Dissertation ideas....where do you start??

Question

I am doing an Applied Social Sciences course and we are due to start doing our dissertation for Honours year.

But I can't think of where to start. How do I narrow down possible options?

I think I might like to do a sociological dissertation, but I am not sure.

I am thinking of nationalism...maybe.

Please give links to useful ideas sites if you have them, I am beginning to think that some universites are more helpful if providing a list of possible options. Thanks

Answer 1

Being passionate about your subject matter will really help. Moreover if there is something in the media at the moment e.g Crime asbos. It is easier to research and a lot more information is at hand.

Answer 2

The best dissertations often come from a good research question. Re-read things you've been interested in during your studies and see if any interesting questions strike you about what's already been written. Setting out to explore and answer one question that interests you is a great way to keep yourself focused and will lend structure to your dissertation. My dissertation title was 'What motivates ethnic cleansing" - there was so much material available I had to narrow it down to focus on a particular incidence, but I ended up with a first.

Answer 3

I agree, being passionate about something will really help to keep you on track. Also, although it makes it more difficult to find information , writing about something that hasn't been written about very much is a very good starting point for a dissertation. Personally, my starting point was that I disagreed with a specific text that we had looked at in class and I took it from there. I think it's best to start asap. My dissertation started as one thing but ended up as another over time as I played around with what worked and what didn't. Good luck with it!

Answer 4

well from what I've learnt sociology is such a massive subject. You really have your choice of anything. It's always good to do something a bit controversial. It's best to ask yourself the question what are you passionate about? Seeing as you'll be writing it for such a long time, you need something you love to write about. Not much help but a hard question!

Answer 5

Find a subject, norrow it down to a question.
For example
Sociology of education - you could do something obvious like why girls are outperforming boys. You might want to think what should be done to narrow this gender gap in educational achievement. Just a suggestion.

Or you could do something on pay gaps in employment, discrimination. There is a huge choice. Please visit this site for some more ideas: http://qb.soc.surrey.ac.uk/docs/topics.htm

Answer 6

Try this one: http://www.coursework4you.co.uk/P_S_56_Ethnic_identity.html