Events – Doctoral and Researcher College

Writing a Research Proposal - Purpose, structure and language

Live webinar 11.00-12.30 GMT, Tuesday 12 November 2024. Free to attend.

Register to attend

Writing a research proposal for a PhD or other doctorate is an extremely challenging and high-stakes task. One problem for aspiring doctoral students is that there are very few examples of authentic and successful PhD proposals publicly available to help them to get a sense of the required content, structure and tone. This webinar will introduce prospective PhD students to a framework that both demystifies the content of a proposal and provides a flexible structure for drafting one. The session will be interactive and task-based. It will include analysis of extracts from four successful PhD research proposals authored by students currently studying for their PhD at the University of Reading. These extracts will illustrate ways of organising your text and appropriate language to use for the various purposes which a proposal text must fulfil. This free webinar will benefit candidates, both in the UK and elsewhere, who are currently preparing or considering an application for doctoral study at the University of Reading. It is particularly recommended for candidates who are applying from non-UK academic backgrounds, are the first in their family to participate in doctoral study, or are from other under-represented groups.

It will be delivered by Dr Karin Whiteside, Associate Professor and Head of English for Academic Purposes at the University of Reading. Karin has been teaching all aspects of doctoral writing as part of Reading’s Doctoral and Researcher College training programme since 2017 and has also taught research writing skills to academics from Chinese and Ukrainian universities. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics and her research interests include academic genres and discourses. Karin has published in these areas, most recently on the topic of research grant proposals.

Registration deadline: 8 November

A PhD: What, me? Information session for prospective PhD students - Wednesday 20 November 2024, 14.00-15.00. G15 Segro Lecture Theatre, Henley Business School

This in-person workshop for current University of Reading undergraduate and master's students will provide a general overview of PhD study before current PhD researchers will be invited to share about their experiences and answer questions from the audience. Attendees will be guided towards additional resources to help them as they consider PhD study. Please register for this event.