This article is aimed at research scholars in the area of humanity studies. Often, when students of PhD choose fuzzy topics which they lack clarity about, it only leads getting frustrated. Therefore, keep your topic to the point. Most PhD students emerge to start their PhDs with over-ambitious projects which runs into many disciplines (subject areas). The key to ensure success in research is to check whether your big topic can be fit into one central research question. The problem statement (research question) of your study is the most important because it guides you and others involved in the research towards significance of the study. It helps in setting objectives of the research, writing the hypothesis and framing the questionnaire for data collection. The entire research revolves around the problem statement. It helps you to narrow down your focus. It is therefore important to place the topic into a particular context that defines the parameters of what you are going to investigate.

Choosing the right research topic is quite often a tricky and complicated task, especially for new PhD students. I have observed so far that students with five to ten years experience in the either industry or academics are comfortable with the initial process. The PhD supervisor/guide must offer help to decide on a suitable PhD topic in the initial stage. Also, please remember that the research topic must have social relevance. It must be able to satisfy some social problems. Topic selection is the beginning of your research journey.

Each researcher has unique capabilities: Each researcher has a capability of his own; each one traces the research problem from different angles. For instance, some may concentrate on the groundwork; some may concentrate on the cause of the situation; some on the behavioural factors; and some on the historical and current consequences.  For example, let’s consider the topic is “Importance of mentoring in workplace.” Somebody might only concentrate on various issues at workplace, somebody may concentrate on different needs and practices according to organizational structures, somebody might give case examples (good and futile) in the workplace, and somebody may concentrate on comparative study between two-three organizations of different nations.

Review accessible literature to choose the right topic: The fact is that there is vast data available on Internet on any given topic; disregarding that data often leads to negative results. The biggest job in research is scientifically reviewing the literature, picking only some information from Internet will skew your research findings. Also please remember that somebody somewhere is also working on your chosen topic and might be working on profound consequences. I see that sooner or later all theses will be uploaded on the Internet; the world will be viewing your work. Therefore, maintaining quality from beginning till end will be essential. Please be aware of that in India, University Grants Commission (UGC) wants scholars to upload their thesis on their online Union Catalogue of Indian Universities called IndCat. UGC also has ShodhGanga – Reservoir of Indian Theses. ShodhGanga is a repository platform available for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses for making it available to the entire scholarly community in open access.  If only Universities and UGC get serious about the process, I am sure we will get a lot of serious research work to view.

It’s advisable to choose a research topic related to your career: When you work on a topic related to you interest area and work area, identifying minute facts, collecting primary data, finding existing research gaps and devising strategies for addressing them becomes easier. A research gap is defined as a topic or area for which insufficient information is available and this creates limitations for devising a questionnaire or schedule for the researcher. When you work sincerely on your topic, basically when you start reviewing literature from all sources such as Internet, news papers, journals, previous research work from University libraries, books and periodicals etc, addressing the research problem by devising strategies becomes easier. And, you can identify the research gaps also easily. You need to read up a lot because only the depth of information that you collect helps in designing your research work. It therefore becomes imperative to choose a meaningful research topic and a well-chosen research question can lead to a persuasive research work.

Researchers who publish a lot during after their PhD work are well-cited and can easily find satisfying jobs in academia or industry. Choosing the right research topic, thus, can open doors to getting desirable opportunities worldwide.

Check these strictures: Is your topic stimulating you to pursue it? And, will it sustain your interest in it till end? Is your research problem solvable? Is your topic contemporary in nature? Will it solve some social issues?  Can you manage the vastness of the topic? Can you design research problem easily in spite of its vastness? Is your topic making a novel contribution to the literature in the field? Will your research help you progress in your career? Please ponder on these points before topic selection.

Regular contact with your guide: After your topic selection, it is advisable to brainstorm thoroughly with your guide, established researchers, agencies and industry experts. Attend seminars, workshops to strengthen your network with the right people. Also, discuss with established researchers to get further insights. I advise taking up the relevant coursework (especially for interdisciplinary research areas) to simplify the process of research topic selection.

Conclusion: Choosing the right research question helps researchers stay focused and motivated throughout their career. Meaningful research questions eventually lead to meaningful discoveries and inventions, which is need of this hour.

One may write a thesis without any trouble or hindrance, may feel that he/she has chosen of the best topics for thesis, but until it goes in hands of the referees (external examiners) and they oaky the thesis for degree of PhD, the final result cannot be concluded. Sometimes the referee may ask the candidate to change certain portion of the thesis, sometimes a thesis is returned for rewriting it, sometimes the data gets too old and therefore goes back for rewriting and at times due to poor language the thesis is returned.

