APPLICATION
Research direction
You do not need a final thesis topic at the outset. Start with a broad interest, then check active questions, common methods, and relevant faculty. From there, choose a direction for further reading and research planning.
name the population, conditions, and relationship.
a topic fixed too early leaves no room to adjust.
a live lab or grant gives you a foothold.
novelty you cannot finish is not a direction.
a gap is fine if you know which one.
shared terms find more faculty than one topic.
The tool uses the undergraduate major, goals, academic field, and free text shown on the confirmation screen. Research interests, thesis work, and coursework from your profile appear as optional records; nothing is added automatically.
The tool compares the confirmed input with public faculty, publication, and KAKEN data, then organizes up to three directions. Each includes a central question, related fields, common methods, and the distribution of relevant faculty.
For each direction, the report explains its connection to your background, knowledge to add, useful search terms, representative research, and relevant faculty. Topic examples are clearly marked as suggestions.
After choosing a direction, you can review related faculty and admissions information. The confirmed direction can also carry into research-plan drafting and faculty-perspective review.
As you prepare for graduate applications, consider what you have studied, what you hope to investigate next, and the degree you are seeking. Bringing that background together can help narrow your direction and give you a starting point for comparing programs and preparing a proposal.
If you are still choosing a direction, start with a problem you hope to address or a field you have already encountered. Choosing the more familiar starting point can turn a broad interest into leads for further reading, comparing courses, and finding research groups.
A thesis, methods you have actually used, and existing work can show where your research begins. Recalling what you did and what you learned gives you concrete evidence for an application and helps connect a later research question and method to your experience.
Candidate directions and fit evidence · select one before generating the report