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