Subject and Course Guides: Building Research Confidence Unworkshop Series: Part II Imagining and Developing Your Research Focus

Session Overview

It's easy to get caught in the trap of wanting to find the perfect focus or topic for your research or to think you need to read just a little bit more before deciding on a focus. Perfection, however, is both relative and elusive, and finding research focus is an iterative process, rather than a linear one. Attend this unworkshop to hear and share about tips, tools, skills, and lessons learned for imagining and developing your research focus and for keeping your project trajectory on track.

Tools

There are many tools to help you select and focus your research topic, and we've highlighted a few below. Choosing a research topic will evolve as your knowledge develops, and there are many internal and external factors that will go into the topic you ultimately focus on. These tools can help you be more intentional in your process.

Checklist: Questions to Ask Yourself When Deciding on a Topic
A series of questions from the SAGE Research Methods Project Planner.
Steps for Developing Your Focus Statement
A list of questions from Boyle Single's "Demystifying Dissertation Writing" to help you develop a focus statement to guide your research project.
Writing Graph
A low-tech way to track your scheduled writing times, actual writing times, and your progress.

Supplemental Materials

Developing your research topic

The context of constructing and formulating research questions.
In this chapter from Constructing research questions: Doing interesting research, Alvesson and Sandberg (2013) provide clear guidance on the main stages and steps involved in constructing and formulating research questions from existing literature.
Choosing a dissertation topic
In this chapter from The Dissertation Journey : A Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Planning, Writing, and Defending Your Dissertation, Roberts (2010) introduces criteria for choosing a research topic.
[VIDEO] How Do I Write a Research Proposal?
"All resources are finite, and the most finite of resources is time." In this short video, hear pragmatic tips for developing research proposals suitable for a number of scenarios. Includes a discussion on developing research questions and developing your focus.
RIA # 172: Dr. Nicola Ulibarri on Tools for Creativity in Research
An interview on how to inject creativity into your research.

Staying focused

How Do I Scope, Shape and Configure My Research Project?
In this chapter from Surviving and Thriving in Postgraduate Research, Cooksey (2019) provies scoping and shaping choices to help make your research feasible and realistic.
A Writing Routine
An Inside Higher Ed article with practical tips for establishing and sticking to a writing routine from author Peg Boyle Single.

Overcoming perfectionism

Perfectionism - II
Inside Higher Ed columnist and author Peg Boyle Single discusses the problems caused by and ways to overcome perfectionism.
Chapter 4: Writing the Proposal
From Writing a Graduate Thesis or Dissertation. Beginning on page 24, Blair (2016) provides an excellent discussion of overcoming fear, largely attributed to the imposter syndrome felt by so many.

Bibliography

Every successful researcher will have advice on how to choose and investigate a research topic. Most advice contains similar themes: make sure you're excited by and interested in your topic; read, read, and read some more to understand your topic; look to recent publications to identify opportunities that would make your study unique; and make sure you have the time, resources, and ability to carry out your research. The following digital books include guidance on selecting and focusing a topic and are just some of the many publications available from UNL Libraries. You don't need to read them all, but it helps to find one that especially resonates with you.

Demystifying Dissertation Writing by Peg Boyle Single; Richard M. Reis (Foreword by)
ISBN: 1579223133
Publication Date: 2009-09-28
This book presents a system of straightforward techniques that are used by productive writers, and applies them to the dissertation process.
Surviving and Thriving in Postgraduate Research by Ray Cooksey, Gael McDonald
ISBN: 9789811377471
Publication Date: 2019
Exploration of the entire journey of postgraduate research in the social and behavioural sciences, from enrolment to its culmination in the form of a thesis, dissertation or portfolio, and beyond. The book addresses not only research-related aspects, but also questions concerning how to integrate, manage, and balance the research journey in the context of the postgraduate students broader life-world.
Writing a Proposal for Your Dissertation by Steven R. Terrell
ISBN: 9781462523054
Publication Date: 2015-11-19
This user-friendly guide helps students get started on--and complete--a successful doctoral dissertation proposal by accessibly explaining the process and breaking it down into manageable steps.
The dissertation journey: a practical and comprehensive guide to planning, writing, and defending your dissertation by Carol M. Roberts
ISBN: 1452262063
Publication Date: 2010
This informative and inspirational book readies you for each step of the dissertation process, including choosing a topic selecting the committee, getting acclimated to academic writing preparing for your oral defense, and publishing your research.
Thesis writing for master's and Ph. D. program by Subhash Chandra Parija, Vikram Kate
ISBN: 9789811308901
Publication Date: 2018
This book on Thesis Writing for Master's and Ph. D. program focuses on the difficulties students encounter with regard to choosing a guide; selecting an appropriate research title considering the available resources; conducting research; and ways to overcome the hardships they face while researching, writing and preparing their dissertation for submission.
Authoring a PhD by Patrick Dunleavy
ISBN: 9780230802087
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
This engaging and highly regarded book takes readers through the key stages of their PhD research journey, from the initial ideas through to successful completion and publication. It gives helpful guidance on forming research questions, organising ideas, pulling together a final draft, handling the viva and getting published. Each chapter contains a wealth of practical suggestions and tips for readers to try out and adapt to their own research needs and disciplinary style. This text will be essential reading for PhD students and their supervisors in Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, Business, Law, Health and related disciplines.
Writing a Graduate Thesis or Dissertation by Lorrie Blair
ISBN: 9789463004268
Publication Date: 2016-02-10
Writing A Graduate Thesis or Dissertation is a comprehensive guide to the stages of working through the rigors of writing and defending a graduate degree from the initial stages of choosing a thesis topic and supervisor, right through to the defense of the work.
Finish Your Dissertation, Don't Let It Finish You! by Joanne Broder Sumerson
ISBN: 9781118419250
Publication Date: 2013-10-28
An all-inclusive, practical guide to help you design, conduct, and finish your academic dissertation--with minimal drama Sharing the secrets for successfully navigating through the dissertation and thesis process while maintaining your sanity it presents comprehensive coverage of the entire dissertation process, from selecting a committee and choosing a research topic to conducting the research and writing and defending your dissertation.

See more titles like these from UNL Libraries

Building Research Confidence Unworkshop Series

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Subject Guide

Session Overview

Tools

Supplemental Materials

Bibliography