How to find a good topic for a PhD research proposal? In many countries an application for a PhD position includes a written research proposal, so my questions is what are some advises/strategies to come up with a good topic/idea for a PhD research proposal and how can one assess the quality/fruitfulness of an idea? As an undergraduate student one just doesn't have the experience to foresee which ideas might have promising research results and which probably won't have. (And I doubt that potential supervisors have the time to comment on every idea of every potential applicant in cases where it is possible to establish some kind of contact before the actual application.)
Jot down your interests.
Future goals (long term and short term). Doesn't have to be accurate but just to give you the "big picture".
Speak with your PhD advisor (if you already have one).
Align his/her interests with yours and see if you have common ground (you may need to lean towards his interests or find another advisor)
Once you have a list of topics that you could explore, do a literature review and figure out for what topics you'd have a taste.


Each person has his own formula on what to choose as their PhD proposal. This was the way I went about it.

PhD (Mechanical Engineering Expected Fall 2012)