Your task this week is to further narrow down your potential topics for your dissertation work. In addition, you will start to identify scholarly resources and search engines to help prepare you to begin an exhaustive review of the literature.
Begin by choosing three general potential topic areas to study (My topic-Resiliency of English learners in learning). Then, you can obtain a research topic after completing a literature review. For example, you might want to explore bullying among children with learning disorders. At this point, you are not searching for a single, narrow topic and crafting a research question. You will start from the beginning, exploring several different topics of interest to you so that you can begin searching for literature on each topic. This literature will support the need for further inquiry into a topic rather than just basing it on your interests. Once you become familiar with the research and theory that exists regarding your topic, you can begin to identify if further research is needed.
Next, you will describe each general topic and the degree to which each is worthy of doctoral-level study in psychology. Include your thoughts on possible problems in the area that would allow you to make a contribution to theory. A “doctoral-level” study problem is one that contributes to our understanding of theory – “our” meaning psychologists and scholars. The key to theory contribution is beginning with a specific theory. Consider what theories may be associated with research in each topic area of interest to you.
Finally, you will identify several search terms/key words you could use to gather a number of peer-reviewed resources for each potential topic area. You will also make note of potential resources and search engines you can use to obtain scholarly sources.
