Ideas and others

It all begins with an idea, so the cliché goes. But I think that ideas begin somewhere else.

It may be the conversation you have with a colleague over lunch. Or perhaps it’s the paper your lecturer mentioned in a seminar. Or it’s the book you read, which made you think, and look for more, and you thought: ‘what if…?’, or ‘what about…?’, and couldn’t find an answer to that. Or perhaps you found an answer but were not convinced, and decided there was more to be said.

In any case, ideas don’t begin on their own, and I think they don’t begin on your own either. The spark that ignites them into research questions is other people.

Writing academic research can be a lonely, even isolating process. Even when you have very supportive supervisors, or are part of a team or lab, you are the only one writing your thesis. And when you are on your own, your thoughts and ideas can start going round in circles.

So having a good support network is important. Talking about what you are going through in the process of writing, as well as the content of your research, is important. So reach out to your peers, mentors, coach, even friends, and talk it out. They might not have all the answers, but they will ask you questions that will help you figure it out.