Need help with a PhD proposal!!!

[monkeymonkeymoomoo]

Submitting next week, just wanted to know what makes for a good proposal?

(Its in the social sciences field)

Ooooh let me help, let me help!

First off, have you got:
-research questions
-lit review
-methodology?
-timescale?

I've got...

Background to research (lit review highlighting gaps in the literature)
Research question and objectives
Methodology: flexible design (qualitative research) - rough order of methods and justification

Haven't touched on timescales? Also do I need to explain and outline the skills I can bring to such a project?

Are you applying for some kind of funding as well or just admission?

Is the proposal for the institution you're applying to? Mine wants something on the timescale, mainly as evidence you've considered it.

Your skills and experiences should definitely be somewhere on the application but whether they should be on the proposal itself depends if there is anywhere else they can go.

If it's for a particular institution you might want to say specifically why that it the best place for you to work (supervision, resources, graduate culture etc) ...

Agree with lionheart (I usually do !) about why you want to go to that particular place.

Ours also asks something about any particular training needs (e.g. do you need to learn a foreign language or how to use a particular computer programme or to do palaeography, or whatever... [probably not the last one, I guess, but it was the only other thing that came to mind...]).

Good luck!

If possible, it's worth really stressing how it will be policy relevant (if it is) i.e. how will your findings influence current practice in this area?

It is for a studentship provided by the institution.

I could say how it is policy relevant but it is quite a theoretical question if that makes sense!!

Be confident about the importance of the subject but not over-confident.... quite hard to judge that, so get someone else to read it and see what they think.

Also I've only got 500 words, so not much room to say anything substantial... how much focus do I need to put on the methodology? 250 words more less?

I am so scared of this thing Really want to do this and have been waiting for such an opportunity for years but frightened of looking uninformed and incompetent... need a virtual kick up the arse

250 sounds about right to me - it is the most important part IMO.

Have a drink and then write it, then review it sober (that's what my old supervisor told me to do).

All PhD proposals are guesswork in a sense because projects often change radically within the first year. So you're really just showing you can write logically and that you know what a PhD involves and what a doctoral project consists of.

Just remembered something else I say to students.... one of the most important things is to make sure the different bits of the proposal hang together, so the methodology really does answer the questions, and the questions arise from the lit review, etc. If there is a logical thread through it you can't go far wrong.

I don't think you need to mention reasons for applying to that institution in the actual proposal - maybe include that in your covering letter or there might be a space for that on the application form if there is one?

IMO what makes for a good proposal as well as all the sections on methods, lit review, etc that have already been mentioned is a genuine passion for / interest in the subject. This is more likely though to come across in any interview you may need to attend.

One mistake many PhD students make in the early stages of their research is to try to attempt too much. Are your research questions clear, focussed and feasible? Are your methods appropriate to the proposed study? That's what I would be looking for in a proposal.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone, will attempt to write something down tonight or tomorrow! Will let you know how I get on

I know science is different, but on the panel I'm on timelines are considered very important. It has to be achievable in the time and with proper goals. Hypotheses always important too, but I have learnt from gess that not all fields require hypotheses

Thanks everyone, am in the process of writing it now Aided by Christmas pudding (!) found at the back of my food cupboard and copious amounts of tea

Good move. Christmas pud is bound to help . Good luck!

Thanks Ellbell Had a particulaly rubbish day at work yesterday which provided me with the motivation to get this done and do it well... sigh...

Good luck!
By the way, Guitargirl's advice is really really good.

I wouldn't worry unduly about how achievable it is at the proposal stage. I remember looking back at my PhD proposal and thinking there were actually about 10 PhDs in there. That's normal and anyone assessing it will realise that; that's the nature of research. Sure, make sure that it offers an original insight or contribution, but ensure that it also fits firmly into some sort of current debate, framework, methodology...whatever.
Best of luck. BTW - I'm sure there are some social scientists on here who could review a draft for you if you asked nicely???

I disagree DrDaddy. If it is too broad it looks like you haven't bothered to find out what a PhD actually consists of.

Looking back at mine it was also huge and unfocussed and would never pass muster today - I think these days now funding bodies are stricter about prompt completion rates the universities asking for more fully worked out and realistic proposals.

Kathy - You may be right. I did my PhD in the mid nineties, so I'd certainly enter a caveat on that basis. And it wasn't in social science either. Getting the proposal accepted is one thing. That's the aim here. After that, the research will go in many different directions before the actual thesis topic emerges...At least that was my experience as a postgrad and postdoc. Or do people actually through proposals back at people these days and demand to know why a particular question wasn't answered??

through should've been throw obviously....sorry ...multitasking here

They still go off in unpredictable directions.... the proposal is more of a work of fiction than it used to be, I think.

Haven't heard of anyone looking back at a proposal later on but I could imagine it being done in a disciplinary situation if a student was all over the place and refusing to buckle down to a single area.