Part I – From Confusion to Clarity: Choosing Your Research Direction¶
“Before you publish your first paper or build your thesis prototype, you must first learn to stand still in the chaos—and then choose where to go.”
🌪️ From Overwhelm to Focus¶
Every new researcher faces a moment of disorientation.
You're told to “do research,” but nobody tells you how to pick a topic, what counts as a contribution, or even which problems are worth solving. Your head spins with buzzwords—AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, NLP, cloud, HCI—and somehow, you're supposed to pick one and go deep?
This part exists to anchor you before the storm sweeps you away.
These first three chapters help you navigate the early wilderness of research with intention—not by giving you the “correct” topic, but by equipping you with the mental tools to choose your topic well.
What You’ll Master in This Part¶
- The emotional and cognitive chaos of starting research—and how to survive it
- Different types of computer science research (theoretical, applied, system-level, empirical, etc.)
- Strategic criteria for narrowing down a thesis topic that’s both feasible and meaningful
- The difference between passion projects and publishable research—and where they can overlap
Chapter Breakdown¶
| Chapter | Title | What You’ll Learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Chaos Before the Focus | The psychological journey of choosing a topic, and why it's okay to feel lost |
| 2 | Types of CS Research Topics | Comparative overview of research categories and how to find what fits you |
| 3 | How to Settle on a Thesis Topic | Filters for choosing a viable topic: feasibility, relevance, personal alignment |
Why This Part Matters¶
Too many students waste months chasing ideas that are either too vague, too ambitious, or disconnected from their interests.
This part is here to prevent that.
By the end of Part I, you’ll be able to:
- Articulate why you’re pursuing research in the first place
- Classify and compare different research styles and domains
- Make a clear, well-reasoned decision about your research direction
This clarity is your foundation. Everything else—literature reviews, experiments, papers—will be built on it.