What is the best way to select a Phd Research Topic

Being in research industry for one and a half decade, Lockeys, chennai have been often approached by people to advice them on how to select appropriate topic for their research.

Here are some pointers that we provide them with when asked about topic selection process and preparation of proposals..

Lockeys being the leading phd Project/research centre in chennai know very well the do's and dont's while selecting a PhD research topic.

By shortlisting your future career of interest

First and foremost, decide what interests you more. If you are interested in continuing your career into academic research or if you are more keen to contribute to corporate research leading to products that are economically viable.

For the former, it is easy to find out topics that are in popular demand in research. For example, search for trending topics in the field of your interest, see journal entries for such topics in peer review journals and you would be easily able to shortlist few research work.

For the later, it requires a look into research companies’ websites to find out what kind of patents they have applied for. Patents that are applied now would have some business value in later years. Study few of those patents to know where the technology trends are heading to. Select research topics based on such interest, as by the time you receive the PhD degree, you are industry ready.

By selecting the guide you wish to work with

Selection of a research guide is another way to shortlist your research topic. After you decide that you wish to pursue research in certain domain, you are needed to shortlist few guides who are going to take you through your PhD. Study the profiles of those guides. Find out the publications where they had contributed. Mostly these guide are the most experienced person in that particular subject matter and they would further their research in the topics in which they are already expert.

Now shortlist the topics from those research papers where there is a need of achieving further and prepare your proposal accordingly.

By knowing your own technical interest

Many people who intend to do PhD has special love for their technical enthusiasm. They like reading and getting themselves updated on the research findings from their domain. You may set up custom alerts (at sitres like google, pubmed, scifinder, espacenet etc) for research articles and patent applications on specific keywords, such that whenever such an article/patent application gets published, you get a notification at your email.

Try screening these papers at regular interval to know the trend of research activities in the domain of your interest. This will further help you in preparing a proposal of your future research.