What aspects of this are you not too sure about? Are you struggling with starting the whole thing off, or are you unsure how to go about putting the methods you have chosen into action?

It sounds as if you are on the right lines in terms of the methods you have chosen as focus groups will allow you to get in depth-data, while questionaires will provide information from a wider number of people.

If you are a bit more specific I'm sure people on ths forum will be able to help.

On my MA the course was made up of three parts:

Research training
Subject specific modules
Dissertation

Just doing the research training meant that you got a Postgraduate Certificate.

The research training and subject modules gained you a PG Diploma. Both took 9 months

And all 3 were the full MA (which takes a year).

Hope this helps!

www.prospects.ac.uk has an excellent section on writing CVs (including academic).

Zelda, almost all of the adverts I have seen for lecturing posts say that the applicant should have or be near completion of a PhD, so they obviously consider people who are in your situation. I would have thought that having publications and prior teaching experience will definately increase your chances.

Smilodon - why do you think that FE teaching experience will be especially useful? Surely HE experience is better if you are going for a post in an HE institution?

A key point is to make sure that the abstract that you are submitting fits in with the theme of the conference exactly. You can have a brilliant idea/abstract/paper, but if it is unrelated to the theme of the conference it will not be accepted.

The main difference is that an MPhil is research only, wherea an MSc is (usually) taught.

As you have a 2:2 you will probably need to get an MSc before applying for a PhD. Perhaps you could complete an MSc part-time while still teaching in further education? This would increase your knowledge of the area and put you in a much stronger position for applying for a funded PhD once you have completed the MSc.

Everyone’s first teaching experience is ropey. Do the seminars, get the practice and without doubt you will get better and more confident at teaching!

There is a book called Teaching Today by Geoff Petty (3rd Edition 2004). It is mostly aimed at schools and further education taching but t contains lots of good general teaching advice and I’m sure you would find it useful.

I have some experience of teaching in further education (17 and 18 year olds) who couldn’t care less about the social science subject was trying to teach them. Some of the lessons I did were really, really bad, probably because of a combination of the students being talkative and noisy and me lacking confidence/experience.

Although many of the first lessons I took did not go to plan I still feel like a gained a lot from them. Although I’m not involved in teaching at the minute, I would definitely have a lot more confidence going back into the classroom now.

You have said that some of the seminars you have done have gone ok so take some confidence from this – it proves you can teach! As for labelling handouts incorrectly don’t let it knock you confidence. Just tell the students to cross out ‘Keats’ and write ‘Donne’ on their copy and move on. It’s a tiny error which you spotted straight away, don’t worry about it.

Julia,

I think your chances of getting a distincton are high. The grades for my MA averaged out at 59.8% and I was awarded a Merit without having to do anything - no appeals, or asking for other circumstances to be taken into account etc. The transcript of my results just says that I averaged 60% and was awarded an MA with Merit

I've heard people say that if you are within one per cent of the next grade you are automatically moved up into the next category without question, so I think this will happen with you.

It sounds as if your institution is letting you down by not providing the appropriate support for yout research.

They obviously don't know how the CRB system works if they are telling you to apply for a CRB check yourself - surely they would be more helpful if you make it clear that you need a CRB check to continue your research?

If this doesn't work you could try going through another department to get a CRB check (such as human resources), rather than through the computing department and your supervisor.

I think you have already named all of the major sources of funding in your field.

Just keep your eyes open in all of the relevant websites/publications for any additional studentships which are advertised between now and early next year.

English Lit isn't the easiest subject to get funding for so good luck!

Having an ESRC recognised Masters is pretty much essential to get ESRC +3 funding. The only way round it that I can think of would be to have lots of professional research experience/pubications which prove that you are already at masters level and ready for a PhD.

As ESRC studentships are so competitive you are definately better of getting a masters first then starting to apply for PhDs once you have completed this.

As you mention MA (rather than MSc) I assume that you are working in the social sciences or humanities.

In these fields a taught MA would usually be the best choice, as this will contain the taught research training which you need to be eligible for PhD funding from research councils.

You can still apply for funding from the AHRC, but if you are successful you will only recieve funding for the PhD fees. You will need to cover living costs yourself.

However, there may be other sources of funding (such as University Studentships) which are available to all EU students and will fund you for both fees and living costs. Keep your eyes open for these as they will probably be advertised late this year/early next year to start in September 2008.

Jeff,

To apply for a 1+3 you will need to have some idea of what you would do for a PhD, as this makes up a large part of the application. It would be good to get started on the application soon (to apply in 2008) as putting together a good research proposal can be extremely time consuming.

I agree with Shani that applying for an AHRC 1+3 would be your best bet, as masters only funding is hard to come by.