I will be starting my third and final year at the University of Cumbria is two weeks' time. Since the end of Year Two, I have been wondering what I could write my dissertation about. I knew I wanted to write about travel journalism, after all, I'm doing a B.A. degree in the subject, but I couldn't come up with a decent question.

When I had to write a Research Proposal at the end of Year Two, my question was this: "Are travel blogs replacing guidebooks as the main source of travel information?" However, I am not really interested in online journalism and didn't particularly like the qustion. I mean, after all, when you write your bachelor thesis about a topic, you should be interested in it, and not bored before you even start writing.

My new question will be: "In what ways does travel writing in the United Kingdom differ from journalistic convention in Germany?" The good thing is, I can use most of the books I already reviewed and I can write about the differences in journalism that I witness everytime I go home and work at my local paper in Germany.