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The Guidelines for Preparing Research Proposals are available in HTML, PDF and RTF formats.
The Guidelines for Preparing Research Proposals state:
- The supervisor should assist the student to prepare a framework for the research, with a general timeframe for completion of the various phases and a detailed timeframe for the next 12 months. Each Annual Progress Report will include an update of the general plan and a detailed plan for the next 12 months.
- All new PhD students are required within a period of twelve months to complete designated tasks and meet agreed milestones in order for their ongoing candidature to be confirmed. If you are enrolled in a PhD please identify your Confirmation of Candidature tasks and indicate the date at which they will be completed.
- In partnership with your supervisor(s), please undertake a skills audit to determine if you possess the generic skills required to bring your project to a timely completion. Please identify the special skills your project requires of you, and if you do not possess them map out a strategy for their achievement.
- Regulation 9.1 (d.) of the Code of Good Practice for Graduate Research Supervision states that students are expected to devote at least 30 hours per week (or equivalent if the candidature is part-time) to research higher degree studies. If your normal working hours are going to be anything less than 30 hours Monday to Friday 9am-5pm then please outline what they will be.
How you should approach this
1. Preparing a research timetable
Create deadlines for each stage of your work so you can work steadily towards completing the project. The submission date is critical, so when constructing a schedule try working backwards from this date.
Make sure you understand the sequence of administrative tasks required by the Graduate Research and Scholarships Office and your school or Faculty, and chart them in your timetable. Some of these tasks have deadlines, such as:
- research proposals - due early in the year (six months from your enrolment date for full-time PhD candidates)
- confirmation of candidature - due within 12 months from enrolment
- ethics approvals - due within 12 months from enrolment
- annual progress reports must also be completed.
Include other important aspects in your timeline, such as:
- archival research
- the writing of the literature review
- proposal presentations
- required training
- seminar attendance
- beginning and completing chapters
- data collection
- fieldwork.
Example entry
| Tasks | Timeframe |
|---|---|
| Revisionary Latin course | Jan - Jun 2008 |
| Preliminary archival research (France and England) | Jan - Jun 2008 |
| Proposal presentation, humanities seminar | Jan - Jun 2008 |
| Submit research proposal | Jul - Dec 2008 |
| Secondary literature search | Jul - Dec 2008 |
| Submit 10,000 word literature analysis to supervisors | Jul - Dec 2008 |
| Deadline for confirmation of candidature | Jan - Jun 2009 |
| First draft of introduction | Jan - Jun 2009 |
| First draft chapter one | Jul - Dec 2009 |
| First draft chapters two and three | Jul - Dec 2009 |
| Attend conference at Max Plank Institute, Berlin | Jul - Dec 2009 |
| First draft chapters four and five | Jan - Jun 2009 |
| Annual progress report due | Jan - Jun 2009 |
| Second draft chapters one, two and three | Jan - Jun 2009 |
| Second draft chapters four and five | Jul - Dec 2010 |
| Conclusion | Jul - Dec 2010 |
| Review and revise complete thesis draft | Jul - Dec 2010 |
| Complete thesis submission forms, submit thesis | Jul - Dec 2010 |
2. Identification of Confirmation of Candidature tasks
Your ongoing candidature will be confirmed if the agreed designated tasks and agreed milestones are completed and verified by the school, and approved by the Graduate Research and Scholarships Office, and all other aspects of candidature are satisfactory. Each school has its own general requirements for confirmation of candidature. Possible tasks or milestones students could be required to complete in order for candidature to be confirmed include:
- having your research proposal approved presenting work orally to the school
- producing one or more pieces of academic writing, additional to your research proposal, to an acceptable standard
- applying for and possibly obtaining any ethics and other approvals required for the research
- completing an annotated bibliography or review of literature if this is not included in the proposal
- passing appropriate safety courses such as laser safety, radiation safety, chemical or laboratory safety
- completing a one or two-day course in intellectual property
- completing an introductory course in electronic literacy, for example, using electronic data bases available at UWA
- completing relevant, approved coursework units
- completing other relevant, approved development activities as cited specifically in the research proposal. These could include, for example, training in statistics, academic writing, project management and microscopy.
3. Identify the specials skills needed for your project
It is planned that research graduate students would assess themselves and be assessed during their candidature in terms of their development of the special skills needed to complete their research. If the student is not in possession of these skills then they should map out a strategy for attaining them.
This example skills audit pro-forma is also provided in a savable/printable document format:
