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INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Handbook for
Research Degree Students
2009 – 2010
MICHAEL HAMMOND
Contents
1 Welcome...................................................................................................................4
2 Research degrees team.............................................................................................4
2.1 Warwick Institute of Education Graduate Association (WIEGA)...........................4
2.2 International Tutor....................................................................................................4
3 Overview of the doctorate experience......................................................................5
4 Role of the supervisor.............................................................................................11
4.1 Joint supervision.....................................................................................................13
4.2 First meetings with your supervisor.......................................................................13
4.3 Supervision meetings.............................................................................................15
4.4 Yearly reviews........................................................................................................16
4.5 Changing supervisor...............................................................................................17
5 Who to turn to if you have a difficulty…...............................................................17
6 Ethical approval......................................................................................................17
7 Plagiarism...............................................................................................................18
8 The upgrade process...............................................................................................18
10 Extensions..............................................................................................................24
11 Funding and Fees....................................................................................................25
Appendix A: Research proposal guidelines
Appendix B: Conference support form
Appendix C: Interlibrary loans form
Appendix D: Code of practice for authorship
Appendix E: University code of practice for students and supervisors
Appendix F: Audit and review form
Appendix G: Meeting write up form
Appendix H: Six monthly review
Appendix I: Ethical approval form
Appendix J: Upgrade form
Appendix K: Request for temporary withdrawal or extension form
1 Welcome
First, thank you for choosing to come to Warwick. We hope your time here will be a stimulating and productive. This booklet is aimed at helping you in developing your project and making best use of the available resources. Please let us know how we can improve this booklet and better support you in the future.
Michael Hammond
2 Research degrees team
The Research Degree Programme is led by Joe Winston and Michael Hammond.. The day to day administration of research students is carried out by the research office, with Louisa responsible for research office management. The research methods programmes are led by Pia Christensen and Steve Strand (Advanced) and Ian Abbott (Foundation).
Please feel free to contact us at any time:
Joe Winston [email protected] WE041 22291
Michael Hammond [email protected] WE103 72517
Louisa Hopkins [email protected] WE132 24763
2.1 Warwick Institute of Education Graduate Association (WIEGA)
WIEGA is a student led and student run group that aims to integrate and unite postgraduate researchers working within WIE. It has been running since 12 October 2006. You can find out more about WIEGA at: www.go.warwick.ac.uk/WIEGA.
A key activity of WIEGA is production of the research working papers book. There are four volumes of this book – the research office has copies. Please take part in WIEGA activities.
2.2 International Tutor
Sue Johnston-Wilder is International Tutor and her role includes:
meeting students to discuss problems
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liaising with people who can help your student including the accommodation office, the Centre for Applied Linguistics and other academic staff
facilitating social and cultural events
Sue can be contacted at [email protected] or on extension 23813. Sue is based in room WA1.03 in the Avon Building.
3 Overview of the doctorate experience
An essential point of reference is the programme website
go.warwick.ac.uk/wiedoc
Your supervisor is central to your experience of studying for a doctorate however we would like you to take a wider view of study. Some of the pieces which may make up a successful doctorate experience at Warwick include:
Advanced Research Methods (ARM) Centre for Applied Linguistics
Conferences Counselling service
Disability Services Doctorate Day
e-learning support Equality and Diversity Policy
Graduate School Learning Grid
Library Module options
Printing and photocopying Other academic staff
Rooms Peer support
Seminars Study Skills
Thematics groups WIEGA
Writing papers (see also conferences)
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Advanced Research Methods (ARM)
This is the programme which provides an introduction to the research methods which you might use in your project. This generally runs from January to April and is often taught on Saturdays. Pia Christensen and Steve Strand are leading this programme. Please see the separate handbook for course details. All students should attend this programme unless they have taken a recognised M level course in research methods at another University. This, of course, may create difficulties if you are a part time students at a distance even if most of the sessions we offer take place on Saturdays. We are working on online material please feel free to get involved. Some support is already available which you can access at:
go.warwick.ac.uk/wiedoc/ research/
Foundation Research Methods (FRM) is an introduction to both quantitative and qualitative methods and generally takes place in the Autumn and early Spring term. Again the default is that you should attend the course unless you have taken a recognised research methods course in the past. There is a separate course handbook, you should see Ian Abbott for more information.
