本文通过对哈佛大学近二十年文学类博士论文定题的考察，发现这些论文在选题方面主要有四大类型，即总括型、描述型、观点型和思想型，并且呈现出明显的跨学科、跨领域、跨时空、跨媒介和跨语种等特点。 本文分析认为，以哈佛大学为代表的美国名校博士生在论文定题时始终坚持开创性原则，以问题意识为导向，注重选题的创新性、学术性和系统性，这对于国内相应专业博士生在学位论文定题方面很有启发意义和参考价值。

Based on the investigation of Harvard University’s doctoral dissertations on literature in the past 20 years, this paper finds that there are four main types of topics in these dissertations, namely, the general type, the descriptive type, the viewpoint type and the ideological type. These topics are interdisciplinary, and have crossed field, time and space, media and language. This paper argues that when deciding thesis topics doctoral students in prestigious American universities, represented by Harvard University, always adhere to the pioneering principle, are guided by problem awareness, and pay attention to the innovation, academic rigor and systematicity of topic selection. These findings are instructive and valuable for foreign literature doctoral students in domestic universities and scientific research institutions in determining thesis titles, and also have certain value for the cultivation of doctoral students’ academic literacy and the improvement of their research ability.