PhD_Research_Proposal_Guidelines

1

Ph.D. Research Proposal Guidelines

English, PolyU

The

Ph.D.

Research

Proposal

is

a

critical

phase

of

the

extended

process

of

undertaking to do a Ph.D.. It is the central part of your application to be admitted

to a Ph.D. programme, and depending on the nature and quality of your proposal,

you will either be admitted or not.

The

main

goals

of

your

research

proposal

are

(i)

to

give

you

an

opportunity

to

think

through

your

area

of

research

carefully

and

systematically

and

(ii)

to

demonstrate that your research would be both desirable and feasible to undertake

—

that it would make a positive difference to the research community (and even to

the

wider

community), and

to

show

that

you

are

able

to

undertake

the

research

that you propose, e.g. that you are familiar with the central aspects of the area of

research

within

which

the

research

you

propose

can

be

located.

Previous

experience with research will of course be very helpful to you, including courses on

research methodology. You can also gain insights by reading about how to develop

and write research proposals (see references below), and by reading a number of

examples of research proposals, in particular

—

but not only

—

in your own area

of research. Similarly, reviewing theses that have been submitted is a helpful way of

developing a clear sense of the nature and scope of Ph.D. research.

It is helpful to think about a proposal for Ph.D. research in the same way you would

think about a research proposal you produce in order to submit to some funding

agency

to

seek

a

research

grant:

you

are

essentially

asking

for

considerable

support

and

resources,

so

you

have

to

make a strong

case that

the research

you

propose

merits

the

support and the

resources and

that

you

are

well prepared

to

undertake it. You are of course

making the heaviest investment yourself: you are

proposing

to

devote

three

to

four

years

(or

the

part-time

equivalent)

of

your

working life to this project, so it should be one that really fascinates you and one

that you can remain committed to for a considerable length of time.

Like

all

research

proposals,

your

proposal

for

Ph.D.

research

will

go

through

a

number

of

draft

versions

before

you

finalize

it

and

submit

it

as

part

of

your

application. If you are admitted, you can still change aspects of the research that

you

put

forward

in

your

proposal,

in

consultation

with

your

supervisor

and

the

Departmental Research Committee. It is quite normal in research projects that the

execution of research plans will produce results that were not entirely predictable,

so there will be good reason to adjust the research plan, particularly in the early

stages of the research. This is one reason why it is helpful to build a pilot study into

the overall research project.

When

you

write

each

section

of

the

proposal, try

to

produce

the most

central or

nuclear

statements

first

so

that

the

overall

organization

of

the

proposal

is

clear

and easy to follow. Make sure you proofread the proposal carefully, using tools like

spell- checkers.

2

You

can

find

many

useful

discussions

of

the

task

of

developing

a

Ph.D.

research

proposal on the web, e.g.

/d eptpages/~tcwritingcenter/Forms_of_Writing/Rese

/dissthes/

/expo rt/sites/cofa/research/cofa_research_downl

< br>oads/Writing_a_PhD_

/users/faculty/sandhya/

Naturally you have to draw on such material selectively since research proposals

may

vary

considerably

from

one

discipline

to

another.

You

will

also

find

it

interesting

and

helpful

to

read

accounts

reporting

on

research

into

the

generic

structure of Ph.D. theses in different fields as part of the general study of scientific/

academic registers (e.g. the work by David Bunton at the University of Hong Kong).

Thesis title and research topic

Specify the

general area of research

, using recognized classifications as far as

possible.

The

research

classification

can be

stated

in

terms

of

field

of

research

(e.g.

language

description,

second

language

acquisition,

sociolinguistics,

lexicology, translation

studies, multimodal studies),

research methodology

(e.g.

text

analysis,

corpus-based

research,

questionnaire-based

research,

action

research,

experimentation),

and

theoretical

approach

(e.g.

corpus

linguistics,

critical discourse analysis, systemic functional linguistics). The

major research

areas in the Department

are:

?

Professional communication

?

Applied corpus linguistics

?

English language teaching and learning

?

English language studies

?

Language assessment

?

Systemic

Functional

Linguistic

theory,

description,

analysis

and

application

These

are

of

course

complementary,

not

mutually

exclusive;

they

may

be

combined in different ways. However, you need to ensure that the research you

propose falls within one of the areas of departmental expertise. Try to familiarize

yourself

with

the

research

work

carried

out

within

the

Department

—

by

research centres and groups and by individual researchers.

Propose

a

working

title

for

the

thesis.

As

far

as

possible,

the

title

should

be

accessible

to

scholars

who

are

not

specialists

in

the

field

of

your

research,

so