It is time to choose the topic for your Capstone Project. Over the course of your master’s program, topics of interest in your specialization related to you personally, or to your professional or volunteer work.

This week, as you think about these topics, you will select one to explore in detail and begin to identify a key problem within the topic that will become the focus of the Capstone Project. Because the project requires a great deal of time and effort over the next 9 weeks, be sure to choose a topic about which you are passionate. At the same time, remember that the Capstone Project is a research paper, so your topic needs to be objectively researched in the academic literature. There are some topics that one feels so strongly about that one cannot objectively review all sides of the issue. These would not be suitable topics for the Capstone.

Although you may be feeling a bit of anxiety about identifying your topic and problem, there is no better way to deal with anxiety than by jumping right in and getting started. The first thing to do in any research project is to find out exactly what it is that requires research. In other words, the first thing to do is to examine the question, How do I identify the problem that will be the focus of my Capstone Project?

Once you have chosen a topic, this Discussion provides the opportunity to share with your classmates your choice of topic and the problem that you have identified.

For this Discussion, you will examine your process for deciding on a research topic, including the critical thinking involved, and begin to describe a specific problem within that topic that will become the focus of your Capstone Project.

*****(I am personally interested in topics relating to work-life balance, motivation in the workplace, leadership, and turnover/retention)****

To prepare:

• Consider a topic of interest related to your MS specialization area.
• Review the Learning Resources for this week, especially those related to choosing a topic and narrowing your search.
• Search the Walden University Library and/or the Internet and complete a preliminary search in the academic literature to make sure there are scholarly sources, primarily current peer-reviewed journal articles, about this topic.
• Identify a specific problem within this topic that will become the focus of your Capstone Project.
• Present a brief summary of your topic. Support your information with citations to the research literature about your topic. Explain the specific problem within this topic that you are interested in focusing on for your Capstone Project. Briefly explain why you selected the topic and its relevance to your specialization area.