Who can be the appropriate examiner? The examiners’ knowledge of the subject area is most important. His/her capability to scrutinize, assess, previous experience of PhD examining, and the assessment criteria by the University where the student is registered is moreover significant. The examiner gets his independence to judge quality of the research. If that freedom is not given, its better a person denies the responsibility of assessing. He or she should possess a PhD. Often, due to shortage of examiners, many thesis are kept pending in universities.

There are some good and some not-so-good examiners: The good ones assess the strength and weaknesses of the thesis; they are critical yet aware of the facts and figures mentioned in the thesis. They give due credit to the researcher and the supervisor, they are empathetic. Good examiners are experienced ones; they have their style of assessing a thesis and a good track record of doing justice to their job. Whereas, some supervisors believe in negative marking, they concentrate on finding weaknesses in a thesis. They take pride in finding mistakes and sending the thesis for amendment. Honestly, this happens when examiners lack subject knowledge and insight of assessing a thesis. An examiner becomes mature after assessing several theses. He/she gets hands on experience after assessing a number of theses. An examiner is supposed to check what contribution a thesis makes to society; the worth of the topic, uniqueness of the topic, style of presentation, findings, and the conclusions drawn by the researcher are important.

These are few things to remember:

Good document: The thesis must come out as a good readable document. The chapter schemes must be laid in logical and inter-reliant manner. The examiner must not be strained while reading a thesis. There must be natural flow in the written presentation. The examiner will be looking at whether you know the current scenario in the subject area. He will look for the evidences you have presented. The evidence can be in debate form, case form, news form. In short, the examiner looks at how familiar the researcher is with the subject.

Data has age: Remember that the data has an age. In today’s world when things are short lived, do not ignore the gaps in the data. If you have a purpose for choosing gaps, please mention it. The examiner looks out for new ideas, new methods, new modelling, and new strategies presented by the researcher. Make sure, that your thesis makes a significant contribution to original topic. The examiner must not miss your contribution in the chosen area.

Components of a good thesis: The examiners will assess the success of your thesis based on these components: the research problem or the research question; the significance for choosing the research problem; the chapter scheme; the relationship of your thesis to previous work done in the area; how your thesis builds on or adds to existing knowledge in the area; use of appropriate methodology; literature reviewed; conclusions and observations in regards to the research question; bibliography (is a list that goes at the end of a work of research writing. The list contains all the sources utilized in the thesis) there are marks for the bibliography, it goes to show quality of what you have picked up from existing theory, news, the books/journals etc.  A thorough examiner checks the bibliography to establish that all major writers are included. If they are not, you may fail to meet a major credibility criterion.

The role of your supervisor is vital: He must tell at each step of the research what is wrong and how to correct it. You can use your supervisor as a sounding-board in all of the above areas. Think of your supervisor as the channel between you and the examiner. He/she can tell you what the examiners look for. In my opinion, the guide must have experience of examining few theses, so that he/she can tell the gaps. A mature and serious guide will keep showing you whether your thesis demonstrates the capacity to be developed systematically over the length of the dissertation; whether it is ready in all areas in terms of writing and presentation.

The viva: the external examiners often start out by trying to put the candidate at ease. They usually tell the candidate what they expect to see and hear in the presentation. Even in the case of a well-written thesis, the viva can be tough. The examiner looks forward to discuss the thesis topic in more details. It is good practice to approach the viva as a discussion among professionals. A good examiner will never let down or ridicule the student, or ask questions aggressively or dismiss responses without due consideration. The supervisor is an onlooker; rarely the examiner asks questions to the supervisor. But, presence of the supervisor is a must. If the viva turns tangential, the supervisor can give his/her opinion. At the end of the questioning, it is also good practice for examiners to ask the student if there are any questions they want to ask, or any points they want to make about the thesis, the examination process or supervision. A logically concluded viva must not last for more than an hour.

PPT Presentation: make a Power-Point presentation not exceeding 25 slides covering research problem, literature review, chapter scheme, what they cover, hypothesis, research methodology, findings and conclusions. After which, the examiner may ask questions, sometimes examiners ask questions during PPT Presentation itself.  Take time to think before replying, remember to breathe and to speak practically slowly. Don’t become nervous, if the examiner criticises a point, don’t take it personally. Don’t become defensive. Instead, take the opportunity to talk about your research.

The questions that crop up in vivas are: What the thesis is about? What did you do? What did you find? Why does that matter? The time taken for completing the research, why that much time was taken?  What was the experience of data collection, methodology, statistical tools and its effects etc? Remember to keep a clam mind, exuberance and liveliness matters. Wear a formal outfit.