School of Science, Engineering, and Environment
Guidance on Writing a Postgraduate Research (PGR) Proposal, Personal Statement, and CV Crucial parts of research degree applications (PhD, MPhil, MSc by Research) are the research proposal, personal statement, and CV. Together, they provide key information that the University of Salford uses to make decisions on whether to make offers of acceptance onto the postgraduate research programmes. This document provides guidance on how to write a research proposal, personal statement, and CV.
I PGR Proposal We strongly encourage applicants to identify a potential supervisor and consult with them when developing the proposal. SEE Supervisors can be identified here: https://salfordrepository.worktribe.com/people?Surname=J&page=1 Where a potential supervisor supported the development of a proposal as coach or as mentor, the applicant should name the potential supervisor on the cover sheet (see template below). The proposal: •
outlines a research project briefly (3000 words, +/- 500 words, excluding bibliography) and offers a research idea. This can be developed with the support of a proposed supervisor, but the applicant must write the proposal and use his/her own words.
•
offers a clear, relevant, and original research goal/question; this may take the form of a hypothesis to be tested, or an open-ended enquiry.
•
references literature carefully and correctly by applying a recognised referencing style (preferably APA) and it includes a reference list/bibliography (not part of the word-count).
•
justifies which methodology(ies) should be applied in conjunction with the proposed research question. Note: for any bench-based proposals applicants are required to consult with academic supervisors to ensure that equipment and materials are available at the University of Salford. However, details can be discussed prior to or after sending a proposal.
•
demonstrates awareness about any ethical concerns that might arise in the proposed research project.
•
considers potential risks, pitfalls, and challenges and suggest how these can be overcome/avoided.
•
provides a provisional timeline of research. To demonstrate this, a Gantt chart including tasks and milestones should be supplied.
Some of the elements above cannot be fully determined at the stage of writing a proposal. It is nevertheless necessary to have thought about these elements. Presentation/Contents of Research Proposal The research proposal includes the following: The Proposal, Personal Statement and CV must be typed, set on a white background with black text. The applicant’s name should be added to the top of all three documents. A sans serif font (e.g., Arial, Calibri, Verdana) is recommended. The font size should be 11pt. Images and graphics with captions can be included where needed. •
A cover page (see appendix below) containing: The name of the applicant.