Hi,

Let me start with an apology - I'm not a current PhD student, I'm selfishly gatecrashing your forum in search of helpful advice.

I'm 30 years old. I've got an MA (Distinction) in International Relations and a BA (2.1) in Philosophy. I finished my MA in 2002 and I've been out of academia since then. For the past three years I've been working full-time as a journalist. I'm now a senior reporter writing for a respected social policy magazine, and I'm doing well. But I'm bored. The subject matter is interesting, but it's not something I'm passionate about, and I am anyway pining for something more intellectually demanding than news reporting.

I want to do a PhD. As far as I'm aware my qualifications are good enough, at least to not preclude me from getting funding. And I'm sure my professional background can be played to my advantage in some way - I won a national award for my reporting this year, and was shortlisted for others. But beyond that, I literally don't know where (or when) to start. I've been out of academia for so long, I've got no idea where to start with developing a research proposal, looking for a supervisor, applying for funding, etc.

I do, of course, have questions I'm interested in, but I've got no idea how they would fit in with work that's already been done, much less how well they would tessellate with the priorities of people dishing out grants.

On top of that, I don't have weeks to sit in libraries mulling possible research ideas - I'm working full time? What should I do? Where can I go for advice? Am I being hopelessly ignorant?

All advice greatfully received...

======= Date Modified 30 Jan 2009 01:46:09 =======
Hi Chris, i'm going to give you a pretty negative aspect of doing a phd. most of the time, you will be bored doing it , even if you are interested in the subject, its a very very long journey, and once you embark on it, you're trapped, because you gotta stick to it for the next few years, 3-4 however long it takes. you pretty much have to give up your life and dedicate everything towards your phd. forget socialising , and you will always have the umbrella of - 'after my phd, then i can do xyz' freedom goes out the window. and dont even get me started how "bored" and frustrated you will get writing the thesis, and then preparing for the grueling that is a viva.

im painting a very bleak picture, only because i wish i knew what a phd really entailed before i embarked upon one. dont do a phd, because your bored with your current life, because chances are you might be bored with doing a phd.
do a phd, if you are REALLY REALLY passionate about X subject. whatever it is. and want to research it to death. i dont know why people do a phd. you have to ask yourself, WHY you really want to do a phd.

it sounds to me like you're doing extremely well in your career, perhaps moving around in your own line of work might prop up a challenge for you?

sorry i dont mean to rain on your parade. just think very carefully before you embark on a phd. because once you're in it, your stuck.

my first advice would be to (unfortunately you already said you dont have time, but sorry to say you will have to "make" the time) even if its just a little bit every week, spend a couple of hours once a week reading around the subject that you're interested in. read the latest literature. get a couple of books on how to write a phd, the one by patrick dunleavy is good. "Authoring a PhD: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation". that way when you have a good solid background on the literature, you will get to know who are the big players in your field, and then you can start to approach them. but first you really need to get a good sound knowledge of what the subject is before you reach the stage of writing proposals, all of this will take time, and since you are working full time, just work on it in the background, bit by bit.

hope i havent been too gloomy in my advice. best of luck ! and if you do decide to do a phd, well then, welcome to the club

--

to give you a taste of the intellectual challenge that you will face during a phd. try writing a mini literature review on the subject you want to do a phd on. (and yes unfortunately this will involve spending hours in the library).


in your litertaure review answer questions such as:
why is this subject important?
who else thinks it is important?
who has worked on this subject before?
what has been done ?
what not been done before?
who has done something similar to what you want to do?
conduct critical apraisal of other work, and not just descriptive. what are your own thoughts on the theories on the subject matter

some helpful tips on how to go about writing proposals, and litertare reviews.
http://www.learnerassociates.net/dissthes/

i hope i havent scared you off, but just wanted to give you a taster :)
---

Hi Chris

First of all, Lara is pretty spot on... a PhD, however passionate you are about the subject still involves doing a lot of boring work, reading stuff you aren't necessarily interested in to clarify one small point, jumping through a lot of hoops and it is not in any way a task where you simply do what is enjoyable for you. However, if you *do* really want to do it, there are a few things to consider. I did an IR MA and use a lot of philosophy in my thesis, so this is very much from a similar position as you'll be in.

1. When do you want to start? Most funding for IR/politics/philosophy runs from a September start. These positions are already advertised right now and have impending deadlines, so chances are you'll have to start September 2010 rather than this coming Sept given you don't have a proposal ready.

2. The best thing to do to get a proposal together (I know its different for science - I'm talking about the disciplines in question here) is to build on something you already know about. What did you do your MA dissertation on? Did you enjoy that? Could you build on/amend this? If not, was there something else that interested you?

3. Get a book on writing a research proposal or get someone to help. When applying for a PhD you'll need references, ideally from your MA, so was there a member of staff you got on well with/took a few modules with that could a) provide a reference; b) give you some pointers on a proposal.

The hardest thing will be to pick a topic. This will most likely change and adapt as you research but you need to do this asap. Once you have that you need to get researching *NOW*. If you go to an interview for funding and say that you "don't have weeks to sit in libraries... I'm working full time" you'll get short shrift. You need to demonstrate passion for the topic before you commence your PhD...

You have a year to get ideas together before you apply for the PhD. If that's what you want to do then I'm afraid it takes priority now. You have to spend what free time you have (and by free time I mean any spare time - don't go to the pub/hang out with friends this weekend, go to the library).