Centre for Applied Language Linguistics
They offer language support. Their pre-sessional programme of five or ten weeks offers an orientation and preparation for academic study in English. Their in-sessional programme takes place in the Autumn and Spring terms and has been helpful for students with difficulties in reading / writing in the English language. In the summer term there is tutorial support for dissertation writing. More information at www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/
The programme co-ordinator Gerard Sharpling can give advice on language support material and we have referred students with marked language difficulties to him for support. Note that the Centre for Applied Linguistics cannot provide the intensive one to one support some students need - there are too many demands on their time. They tend to ‘diagnose and recommend’ by, for example, looking at samples of students’ work and reporting back on difficulties. There is some online support for students at the Centre web pages and they have a set of CD ROMs to support ‘essential academic language skills – for more go to www.ease.ac.uk/index.aspx
Meanwhile in WIE Val Brooks has produced a guide for writing called the Little Academic Writing Booklet which is available from the research office and downloadable from the doctorate web site.
Conferences
There is some, though limited, conference support for attendance. Funding of £800 per research student over the course of their study is available (this is to be confirmed and you will not be able claim all £800 in your first year) and may be requested using form IE1b,
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(see Appendix B). Please get your supervisor to counter sign this form. In exceptional cases you may make an argument for further funding (e.g. the conference is very expensive or there is a further conference they would like to attend). Here you will have to make your case and your supervisor will need to support it. In the past students have negotiated reduced rates at some conferences by explaining their status directly to the organisers and, in other cases, students have simply been unaware of existing reductions for students. You might also apply to the Graduate School for small funding – or at least some students have asked in the past! You are strongly encouraged to submit papers for conferences (see writing papers).
Counselling service
The Counselling Service Counselling offers you an opportunity to talk in confidence about issues that are troubling you. It offers to an opportunity ‘to access professional therapeutic counselling so that students may better develop and fulfil their personal, academic and professional potential.’ A range of support is offered, alongside self help publications and guides. The decision to seek counselling support is a one for you to make, but take account of any advice your supervisor may offer. For more go to:
www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/tutors/counselling/
Disability Information
The Disability Co-ordinator ‘offers support and guidance to all students with disabilities. The Co-ordinator also promotes awareness of disability issues and works to ensure that no student is disadvantaged in their programme of study by disability’. The university may be able to support claims for special help (for example, readers for unsighted students) and will almost certainly be able to provide advice. Go to: www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/tutors/disability
Further note that details of the University’s Equal Opportunities Policy and support for students with disabilities, can be found in the Handbook for Graduate Students and at:
www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/equalops
Doctoral Day
Each summer we run a research day with presentations on aspects of research and an opportunity for an exchange between students through poster presentations. Please attend this day and feel free to suggest workshops / events for the following year.
E-support
The major site for E learning support is the programme web site given earlier. You can find here further information about using Web logs or blogs which some students are using to write about their social activities and their research and get feedback on ideas.
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For a directory of WIE blogs at Warwick, go to: blogs.warwick.ac.uk/groups/ie-all.
E portfolios are an E lab initiative to support reflection and communication on academic progress. Their use is growing and it is now a requirement for you to have created an e-portfolio by the time of your upgrade. For examples, go to: www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/courses/degrees/docs/who/students/.
Please note that we will use only your Warwick email account to communicate about the course. It is imperative, therefore, that you access your account on a regular basis – at least twice a week.
Finally, and very important, you may be confused about IT facilities as we have a multi media centre with a network of IT services machines as well as our own networks of WIE machines. You will need different user names to access the two networks. Linda Proud will help support WIE machines contact her at l.b.proud@ or on extension 28352.There is some special hardware (such as Tablet PCs, digital recorders or video recording machines) and certain software (in particular school’s software) which the office can loan. For other needs use IT services who provide support and training for general and some specialist software, such as SPSS and N Vivo, for more on this go to: www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/its/servicessupport/training
Graduate School
The Graduate School offers a range of courses, online support and guidance. Much of this is faculty based or generic. Go to www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/csde/gsp/
The extent of provision is expanding and the feedback on recent courses has been very good. Note some students are reluctant to attend Graduate School events but you will be expected to attend sessions of value. Note also that the Graduate school may be willing to tailor courses to WIE students which we then host. Finally note the Graduate School have put on e-portfolio and poster competitions in the recent past – WIE have often done well in these competitions and feedback from the event is again good.
Learning Grid
The Learning Grid is part of the Library. It is located on the ground and first floor of University House. It is a study facility which is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year around except for Christmas Day. Go to
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/grid/
There are student advisors which have at times been able to assist in study skills and language support and there are drop in sessions for post graduate students.
