Postgraduate research application tips

What to include

Your research proposal should provide a clear outline of the research and the context in which it sits.

Your application should answer:

• what is the research
• why is it being undertaken
• how is it going to be carried out
• how the Masters by Research, MPhil or PhD submission is going to be presented

Make the language accessible to non-specialists. And in the case of an MPhil/PhD or PhD registration, indicate the anticipated contribution to knowledge.

Four essential points to cover

1. Set out the research question and/or the context in which it sits. Justify why the research is worth carrying out and include a statement of aims and objectives
2. Detail the work that is going to be undertaken, the methodologies and why they are being used. Define aims and objectives and add a provisional timescale which breaks down into sections. For an MPhil/PhD proposal, indicate when transfer would be expected to take place
3. Define the nature of the submission. Most submissions will include a substantial piece of written work but for certain subjects, such as creative industries or humanities, it could include other outputs, such as a live performance, a script or film. It is accepted that the nature of the submission may change as the research progresses, but it is helpful to indicate current thinking
4. Include references or information sources referred to in the text, if applicable. Lists of references and/or a reading list may not be appropriate in some areas of research

Detail is vital

Applications that are not approved tend to fall down in one or more of the areas above.

For example, in a scientific or technological project, a particular quantity is proposed for measurement but it is not clear how it will be measured or why this quantity is important.  This is just a question of getting the level of detail right.

The same is true of projects involving questionnaires, where it is often unclear as to how many people will be polled and the anticipated response rate.

For creative projects, a good indication of the number of artefacts and their complexity may be appropriate.

If in doubt, include more detail but exercise common sense. A research proposal which runs to up to two pages of single-spaced A4 (possibly with an appended reading list and/or a project management sheet such as a Gantt chart) is fine but a ten-sheet application of unfocussed repetition is not!