When should i consider changing my topic?
As you research or begin to analyze literature sources, you may find out that the chosen topic is not ideal. Consider changing your topic when:
- There are
no sources or
only one single source of published literature.
- The topic does not meet the expectations of your target audience.
- The topic has no significant medical value to your target audience.
- The topic cannot be narrowed down to a specific subject.
- You have no interest in or are bored by the topic.
- The topic is too neutral to express your own interpretations and judgments (synthesis, analysis and evaluation) or leads to conclusions that have no medical value or significance.
- The topic has already been published by others.
- Summarizing or reporting published work done by others as your own original work is
plagiarism . To avoid plagiarism, use those published sources as supporting data to explore a different aspect of the same topic.
- For example, there are many peer-reviewed publications about using drug X for the prevention of heart attacks and meta-analysis reviews of the efficacy and benefits of drug X in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders.
- The topic of your thesis should cover a different aspect from what it is already published about drug X.
- It can be about why drug X is a better treatment than drug Y, the most common treatment for heart attacks or what are the risks associated with the short/ long-term use of drug X in diabetic patients who suffer from cardiovascular disorders.
- The topic is highly controversial and published sources are highly subjective instead of objective.
- A Master’s thesis paper is objective and should include objective peer-reviewed supportive data or findings to support your own interpretation (synthesis, analysis and evaluation). It cannot be based on unsubstantiated personal opinions or biases.
- If supportive data is not available, a Master’s thesis paper cannot be developed.
- Consider that a controversial topic may require more time to search for objective literature sources and your assignment may be due before your thesis paper is properly researched and developed.
Searching for a topic
There must be a recent medical discovery or finding about your topic. It cannot re-iterate or summarize information from Wikipedia, online clinical/patient websites, published books or medical/patient pamphlets. When in doubt, your topic should answer
all the three questions below:
- Ask yourself: what is new about this topic?
- What can I or others learn from this topic that it has not been published/overstated before?
- What is my opinion on this issue?
Websites to search for NEW medical discoveries or findings:
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You can also search for your topic using medical specialty fields . Click on the following links to begin your search:
-
(External Link)&format=AT
- Choose a specialty field and search the table of contents
OR
- Under the search tab, choose Journals or Clinics Reviews Articles and type a topic of interest, then hit search
If you are interested in metabolic disorders , please click on any of the links below:
Skim through references/bibliography sections for published literature that interests you. Write or print published articles that interest you.
Narrowing the topic
As you search for your topic, you must organize, interpret, evaluate and print/write the results of your search. Your topic can be narrowed down to a specific subject depending on the type of literature sources found during your general topic search. To help you narrow your topic to a specific subject, enter the number of literature sources you have found/collected for each of the categories in the table below.
|
Aspect |
| Supportive Evidence or Data |
Prevention |
Management |
Diagnosis |
Treatment |
|
Numerical Data&Results |
|
|
|
|
| Changes/Regulations |
|
|
|
|
|
Discoveries/Improvements |
|
|
|
|
| Current Standard |
|
|
|
|
Other questions to consider when narrowing your topic are:
- Who is your audience? Who can benefit from this information?
- What are the causes or issues? What are the results? What is useful about this? What is the value/purpose of this paper?
- How does this make a difference? How is it an improvement?
- When does this make a difference?
- Why is this interesting to know? Why is this important? Why is this valuable?
Match each of the four aspects with their corresponding supportive evidence or data on the left column. The pair that has the highest number is your specific subject. Save this table for future reference. This table can provide you with other aspects to study for your thesis paper without changing published references or the topic.
Searching for published sources:
Below are some helpful website links to help you search for peer-reviewed published literature:
