How long should it take to get a PhD proposal sorted?

It seems I've been reading forever and as soon as I think I'm ready to start writing it (5th attempt at least by now) I have to go and read something else.

If I keep on at this rate I am going to have done my literature search before I get the proposal in :-)

How long should it take someone to get it sorted or is it one of those "as long as it takes" situations.

Thanks


Thanks

I found writing my proposal a bit of a nightmare, largely because I had only a very vague idea of what it was supposed to look like - what to include, how much detail to go into etc.

So it took me ages - a good few weeks of a futile 'read more, write more, then cut ruthlessly' cycle - and only really came together when I got a firm word limit to work to (which was specified in relation to a particular studentship application). After that, I was able to think: if they only want something that long, they *can't* be looking for any more detail/evidence of wider reading than I've given them here.

Note of caution: from the little guidance I was able to find on PhD proposals, I think mine was very much on the short side at 500 words, so it may well be they're looking for something completely different from you. But it might just help to take a step back and ask, given the length of proposal they're looking for, what they're realistically expecting from you. A proposal is just a proposal after all, not a thesis, lit survey or end of first year report.

If you haven't done so already, consider getting some input from a couple of academics who know what's being looked for in a proposal - maybe someone you know from your Master's and someone involved in admissions to the department you're applying to. I was a bit cautious about asking initially - it felt weird to be showing a 'rough draft' to people I was trying to impress! - but got some very useful feedback.

That's exactly the situation I'm in.  Glad to know I'm in good company.


Yes, am going to talk to someone about it and take it from there. There is only so much one can do when you are in unfamiliar territory after all.

Thank you Magic, a very helpful post.

Which proposal are you thinking about? The first one where you are looking for a place - or the more detailed one once you have secured a place? My first one was more of an overview of what I wanted to do, with some ideas about the way I was going to do it. The next one was more detailed and one of the problems I found with that one was that they said 'only about 1500 words' and then wanted loads of details which pushed it up to getting on to 5000, and it had endnotes and an appendix! you should get some guidance from your handbook, if you have one, or fellow PhDers at your uni. This is another exercise that seems to vary from place to place. Mine wanted a bit about my main ideas for the research, something about the methodology and methods, and why I was taking that approach, the ethics section had to be fairly detailed (my advice for this is to look at the ethics section af a few universities, it will give you some good ideas) the aims, the research questions and why i thought it was worth doing. It didn't have a massive amount of literature review, altohugh I mentioned a few 'names' in the field, but that might depend upon your proposed area. you probably need to get something in and see what they say, the experience at this uni seems to be that it takes a couple of attempts at least for them to be happy with the proposal anyway.

Hi Joyce - I had already spoken to my potential supervisor and our areas of interest overlap so these are really just the first attempts to get something down in writing after doing some reading. I'd gone with the view that if I send him something which is 500 words long (my original thoughts also) he would only send it back to me and ask me to expand the points up to 1500 words so, I may as well start with the 1500 words proposal after all.

I think this is where I've got confused and having read so much hasn't helped.  Yes a handbook would have been nice but there isn't one. Something with headings would have been helpful on so I could at least follow some sort of structure and focus the reading. Oh well, another notch for experience.

I sent something over on Friday (after Magic's post) for him to peruse and dare say will get some direction on how to proceed.

5000 words sounds a bit steep but what would I know.

Thanks Joyce

Hi Ergogirly

I'm still not sure which proposal your doing, have you already secured your phd? I found this book really useful 'Developing effective research proposals' by Keith F Punch, got it on amazon. Sorry v short response, v tired :p

Hi Ergogirly, again.  I'm just ever so slightly more alert now after a nights sleep 8-) Havent you still got to finish your masters first?  The book I was suggesting is probably more suited to the 2nd stage proposal once you have started your phd. I would recommend a proposal of approx 500 words for your initial approach, but check out the phd applications forms for each uni, they normally specify.  These things can take a long time from knowing the general area you want to research to establishing the topic within that area, getting narrower and more specific along the way; which does mean copious amounts of reading. Sorry if I have not quite got a real grasp of your post - please let me know if this is the case.  All the best...