Mining Ideas: How to Discover Dissertation Topics Using Google Scholar

[gregoryrobinson88]

Exploring Google Scholar research topics. You can literally spend hours just following citations and discovering gaps in the literature.

Start broad—search something like “sustainable tourism” or “fintech innovation”—then narrow it by adding keywords like “AI,” “policy,” or “user adoption.” It’s amazing how a tiny tweak in search terms can surface entirely new angles.

One of my favorite tricks is checking highly cited papers and then looking at who cited them next. That’s usually where fresh, unexplored topics for dissertations are hiding.

Also, the “related articles” and “alerts” features are gold for keeping up with emerging trends. You end up with a mix of classic foundational studies and cutting-edge research that can really inspire your own dissertation topic.

TL;DR: Google Scholar isn’t just for reading papers—it’s like a brainstorming engine for research ideas. Perfect for students hunting dissertation topics in any field!