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Library
In addition to the obvious – for example you have attended an induction event and have a library card – make sure you know about the full range of services offered by the library. Electronic resources (accessed at a distance through an Athens username) are essential in research; we encourage you to explore Ref Works and other library supported reference systems. Note also that the library gives useful advice on citation of sources and support for bibliographic management. Go to
www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/research
Many students do not understand how interlibrary loans work. You need to fill in the form (Appendix C) and your supervisor needs to counter sign it. You then take this to the library. One use of loans is to access completed theses on similar topics undertaken at other universities. Feel free to request books you would like for the library and mail suggestions to your supervisor who can then forward these to Christine Bradford, [email protected], the librarian with responsibility for WIE. Find out too about carrels – small study rooms in the library – if that would assist your studies. As you might expect carrels are in short supply and a joint application is more likely to succeed. Library pages can be found at
www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/
For more on interlibrary loans go to:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/help/faqs/#pgs
Module options
Theoretically anyone registered for a research degree can attend any Masters Module option throughout the University but in practice those in WIE are likely to be of most value. The list of modules being offered differs year on year and you should get an update from Gillian Hayward (Masters Administrator). You should introduce yourself to module tutors and explain you will not be expected to follow the assessment process. Other than this you should be treated as any other student. These modules can be an important input into your project particularly when the content resonates with your interests. Some students find attending modules gives them more structure for their study and more opportunities to meet other people. Some however are reticent about taking modules, perhaps because of worries about their status. We encourage you to attend – you have nothing to lose!
Peer support
This is central to research study. Much develops on an ad hoc basis but it is very difficult for you to begin this process if you do not meet each other. We encourage you to meet other students, make sure you are aware of the common room (WA 1.14) and of international
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societies on campus or, if part time, ask if there are forums you can join. We encourage you to read each other’s work, share proof reading, swap books and articles and so on. Note the work of WIEGA given earlier.
Rooms
Note the policy at the moment is to move new research students to one shared room in the Avon building where you will be better able to meet each other informally and support each other through the process of the PhD. We encourage you to use this room and report back any difficulties to the research office. Lockers and pigeon holes for communications are available.
Seminars
Follow the full range of seminars offered at WIE (institute; faculty and research centre ones) and check you are receiving details from the Research Office. There is a news and events page within the University web site in which WIE and faculty seminars are recorded which you should consult regularly, go to:
www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/newsandevents/
Ask your supervisor about seminars you are attending or giving and encourage them to come. There are thematic seminars planned for students and maths education students have pioneered student led seminars.
Study Skills
We were fortunate to have Kirsten Winter available in the past to help you with strategies for reading efficiently, writing clearly for a specific audience, managing your time and dealing with procrastination, or giving a presentation (just a few examples). She produced bequeathed some web pages at www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/teaching/support/studyskills/postgrad/
Meanwhile, note the Graduate school support for study skills.
We are planning to offer a set of seminars for all research students next year on the frequently recurring difficulties many students’ experience, the aim is to provide advice tailored to the students’ own data or projects rather than generic guidance. Topics will be suggested by students themselves but might include avoiding lists in literature review, coding data, describing data, keeping references and so on.
Your colleagues
Try to identify other staff at WIE with specialist knowledge that may be useful, for example, someone with a background in aspects of the topic or familiarity with a research
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approach with which you are uncertain. There is a collective responsibility on colleagues to support research students.
Writing papers (see also conferences)
You are encouraged to submit papers to professional journals, academic journals and to conferences. Some universities do not encourage this before submission of the thesis but we do. The process is a valuable one and even if you may be disappointed in the review process - the feedback is useful. Communication lies at the heart of the doctorate and while many students actively seek publication, others will need to be pushed. Remind yourself that a criteria for a thesis is that the work in publishable – getting published is the most obvious way to meet that criteria. Your supervisor can support you by jointly authoring papers. There is more guidance on this in the doctorate online guide
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/docs/support/writing_/
There are guidelines on co authoring in Appendix D. There is no presumption that a supervisor’s name will appear on a student’s paper but equally important is that a supervisor is made co-author if they have contributed significantly to the output. In nearly all cases arrangements for co authoring are mutually agreed but establish at the outset your expectations.
If your supervisor has several research students you could organise informal seminars together. You could each have an opportunity to present your work to each other and deal with any general themes you would like to discuss. If your supervisor only has one or two students buddy up with other students in the same broad area of work as yourself and organise a seminar for yourselves.
4 Role of the supervisor
Aside from encouraging you to take part in a wider network of support your supervisor has a specific responsibility to guide your research project. Key processes usually include:
reviewing your past experience and establishing a ‘contract’ of expectations
helping you focus your enquiry into something manageable
on going review of short term ‘targets’ and establishing new ‘targets’
assisting the preparation of the upgrade paper
preparation of viva
model, and support for, particular aspects of research process
drawing attention to other sources of help and support
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viewing short term goals in the context of the long term project
helping to understand the time scale involved (students frequently underestimate time needed for analysis and writing the final report)
encouraging you to publish and present to conferences and seminars.
This is a précis of a longer list, put together by the Graduate School for the University, of the responsibilities of both supervisor and student. For more see the Guidelines on the Supervision and Monitoring of Research Degree Students and Guidelines on the Supervision of Students based away from the University at: /www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/ourservices/gsp/studentadmin/
Part of this guidance is given in full in Appendix E. Note it is your responsibility to plan and carry out your research project. You are expected to listen to advice but it is your work and you are ultimately responsible for the decisions you have taken during the course of the research. It is your responsibility to:
make clear the type of guidance which best helps and to agree a schedule of meetings
proactively suggest further meetings if and when you need support
meet the timetable of work agreed with your supervisor and in particular to present work in good time for the supervisor to read and comment on it before a meeting
In addition it is for you to
take note of the guidance and feedback given and to recognise that the supervisor’s role is to offer advice on the academic content of the work and its general presentation and not to provide detailed correction of written English.
complete regular monitoring forms and reviews
explain any difficulties in carrying out the research and provide forewarning on circumstances which may affect the expected completion date of the work
provide your supervisor with a complete draft of the thesis in reasonable time to provide comment and feedback before submission
Remember to value your supervisor for their commitment to their progress, for example their reliability in meeting you, prompt response to your work, target setting and feedback, and this is far more important than their academic status or reputation.
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4.1 Joint supervision
Students are normally joint supervised. Sometimes this may not happen, for example, there is only one specialist in the department, a co supervisor is long term absentee or a joint supervision has ‘evolved’ into a sole supervision. If you are being sole supervised do ask other colleagues for occasional input into your work – supervising students is a collective responsibility of WIE. Cases of joint supervision vary from a 50 – 50 split to a main supervisor with occasional input by, for example, a colleague with a special interest in the research methodology being used rather than the research topic. The pros and cons of joint supervision are as you might expect: two supervisors can complement each other very well and give you more rounded supervision. The flip side is that joint supervision can be confusing and you may end up guessing whose voice you ‘should’ listen to. A further problem is that shared responsibility can mean abdicating responsibility so each supervisor is leaving it to other to monitor progress, offer feedback and so on. Joint supervision requires you to be explicit about what you want from supervision and to monitor how roles change over time.
4.2 First meetings with your supervisor
As in all teaching the first meeting is a key event for creating expectations. Put sufficient time aside for this first meeting, re-read your application form and your proposal in advance of the meeting. You might like to re work the proposal following the guidelines in appendix A. This first meeting (s) should cover
welcome to Warwick
check on your welfare: do you have somewhere to live if full time at Warwick? how are you settling in? have you got your uni card? a timetable of social events? do you know about sources of support and help identified in this document? have you got the graduate school handbook - www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/ourservices/gsp/studentadmin/
discussion of past work: a key question here is what work you have done in this area in the past and why does this area of study matter to you. Do you have a case study context in mind and what access do you have to study sites in general?
review of past strengths and areas to develop in research
knowledge of key literature in the field
action points - these may include specific ideas e.g. attend Graduate School programme, read a particular paper and critique it, access online material through End Note, re write the proposal.
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NB supervisors will have a folder which closer matches the information given to you in this handbook. Check they have got this and discuss any parts you are not sure you have understood!
Use the first meeting to discuss expectations e.g. how often to meet, likely turn around for comments on materials, what you are responsible for and what you are not, what you will promise to do and what you wont; what your strengths are and where you might want to seek further support.
Some supervisors do this explicitly right from the start: ‘I can promise you that I will respond to a request for a meeting during term within a week; I will read your work as it progresses and I will offer a commentary on anything you send me within two weeks. I cannot promise to provide detailed proof reading of your work. I will promise to see you at least once a month. In return I am looking to you to complete task which I set in the required time. The area you are studying is clearly an interest of mine but I am not so familiar with the international dimensions of the topic. There are good international journals you will need to access to gain this wider view.’ You might want to construct something similar.
