The video below explains my approach to coaching including how to:
- Prepare Yourself Mentally
- Prepare for the Research
- Find a Research Topic
- Narrow Your Topic
- Create a Problem Statement

One of the key challenges to getting your proposal accepted is identifying the specific need for your study. The link below presents 3 concrete examples of how to find the gap in the literature and establish the need for your unique study. Following the process of how I coach each client through this critical task will give you a clearer vision of the process you’ll need to go through to gain approval of your dissertation proposal.
Review This Powerpoint I Created To Help You Find “The Gap”
Most candidates begin with a broad topic of interest that will need to be narrowed down to a manageable and researchable focus.
This process of identifying a topic, connecting the topic to both the literature and practice problems, and narrowing the focus can be challenging. This presentation will address those challenges by walking you through this process step by step.
The presentation above covers 3 examples of:
• Identifying your topic of interest
• Grounding your topic in the literature
• Locating a gap in the literature
• Defining your specific research focus
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Published by Dr. Kat Malinsky
Bringing over 20 years of experience mentoring doctoral candidates. Through regularly scheduled coaching sessions I assist my clients in creating and maintaining structure and accountability. Specifically, I mentor clients through focusing their dissertation topics, proposal approvals, responding to Committee feedback, and completing their dissertations.
View all posts by Dr. Kat Malinsky