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Research Proposals

• the research topic briefly outline the area and topic of your research.
• the research context relate your proposed research to other work in its field or related fields, and indicate in what ways your research will differ; you might mention monographs on the subject, as well as important theoretical models or methodological exemplars. This is a chance to show your understanding of the background against which your research will be defined.
• the contribution you will make this is your chance to show how you have arrived at your position and recognised the need for your research, and what it is that makes it both new and important; you should indicate what areas and debates it will have an impact on, what methodological example it sets (if appropriate) – in short how it contributes to knowledge and to the practice of our subject. Give examples of the sort of evidence you might consider, and of the questions it might help you to raise. Show that you are already thinking about the area in detail and not only in outline.
• your methods in some cases there will be little to say here, but if there is something striking about your methodology, you should explain it.
• the sources and resources you will use you should delimit your field of enquiry, showing where the project begins and ends; in certain cases, Cambridge will have unique collections and resources of central relevance to your project, and you should mention these.
• how the project will develop you might indicate some of the possible ways in which the project could develop, perhaps by giving a broader or narrower version depending on what materials and issues you uncover

You should ask yourself how your work might change the present state of scholarship in your field, and whether the topic is well suited to the resources provided at Cambridge. Even for MPhil courses we generally aim to admit not just those who propose a sensible topic, but those who have the potential to modify the present paradigms of research in their field. Most students, though, refine their research topics after they arrive in the light of what they discover or of advice from their supervisor, so you need not feel that you are inscribing your future in tablets of stone as you compose your proposal.

You may find it helpful to look at the following examples of successful research proposals.

It is vital that you show that your research is necessary. It is not enough that it happens to interest you. You should make clear that it will be of use and interest to others working in your field, or on a particular author, or indeed in neighbouring fields. You should show how your work will make a contribution to knowledge and to the practice of our subject.

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The information captured in this section is used to aid the assessment of your application and to provide you with a suitable supervisor in the event that you receive and meet the terms of your offer letter.

The requirements of the information needed within the research title and research summary fields vary from course to course. For information on what is required for the course you are applying for, check the Course Directory .

Research title

If your course requires that you upload a research proposal as a part of your supporting documents you must be specific with your research title, unless stated otherwise in the Course Directory .

However, if you are yet to decide on a research title and are not required to be specific as per the information provided in the Course Directory , please indicate the area you are most likely to research, being as specific as you can.

Research summary

This field should be used to provide a summary of your research proposal (if required), not the full research proposal. The information you provide here will be used to ensure that the correct person reviews your application; however, this may also form part of the academic assessment of your application.

If you are not required to upload a full research proposal as per the Course Directory , you should use this question to provide details of the area of study that you are most interested in researching.

If you are required to provide a full research proposal as per the Course Directory , you will be able to upload this as a part of your supporting documentation upon submission of your application via your Self Service account, but you should use this question to summarise your proposal.

If you are yet to decide on a specific research proposal and you are not required to provide specific detail as per the information about your course in the Course Directory , please provide details of the area you are most likely to research with as much detail as possible.

Your research summary can be pasted from an external source, such as Microsoft Word, but must be of your own writing.

If you have pasted text from an external source, please take care to check that your text was not cut off at the end; the character limits found within text boxes in the application form are hard limits, meaning that you cannot enter more characters than noted. If you paste more than this limit, only the maximum amount of characters will be pasted.

You are also given an approximate number of words within the character limit for guidance; please note that this is not a definitive and accurate number of words.

If you paste from an external source, the characters used may differ between the platforms. Character returns count as two characters in the Applicant Portal.

Research supervisor

If you have a specific academic in mind who you would like to be supervised by, use this field to indicate so. If you have multiple preferred supervisors, you may list more than one in this field.

Please note, by indicating a preferred supervisor you are not guaranteeing that they will become your supervisor. Supervisor requests will only be accommodated where possible based on availability and compatibilty with your research proposal.

This question is optional, so if you do not have a preferred supervisor, leave this field blank.

Research experience

If you have worked on a research project, either for your first degree or subsequently, please describe your work here. Your account should be intelligible to anyone who is not a specialist in your field.

