Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Graduate School
TheGraduateSchoolsupports postgraduatestudentsinthefollowing areas:
Fundingopportunities Support Training: o skillsandpersonaldevelopment Networkingopportunities Presentingyourresearch: o GradTV,eportfolios,postercompetition
WhatisaResearchProposal?
Adocumentexplainingwhatyouwould liketoresearchforyourPhD Theproposalneedstoaddress:
o Whyyourproposedresearchisimportant o Whatgapincurrentliteratureyouplantofill o Whatrelevanceyourproposedresearchhas
OutlineoftheProposal
Intendedareaofresearch Coreresearchquestions Possiblemethodologies Approachproposed HowwillyoucompletethePhDinthe timeavailable Potentialsupervisor(ifyouhave identifiedone)
Alwayscheckwithyourprospectivedepartmentor supervisoraboutanyspecificrequirementsthey mayhaveaboutyourresearchproposal.
HowdoIstart?
Remember: Ittakestimetoputtogethera successfulresearchproposal Startbyaskingandanswering questionssoyoufullyunderstand whereyourinterestslie Seekadvicefromanacademicif necessary Organise yourthoughtsandnotes beforeyoubeginyourfirstdraft
Statementofresearch question
Yourresearchquestionshould addressthefollowing:
Whatyourresearchintendstoshowor find Whatspecificquestionsyourresearch willattempttoanswer Whattherelevanceisofthetopic withinthedisciplineandmorewidely Whyyourresearchisofacademicor practicalimportance
Aboutyou
Statewhatmakesyouinterestedin thisareaofresearchand Whatknowledgeandprevious experienceyouwillbringtothe research Alsoprovideevidenceofyour awarenessofkeytextsandtheir relevancetotheproposedresearch
Methodology
Explainbrieflyhowyouproposeto conducttheresearch Statewhatresourcesyouwillrequire (e.g.accesstospecialistlibraries, equipment,proposedfieldwork) Highlightanyproblemsyoumay encounterandhowyouhopetosolve them. Demonstrateanawarenessof planningandthetimescaleofthe research.
Referencesand Bibliography
Alistoftextsyouplantoconsult. Marksourcesthatareparticularly useful. Listthereferencesusedinyour proposal
Commonproblems
Somereasonsforrejection:
a. Theresearchtopicistoogeneral youneedtobespecificaspossible b. Theproposaldoesnotdemonstrate strongcriticalinsightintocurrent academicdebates c. Thefocusoftheresearchdoesnotfit withoursupervisorycompetencies
Applying to Warwick
Online application complete it as fully as possible 2 academic referees Degree transcripts English language test certificate (if appropriate) Research proposal www.warwick.ac.uk/go/pg/apply
Othersources
www.warwick.ac.uk
GraduateSchool StudyPages Researchpagesofdepartments