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Step One: Topic
Brainstorming
Toward the thesis: How to figure out what you are interested in
Prepared by Erin Driver-Linn December, 2000.
Perhaps you have thought to yourself, "I want to do a thesis, but I don't
think I should because I don't know what I want to study." Maybe this thought has
overwhelmed you and stripped your motivation for the thesis process. The first
thing you should know is that almost everyone who has worked on a difficult project
has felt directionless or frustrated and thus unmotivated at one time or another.
It isn't necessarily clear that just because a driving question has not yet emerged,
that it won't—sometimes the best creations take a long time gestating. Abstract
problems in an abstract field like psychology can be difficult to articulate. And it
can be especially difficult to articulate a question or topic when there is a lot of
amorphous interest (interested in too many things to focus) and/or a lot of ignorance
(interested in something about which you know little to nothing). So, don't be too hard
on yourself for being in such a limbo state, but do be hard enough on yourself to do the
necessary work to figure out if there is a great idea lurking.
It is often helpful to spend some time thinking about what you do. You can
learn a lot about your interests by comparing what you actually do with what you say
you like to do. You may profess a love of Russian literature, and mean it, but never
really feel like picking up the Dostoyevsky novel that sits by your bed. Try noting, if
only to yourself, your secret curiosities—the things you like to think about but that you
worry might be too kooky to bring up in class or even to your friends; it might be possible
to find firmament below mud. It is also worth thinking about your interests at a meta-level:
do you have several interests that you tend to keep separate from one another—say,
a passion for the violin, curiosity about the stereotyping literature of social psychology, and
a devotion to helping children with ADD? We are story-making machines, so it might be
instructive to build a story about how these things could be combined to form an interesting
question. Sometimes a thematic interest lies in the space between domains and an explicit
"bridge" or "cul-de-sac" can be informative.
Once you've examined your personal thoughts and behaviors for some initial starting
point, take a critical look (not too critical!) at your "bud" of an idea. Is it an artificial bud?
That is, is it something you want to be interested in, but really aren't? Is it really two buds?
That is, do you have two or more ideas that are going to be impossible to unite? Is it
a dead bud? That is, does your idea already bore you? Finally, is it a wilting bud? That is,
do you have a clearly formed idea that you have simply been afraid to commit to? Look
closely for these defects, but even if you find them, don't throw it away yet; stick it in your
lapel while you do some more work.
It sounds nerdy, but you might try keeping a notebook. Anytime you find something
interesting, even if you have no idea why, write it down. When you are reading articles for
class, if a particular phrase catches your attention, write it down. When you are listening to
music, and a lyric stands out, write it down. At some point, even after a few days, take a
look at your notations. Usually, with a little hard thinking, you can organize them by content
and find one or more common themes. Chances are these themes will have something to do
with your "bud," something that may be nurturing.
Make use of your concentration advisers, mentors, friends or
parents by asking them to engage in a dialogue with you to shape your ideas. Also, take a
look at the faculty lab pages. Find out what they are doing and then go out
and get some of their recent papers and actually read them. You might find that you can
think of logical, interesting extensions of their work, related to your ideas.
If you have done all of the above, you will probably have generated a short list of
viable thesis topics. You may have even found, especially in hindsight, that this was a truly
fun part of the thesis process—because during this time it is legitimate to speculate, to dream,
and to think about your thesis in grandiose terms ("I just might locate the seat of conscious
thought," "this thesis is so timely I'll surely be on Letterman"). It can be very inspiring to think
ambitiously and broadly. Once your motivation is caught, though, you will have to go through
an important, narrowing phase.
One way to pick The Topic from your short list is to mentally commit to one research
area, or lab, and then only allow yourself to play with ideas within the bounds of that area.
You could also "try on" a decision, for example by writing down a draft title for your thesis and
assessing just how wonderfully it trips off your tongue when you say it aloud. Finally, give
yourself a time limit—a week, month, or semester, depending upon your immediate needs—to
reflect on your ideas and modify them, and when you reach your deadline, make enough of
a commitment to one idea to begin doing research toward your prospectus. And if all this fails
to produce, be sure to go talk to your concentration adviser before giving up!
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