do it as,

1) Research area - something in aerospace engineering - it is like your Msc thesis but in advance level
2) find supervisors/uni - try to go through their profile pages in uni websites to find about their research interests. if they are willing to supervise you then
3) expand your research by writing research proposal with your supervisor and then get admission :) or

you can search funded projects in your field in this website as well, for funded projects you go through different requirements, all the best

Hello Everyone,
I was looking to find leading computer journals, and will appreciate if you list with website address, and also how to subscribe cheaply, here is the list which I visit frequently,

1) IEEE - www.computer.org - (free access by uni login)
2) ACM - www.acm.org - (free access by uni login)
3) Oxford Computer Journal - http://comjnl.oxfordjournals.org/ - 45£/year through BCS membership

I was watching dragons' den (reality show) on tv, where a dragon invested just because the entrepreneur was a PhD, PhD is not only a big thing for us but for everybody else too, and I am sure you will have far more chances in industry/academics after successful Phd :) and also you get too many choices and you will feel more secure; all the best

Try this, very good exercise, I hope it will help you;
http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/writerscomplex.nsf/0/f87fd7182f0ff21c852569c2005a47b7

Open University have a bit different procedure from other unis or at least not same as mine or maybe my Phd is different, but they will ask you to join classes for research procedure where they will teach you how to take and do research; this last for 8months (I have been told) and it is pretty much same as Msc taught course, I think get in touch with them about duration/procedure; and same time explore other unis as well, best of luck

I will strongly suggest to get in touch with uni/potential supervisor as early as you can, it will help you a lot to prepare and plan properly,
People who don't have any gaps between bsc/msc upto Phds are very much rare, I came across two lecturers in my uni who did Phd straight away from their Bsc (hons) rest of them have 10-15years gap. I had two years break after my Msc but was involved in research projects as programmer and I am 26 now, and will start my phd in sept. this year :)

Yes, conference papers/thesis/projects will help you alot, I will strongly suggest to arrange meetings with your potential supervisors and I can ensure that most of them will help you big time, they will make everything much easier for you; plus you can ask as many questions, and yes you can complete Mres in one year (depends on you)

Hello Bangthebank,
Welcome to the forum,

There are a couple of things which are important,
1) Research area - (software engineering is very broad) you have to be specific,
2) where you want to do it?
3) funding - how you want to fund your studies, if you are self-funded then everyone will welcome you since there is competition in funded projects.

Once you are clear about your research area then try to search supervisors in relevant area; the best way is to go through their profiles(through university website), everyone have their research interest on their profiles which will make it easier for you, show your interest in email and they will come back to you, previously I tried to contact research groups (specially students) and no one replied so probably you are sending emails to research students try their teachers :) all the best

Hello Everyone,

I am sure every Journal will have their own set of criteria for papers approval but I am interested to know, what is the general process? what happens when papers are submitted for publications? Is it checked against previous work? do they check references?

I heard somewhere that most referees don't go beyond the introduction section? so what happens when a research paper is found invalid after approval (years after or sooner)? I have asked too many questions but I hope it will help new students like me :) Many thanks

Hello Cally,

Research proposal is important because you will not be accepted without a proposal unless it is written by supervisor/uni and also because Phd is not a taught course;
If you have a good research proposal and ability/experience to peruse it then uni will not hesitate to offer you a place; having said that, your previous qualification plays very vital role, if you don't have good results previously then most supervisors/uni will offer you Msc by Research (1 year mostly) if you were successful you can go ahead and extend your research in Phd,

you can search this forum for research proposal threads :) I hope it will help you
best of luck

Thanks algaequeen;

I guess mendeley is well ahead in the race, and compatible with all major OS; Free 1 GB web account is a plus :) and I think we won't use much web space; because all the files will be stored locally, I installed endnote as well but this one looks very professional - Thanks for the sharing

Only solution could be having a full version installed as portable on your USB hard drive - by this way you will have full backup on separate device and you can use it anywhere through USB, I googled it and it is possible but not sure if endnote will allow this - I guess they will,

Jabref; which another user suggested on previous post is open source and doesn't cost anything, but we need to compare it with endnote (which is recommended by many users).

Hello All,

I used to read a lot of papers and most of them are pdf downloads with a random name something like (2928393a.pdf) - sometimes I rename it and give it specific name, since they are related to one area so I can't create folders to categorize them. when I read a paper, I move it to folder name 'old', I am sure this will not work for long and is not a proper approach,

I am just wondering how you manage research papers? and how write/store information from a paper for your own usage? (for example, if I want to take a definition from a paper, how should I manage to know that I have taken a definition from it and need to give a reference and where the paper is saved)? :)

Thanks

it will be a warm-up match before the real match :) - and its always great to spend more time with your supervisor to get inspiration/knowledge and experience :) Best of luck

Hello Harrylynn,

There is no hard and fast rule for research proposals because it varies to universities/supervisors but again this is something which you can always change for the good,

The general format for research proposal in (computing, not sure about other fields) should be something like

+ Overview
- Overview of your research;
+ Objectives (aims and goals)
- a paragraph about your research objectives
+ Introduction
- 1/2 pages about your research area, usually Research papers citation - for example, reference to computer network and tools/technology which you might be using
+ Research Question
- this is very much important - for example, what motivates you to do this research, what academic challenges you have, what will be your contribution etc most full time students spend first six months on Research Question;
+ Research Plan
- General Overview of your Research plan in your research proposal (which you will extend later during your studies) - you don't need to go into detail. something 1/2 pages
+ Conclusion
- a paragraph
+ References
- 15 + recent(after 2006)

my supervisor told me to give 15+ recent research papers/conference reference when I was writing my research proposal, since things changes very quickly in Computing so I suggest that your reference should not be older than 2006 at-least. my research proposal was around 8 pages with 30 + references, but most supervisor ask for shorter proposals (around 3-5 pages); I guess it will give you idea :)

http://www.esc.edu/ESConline/Across_ESC/WritersComplex.nsf/wholeshortlinks2/Research+Room+Menu

This is very good link which will help you, I will try post other links as well, if I found them :) which previously helped me :)

best of luck :)