Research courses

A crucial element of your PhD application is the research proposal. This is necessary to determine your research potential and to identify academics suitable to supervise your research. It is also used to ensure that your chosen topic is suitable for doctoral study and that you will be able to access the information that you need to successfully complete it. When choosing your topic, pay attention to the current research interests of CTS staff, and the current/past PhD theses supervised. 

Your research proposal needs to address the following issues:

1. establish a niche: identify a research gap and show how your project is original (how does your suggested topic go beyond what has been done so far?);
2. occupy this niche: address a research gap and explain why this topic is worth pursuing (are there theoretical, professional, pedagogical or other applications?);
3. spell out the research questions: what are you planning to answer with your research? (pay particular attention to the number of research questions you have so that your research is feasible);
4. outline a method: how you are going to answer the questions you pose (e.g. selection criteria for the materials you will use, methods of analysis/discussion, qualitative and quantitative methods and so on).

The proposal should be  approximately 2,000 words, excluding references. We suggest the following structure for your research proposals, however, we understand that each proposal is unique.

TITLE: Title of proposed study 

INTRODUCTION: Orientating the reader, brief introduction to the topic and rationale.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Building on previous scholarship and research

• Background to research topic 
• Refer to previous research which has shaped your proposal 
• Identify the possible research gap
• State your proposed research question(s) or research problem
• Justify your choice of topic with reference to the academic literature and say why it is important 

METHODOLOGY

How do you propose to answer your research question/s or engage with your research problem?

Empirical studies:

• Outline what kind of data you envisage for your study and how you intend to gain access to and collect data.
• Clarify how you will be analysing your data once it has been collected e.g. which theoretical framework/s are you considering and why? Are you proposing a quantitative or a qualitative approach, or a mixed approach?

Conceptual studies:

• Which theoretical framework/s are you considering and why?

Natural Language Processing/Computational studies:

• How do you plan to address the chosen problem? What methods and libraries you would like to use
• Outline what kind of corpora you envisage for your study and how you intend to gain access to and collect these data.
• What kind of evaluation methods you are planning to employ

TIMESCALE (compulsory for all proposals)

• Provide an outline work plan and timetable. Both of these may be reviewed once you have started your project but at this stage they will provide a guideline for you to follow.
• Be realistic when estimating data collection time. Include travelling time (if interviewing people away from the University) and transcript time (transcribing tapes of interviews is very time consuming). 
• Ethics: if your study requires ethical approval, make sure you block time for this. Flag up briefly any possible ethical issues you may encounter in your research. 

Please pay attention to the word count. Proposals that are too long will be rejected without review. Proposals written by AI-based tools will be rejected.

Once you have completed your proposal, please upload it to the portal along with the other required documents. It will then be reviewed by experts in the field, who will provide formal feedback. Your proposal should demonstrate your readiness to undertake doctoral study and may be refined and developed throughout your PhD.