point of view would imply that an
investigation can bridge a gap in information or
offer an insightful input within your
domain. Feasibility of the relevance would
indicate that your investigation could be applied
to take care of major issues or enhance natural
cycles. An approach that is quite straightforward
would be to choose a topic that is linked to
your current subject of dissertation or
discussions, either from a public perspective or
anywhere as per your research requirement. Social
significance could imply that your investigation
could drive the general understanding about
society and direct social change. It is necessary
to clearly express your thoughts while projecting
your research topic.
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ENSURE ACHIEVABILITY Before you zero in on the
right topic, think of how lengthy your
dissertation is going to be, the time you would
require for completion and the items of common
sense that directs the investigation. Would you
have ample opportunity to review all relevant
scholarly work on the topic? In case the number
of data exceeds the volume that you can handle,
it would help to narrow down your search
significantly. On the whole, your topic should
be one which you know you will be able to
achieve.
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TOPIC ENDORSEMENT Before you delve into the
actual research process, you would be required to
briefly present your topic following which a
guide/supervisor will be allocated to you. It
would be apt if you discuss your ideas with your
supervisor before you start the research writing
process. You need to justify why you have chosen
the topic, what gaps exist in the area that
warrants investigation and most importantly, how
the selected research topic would make a
contribution to your subject of interest. If the
supervisor has a different idea, it would be
helpful to incorporate his thoughts too to
further narrow down or tweak your research topic.
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STEPS TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT TOPIC
Selecting a research topic is a time-consuming
and taxing task. Therefore, thorough research
within your subject domain is advisable to help
you to frame the right topic that would further
your research goals.
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