How to Find a Research Idea?

I have always been surprised to see students asking others (mainly in social media groups) what should I work on for my PhD? What should be my research topic for my PhD? Before asking others, one must always have an idea. I understand that students usually are not sure if their initial ideas are good enough or if they should stick to their initial ideas, whether they will be able to come up with better ones later or not? However, I am suggesting a few things which might help students to deal with this dilemma.
1) Choosing a research topic is like choosing something to stick with for a couple of years. So, before you decide your topic, ask yourself what do you enjoy the most? What do you really dislike doing?
2) PhD is about the skills you can learn and use in your career later on. So, once you know your liking and disliking, you should ask yourself what skills and knowledge do you want to achieve? What are you already good at and what is it that you want to improve?
3) Answering these questions will be like a self-assessment and you might get some picture of what you may be doing during your PhD.
4) Start investigating things that grab your interest. This might not be what you end up researching, but just exploring your subject can lead to unexpected ideas.
5) Make a list of initial ideas that you get. Share these ideas with people in your department, and see what they think. You may also go to attend a few conferences to see what other people are doing or what are the trending topic in your area. Special issues in the top tier journal within your academic discipline can also Help.

6) Once you go through these steps and you are not having one great idea, try combining your ideas in new ways. For instance, applying technique A in area B. When you find a combination that could be interesting, useful, or even exciting, go for it.

Remember that there are very few truly original ideas, but there are always new perspectives on old problems. Try to do your homework before you commit to something you need to work on for 3-4 very important years of your life. PhD is worth doing all this hard work. Stay happy and blessed.



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