Thanks for the advice! I do want to email the professor and ask him, but I'm in a bit of an awkward position as I already sent in a proposal a few months ago, which was very rushed as I only discovered the PhD 3 days before the deadline. Now interviews are rolling round and they've asked me to resubmit, and I'm torn between emailing for advice VERY late in the day and looking utterly daft, or resubmitting without asking the professor and hoping it's ok. Bleh.

I am applying for a funded History PhD at a UK university, and have to submit a research proposal. Essentially, I have no idea how to go about this - I have an UG degree but not a MA (the university has agreed to waive this requirement if my application is successful), and as such I'm lost on even the basics of what a PhD proposal should look like. The university itself has no guidelines on their website, and when I emailed the department they simply stated that the proposal should be 'in line with what is generally required'.

Any advice would be great - ranging from what the average length of a Humanities proposal is, how extensive the references/indicative bibliography should be, how much detail I should give on my 3 year plan etc. The PhD itself has certain criteria set by the university and it is a topic which I have spent a lot of time researching, so I'm not so concerned about the actual content. I am just terrified of looking naive and having my application rejected on something as petty as stylistic idiocy!

Thanks!