On November 4th, 2013, Professor Wu Xudong delivered an excellent lecture onTopic Selection and Innovation in Academic Research. The lecture attracted many scholars and students on and off campus.
At the very beginning, Professor Wu emphasized the importance of topic selection in academic research. Besides, he stressed that a carefully selected academic topic is not only the first step in doing research but also a reflection of the researcher’s innovative capability. He further elaborated the essence of topic selection in academic research, based on which five information items that should be included in the justification of a selected topic were proposed, namely, the research question, reasons for this question, theories lending support for the selected topic, theoretical and practical significance of this topic, solutions to the problem as well as supportive evidence for those solutions.
Taking a journal article as an example, Professor Wu analyzed the representation of the five above mentioned items in detail and made a critical comment. In the meanwhile, he also gave an earnest warning to the participants that one should dissect a research question with full carefulness and clarify the problem with great clearness so as to avoid detours on the road of research.
Then Professor Wu summarized thoroughly three common problems in the selection of a research topic. The first one is the lack of in-depth analysis on the existing problems in terms of relevant research; instead, the focus is frequently limited to the simple description of phenomena. The omission of justification on research significance is the second drawback and the final one is the absence of clear statement on solutions to certain problems. Meanwhile, probable reasons for these demerits are also carefully investigated by Professor Wu who stated that these issues could be explained by a list of factors, such as the insufficient and carelessness of literature reading, the inappropriateness of literature review, and the lack of consciousness in analyzing research question, etc.
In the end, Professor Wu put forward some suggestions for these common defects in topic selection that researchers should read both extensively and intensively in relevant research field, have a good master of methods on induction and integration, and learn to dissect research question. By analyzing a journal article, he illustrated how to operationalize these general solutions so that a gain of clearer understanding could be achieved.
This lecture has aroused heated discussion among teachers and students. Participants raised a series of questions that commonly occurred in their practical selection of research topics. Professor Wu then gave his explanations with great patience and carefulness. In a word, this lecture is both inspiring and rewarding.
