Thesis Proposal Wisdom

 

  1. You should be thinking about your thesis proposal from day one. Read in your topic area voraciously. Good research proposals identify gaps in knowledge. It is difficult to identify gaps without a good overview of what has, and what has not, been done.

    2.  

  2. Thesis research is opportunistic—if you have a connection with an organization or agency—use it. However, the proposal must still be science-based.

    3.  

  3. Many thesis proposals tend to be idealistic in orientation. You want to save the world or make the world a better place. That is why you are in college. A college degree based on science may not be the best tool for achieving your goals. The best science is that in which your personal human values are suppressed and/or controlled.

    4.  

  4. GIS is an analytical tool. It is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. GIS is a fishing expedition and good science is not a fishing expedition. A good research problem tells us more about what we know than what we don’t know.