RE: PhD research Query

["Zafar, Salim" <salim.zafar () pec com>]

I am in the process of obtaining a phd currently. My two cents on the
subject. If you dont pick an area you will never finish. Also the chances of
someone doing the exact same thing down to methodology, tools used, results
obtained are really slim. Like someone told me "you are not getting a phd to
solve world hunger or to come up with something deserving a nobel prize...
just making a slight contribution to existing field of science." 

My lesson learnt so far has been to figure out "exactly" what you are going
to do before doing the proposal defense. Down to what analysis, techniques,
tool required, expected results etc. Obviously to accomplish this, you need
to do a literature review in the field. So doing a comprehensive literature
review and organizing your literature and where everything fits in a big
picture is vital. Once you have convinced your advisor you have a grasp on
the topic and have a solid roadmap leading to dissertation defense -
preferrably before your proposal defense, the following stages will become
relatively less painful. Best of luck. 

One more thing... in computer security if you find a hole in microsoft's
latest OS. That is not a contribution to the field of science. It is a
contribution to Microsoft. Some people in my program tried to find 100
different ways to "improve snort analysis" as topics of research. Its a big
no no. Its important to read  literature from reputable sources i.e. journals
from IEEE, ACM and existing phd thesis from MIT etc.  

Salim