Dissertation Topics

If you have a good degree and have decided that you want to do some postgraduate study, you need to find something that will retain your interest for several years. It's not easy settling on a topic for a dissertation and many graduates find it hard, usually because they are looking at things to broadly.
The best dissertation topic should be something narrow, so no matter what you decide on, remember that you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you just need to find a gap in the existing knowledge that someone else has missed. Nobody expects you to rewrite the entire history of the United States, or even of one state, you just have to pinpoint something that has been missed.
Before you settle on a topic for a dissertation you need to ask yourself why you really want to get involved in a course that could last five years. Towards the end of that period you have to produce an extended peace of writing that is fit for publication. Note that it should be fit for publication, although many dissertations are never actually published; but a copy is kept in the university library and the thesis will be registered with the British Library.
You need to remind yourself that a dissertation needs to be about the same size as a literary novel. You should speak to your academic advisers to see whether they feel they might be able to guide you in your choice of subject.
You should ask yourself again why you want to obtain a PhD. Some people undertake a doctorate because they have a real passion for a particular subject, while others do it as a route into an academic career. It's to be hoped that even if an academic career is your ultimate goal, you would have an abiding interest in whatever it is you intend to study.
A good number of people who begin doctoral study do so out of a profound sense of something that has happened in their lives and that may be resolved through their study and writing of a dissertation. When people choose a dissertation topic that is related in some way to their personal experience, they are more likely to finish the job. A surprising number of doctoral students never actually finish their dissertation and therefore do not get their PhD.
Once you have decided on a subject that you think will keep your interest for an extended period of time. You may need to write a proposal that has to be accepted by the research degrees committee of your local college or university. Many PhD students start out as an Mphil student and later transfer onto the PhD route, unless they choose to do a taught PhD.
When you do a taught PhD, finding a dissertation subject is a lot easier because very often the subject is already decreed within the course itself, that's not to say that everyone will be writing the same thing because it still has to be a dissertation that makes a contribution to knowledge.