Finding your topic

A good topic sits where three things meet: what interests you, what matters in your field, and what you can actually research with your time and resources.

AI is excellent for the early, messy stage of finding that overlap. You can ask it to suggest angles, list current debates, or connect your interests to real problems.

A useful starting prompt:

I am a [your level] student in [your field]. I am interested in [your interests].
Suggest 10 possible dissertation topics that are specific enough to research in
[your time frame]. For each, give one sentence on why it matters.

Treat the list as raw material, not answers. The ideas that make you curious are the ones worth keeping. Then check whether real sources exist on them before you commit.

Practice

Use a prompt like the one above to generate ten topic ideas. Cross out the ones that bore you. Circle the two or three that excite you most.