If you have no such experience, leaving this blank will not prejudice your application.

If you have pasted text from an external source, please take care to check that your text was not cut off at the end; the character limits found within text boxes in the application form are hard limits, meaning that you cannot enter more characters than noted under the textbox. If you paste more than this limit, only the maximum amount of characters will be pasted.

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Your MPhil research proposal should be approximately one A4 page in length.

• Your research proposal should clearly articulate what you want to research and why. It should indicate a proposed approach to your given field of study. It should nevertheless retain sufficient flexibility to accommodate any changes you need to make as your research progresses.
• You should try to show how your postgraduate plans emerge from your undergraduate work and may move it on.
• You should try to show how your proposed research will build on existing knowledge or address any gaps or shortcomings.  You should accordingly mention existing scholarship, if necessary with certain qualifications – (eg. ‘Smith has written extensively on the theatre of Pirandello, but fails to mention…).
• Identify a potential Supervisor.

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Guidance for Postgraduate Applicants on Writing a Research Proposal

Guidance for postgraduate applicants on writing a research proposal

  The following points should be included when writing a research proposal:

• The topic that you propose to research : This should consist of a clear outline of the research you wish to do.
• The research context : relate your proposed research to other work in its field or related fields and indicate in what ways your research will differ.
• The contribution that your work will make to the field : this is your chance to show how you have arrived at your position and recognised the need for your research and what it is that makes it both new and important.
• The methodology and methods to be used in your study : this section should describe the methods and methodology you propose to employ as well as a justification for suitability of these methods in addressing your research topic.
• Fit with the Faculty and potential supervisor for PhD only : explain how your research fits in with the Faculty’s research interests and your potential supervisor.

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• How to write your research proposal

An MPhil research proposal should be 500 words long. It needs to give those assessing your application an impression of the strength and originality of your proposed research, and its potential to make a contribution to knowledge. It should be written in clear, jargon-free, and unexceptionable prose. Grammatical mistakes and typographical errors give a very bad impression. You should make sure you cover the following areas (without explicitly dividing the proposal into headings).

The research topic

• Briefly outline the area and topic of your proposed research.

The research context

• Relate your proposed research to other work in its field or related fields, and indicate in what ways your research will differ; you might mention monographs on the subject, as well as important theoretical models or methodological exemplars: this is a chance to show your understanding of the background against which your research will be defined.

The contribution you will make

• This is your chance to show how you have arrived at your position and recognised the need for your research, and what it is that makes it both new and important; you should indicate what areas and debates it will have an impact on, what methodological example it sets (if appropriate) – in short how it contributes to knowledge and to the practice of Digital Humanities.  Give examples of the sort of evidence you might consider, and of the questions it might help you to raise. Show that you are already thinking about the area in detail and not only in outline.

Your methods

• You do not necessarily need to define a methodology but if there is something striking about your proposed methodology, and this is central to your proposal you should point to this.

The sources and resources you will use

• You should delimit your field of enquiry, showing where the project begins and ends; in certain cases, Cambridge will have unique collections and resources of central relevance to your project, and you should mention these if they are relevant.

How the project will develop

• You might indicate some of the possible ways in which the project could develop, perhaps by giving a broader or narrower version depending on what materials and issues you uncover, or which critical, theoretical or methodological approaches you decide to pursue.

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Guidance for postgraduate applicants on writing a research proposal

Applicants should consult their prospective supervisor for advice both before writing, and for at least one round of feedback on their proposal.

The following points should be included when writing a research proposal:

• The topic that you propose to research: This should consist of a clear outline of the research you wish to do.
• The research context: relate your proposed research to other work in its field or related fields and indicate in what ways your research will differ.
• The contribution that your work will make to the field: this is your chance to show how you have arrived at your position and recognised the need for your research and what it is that makes it both new and important.
• The methodology and methods to be used in your study: this section should describe the methods and methodology you propose to employ as well as a justification for suitability of these methods in addressing your research topic.
• Fit with the Faculty and potential supervisor for PhD only: explain how your research fits in with the Faculty’s research interests and your potential supervisor.

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