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Writing a Research proposal

Applications should include a brief (one sentence) summary in section 2 on the Application form (section 7 on older forms) as well as a full research proposal, which should include:

• a clear description of the proposed thesis topic, rather than just the general subject area.
• a description of how the proposed topic fits into the existing academic field (for example, with reasonable discussion of some existing references),
• an indication of how the research is to be carried out (e.g. detailed study of written sources, social surveys, extended fieldwork).
• an indication of why the University of Aberdeen is suited to the proposed programme of research (e.g. specific staff expertise, library and archival resources)

Successful doctoral dissertations must constitute a definable contribution to the academic field to which they belong. This contribution must either be through providing new information, or by providing a new and convincing synthesis of existing knowledge; they must not merely provide a summary of existing knowledge.

This page was last modified on: Friday, 05-Jun-2009 16:45:40 BST

School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
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