Failure to develop a dissertation topic and proposal is sometimes thedownfall of graduate students. The course work may go well, examsmay be passed with flying colors, and the students may evensuccessfully write and present papers at conferences. The elusivedissertation topic, though, may continue to bring them misery. Oneproblem is that students may wait too long to develop an idea;having no concept of what a dissertation should be and not knowinghow to narrow their wide ranging interests into manageable projects,they flounder. They meet real trouble because they wait until theyfinish courses and exams before they even consider the topics onwhich to write their dissertations.