I can't really help on teh coming up with a proposal because I applied for an advertised, funded project. But what I did want tosay, is that doing a PhD doesn't have to take over your whole life. I have a social life, I get to do more evern then I did a couple of years ago when I worked in bars/restaurants and could get weekends off. It is hard work doing a PhD and there are times when you have to do boring work that you don't want to do. But mostly the positives out wieght the negatives. 8-)

i agree with catalinbond - a phd doesn't have to take over your life! it is possible to treat a phd like a job, and try to stick to working hours (i currently do 9-5ish). i'm only 7 months in, so maybe i'm being slightly naive, but i honestly believe that you can have a phd AND a social life!

in terms of choosing a project/devising a research proposal, perhaps a good place to start would be to look on findaphd.com, and search for phds within your subject area. you may not find one that exactly suits, but it would be a good place to start and get an idea of the 'hot topics' that are popular at the moment, and the names of supervisors/universities that seem to be best for your subject. from there you can target your reading a little more to fine-tune your ideas. looking on pubmed.com and searching for papers (time-consuming but necessary!) will also help you to see what is current in your research area.

i personally am doing a project where the research proposal was already done by my supervisors - this may be a good route for you if you can find one that is suitable, as it does mean that you don't have to come up with the proposal yourself. obviously the downside to that is that you are working to someone else's ideas - however you might be lucky (as i was) and just happen to find a project that fits you perfectly! it is very important that the project you choose REALLY interests you, as it will get boring at some point, and you already know how that feels! so you need to be passionate about the topic to keep you going when things get tough.

the best place to start is as i've said findaphd.com, but universities also advertise on their sites too. failing that, you need to come up with a research proposal, find someone you want as your supervisor, and contact them directly to see if they are interested in taking you as a student. your old university would be a good place to start to get help, especially if there are any particular lecturers/tutors you worked with who you got along well with.

good luck ;-)

======= Date Modified 30 Jan 2009 11:36:02 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============
Chris,

I agree with the others about the stamina required to do a PhD. I'm now in my fourth year of full-time research and currently sitting in the midst of a sea of papers trying to write and re-draft as fast as I possibly can. There have been times when I've HATED doing this, wondering what I was ever thinking of to embark on it in the first place. But I think what's really helped me is to be doing a collaborative PhD - a funded studentship working partly with a non-academic organisation. Though the scope of my research was more defined than most, it's given me a structure to work within and a great deal of support outside my college, plus all kinds of other opportunities.

If you haven't already, you should look on the various research councils websites to see the sort of PhD research they're funding and also find information about different awards available.

You should also have a think about what you want to do with your PhD afterwards - do you want to be an academic? If not, will a PhD necessarily lead to other opportunities?

Incidentally, I didn't spend ages researching my field initially and was already working professionally in the area I'm researching, although I did look into methodologies and theories about the particular approach I've taken.

Good luck with your search!

On the subject of research proposals. I know you say you don't have hours to spend in the library but really you need to do just that and if you can't - well maybe you are not really that keen? Pick out a few key journals and browse the back issues for say the last couple of years. I used to do that during my maters and that's how I came up with my research proposal. It was nothing to do with my masters - it grew out of an article I read that totally grabbed me. This might also give you more of an idea about how much this area interests you - enough to study intensively for several years? If nothing else - you will at least sound knowledgable and up to date at your interview.

Wow, thank you all for your generous and helpful replies. This is all very useful, and much more than I had hoped for. Will reply more fully later, but have to go now as I'm paranoid that the news editor will spot what I'm reading about.

Thanks again,

Chris

Oops! I've been moderated.

It looks like I've said something offensive but I only suggested a website - must be the competition.

Hi again Chris

Just before you run off and try to find a ready-formed project, they are *incredibly* rare in your subject area. You will find the occasional one offered, but it is far more common to formulate your own research proposal in Philosophy/IR.

Sleepy

Hi again,

Now that I'm out of the office, I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who has posted here.

Every reply has been thoughtful and informative (although come to think of it that's what you would expect, given the forum).

Before I posted here I really wasn't even certain how to go about exploring whether this was a realistic option, and now I am.

By the way, I hope my first post didn't sound flippant. I do not, of course, plan to knock up a research proposal without going near a library. I just felt daunted by the prospect of starting something without a clear idea of what I was doing.

Thanks again,

Chris

hey Chris! I just thought I might add a more positive slant on taking a PhD just to balance out the posts a little! I am only about halfway through my first year of my PhD, and am probably yet to experience all the downsides of PhD life mentioned above, but I absolutely love it. I agree that you must have to be extremely enthusiastic about your subject if you plan to devote that much time to it, but my experience so far has been very positive. I find it exciting, varied, challenging, and everything that I was hoping it would be. I have been warned by my fellow PhD students that there will be ups and downs, and I am sure that there will be (and I will no doubt be whining about those times on this forum in the months to come!!), but if you really want to do it and you can find a suitable university and supervisor to take on yourself and whatever you decide to research, then I think you should go for it. Good luck!

my advice would be to read round the subject you are interested in, and try to find anything close to what you want to research, look on the internet too as you may find some stuff that is relevant. you really need to make sure that what you want to do really inspires you - otherwise it will be a long hard slog. I'm self funded, because I knew that there would never be any chance of getting any money at all, and I'm part time, you could start off that way if you wanted. It has been OK so far, working full time as well, but sometimes it means working when you would rather be doing something else, but that probably goes for anything that takes over your life. You don't say where you are located but it might be worthwhile nipping into your nearest uni on a Saturday, just to browse. I was out of academia for ages, doing other things, but then got interested again via an unlikey set of circumstances, and once you have done it once it all comes back. The authoring a PhD book as already mentioned is well worth a read. Good luck :-)