Audits and Training skills
All MPhil and doctoral students must complete the Institute’s full research training programme. This is the FRM plus ARM. They need not take the FRM if you have already t successfully completed it as part of their Warwick Masters in Education or carried out a similar course (i.e. an ESRC recognised Masters degree) taken at another University. Exceptionally, where a student can provide evidence of very substantial research training and experience, you may be exempted from research training modules within ARM but to repeat this is exceptional.
One of your first tasks is to plan a programme of training and support - use the review in Appendix F to help. This has been developed to reflect both generic and specific subject skills. The logic behind this is that you need to identify specific research training given by WIE (in most cases ARM); Graduate School for more generic training; and other kinds of support eg through WIEGA, language support and so on.
There are special difficulties in organising research training for part time students at a distance from the University and until online support is in place you may want to stagger attendance at research methods courses over two or three years, picking out the most crucial sessions first.
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4.3 Supervision meetings
Supervision meeting are an opportunity to check on the progress and get feedback on work submitted for review. Each meeting will end with action points, for example extend the literature review; begin your upgrade paper; read a particular paper, compare two particular articles and so on. Explicit direction is often welcomed by students! In setting targets make your supervisor aware that you may have other work to do e.g. an assignment for ARM.. As in all teaching the good supervisor has a repertoire of roles, and the knowledge of when to switch between roles. For example you may want to be quite directed at times but at other times just need someone to listen.
At the end of each supervision meeting record the key points in the discussion (see Appendix G). You may prefer to do this electronically e.g. keep an email record or blog entry, accessible only to you and your supervisor (s). Whatever the case make sure the key points and the action points are recorded. This is important for monitoring progress and in resolving possible disagreements. This recording is not meant to be burdensome. There may be many brief meetings and email exchanges between you and your supervisor which are not recorded formally. That is fine as long as the more formal meeting are written up.
How often should I meet my supervisor?
This will depend on you and the point you have reached in your research. For example you might meet your supervisor for a half an hour or more every week at some times in the year and only once or twice a term after that. Inevitably part time students see their supervisor less often than a full time. If you are in regular email contact face to face supervision may be much less regular but you should ensure that you are at least in regular email or phone contact. Indeed the university now insists that there are a minimum number of twelve monitoring points spread out across the year, for full time students, and, it is suggested, nine monitoring points for part time students. These contact points can be a mix of tutorials, email contact, attendance of ARM, FRM and study skills support monitored by appropriate course leaders and supervisors. The exact mix will differ year on year. It is your responsibility to initiate contacts and inform the research office of any difficulties you are having in meeting this requirement. Failure to stay in contact can lead to the Head of Department recommending to a Continuation of Registration Committee that you be required to withdraw.
4.4 Yearly reviews
In addition to regularly monitoring meeting you are asked to take a more reflective review of your progress every year (see Appendix H) during the Autumn term. Use this review
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meeting to reflect together with your supervisor on successes and how difficulties have been addressed. Reflect on longer term aims and a timetable for future work. The review document is for you and you to discuss and reach agreement on. There is space to highlight any areas of disagreement at the end of the review where you can add your individual comment.. In the vast majority of cases there will be broad agreement between supervisor and student on completing the form but in cases of difficulty we suggest you complete the form with a third party – for example, the research degree director. The intention is that the review process offers genuinely helpful formative feedback. Note you will have other occasions, in particular the Graduate Studies survey, to comment on the quality of support the University is offering them.
I am not making the progress I expect what can I do?
The particulars of each case are different but all of us go through dips. These are very frustrating for you but think of them as a necessary test of your patience and resilience. Have reasonable expectations. Carrying out your research project is a long term goal and there are bound to be times when progress seems to be slow. There will be aspects of your work which will be particularly and often unexpectedly challenging, take your time and work through the obstacles slowly and carefully. Remember you are not alone. Seek the input of your supervisors, make sure you really do understand the targets they are you no matter how frustrating this might be. Set yourself some more achievable goals to build your confidence and get them back on track. Compare your experiences to your colleagues. Look at other theses and see how other researchers have tackled similar problems in their work. Try to develop productive routines, better to carry out two hours of planned, sustained work a day than stay up late night each lamenting that you cannot see a way through your difficulty. Recognise that there might be unavoidable constraints on your progress, for example, you are juggling research with a full or part time job, you have family and other commitments, and you are working with English as your second or foreign language. There may be unexpected difficulties too and remember that you can temporarily withdraw from, a course to address these. There is no set formula but with a combination of your own commitment, planning and the support of others you will see a way through. You have every right to expect the university to support you but you must make a commitment and we do reserve the right to inform you clearly that you are not making sufficient effort or progress and we can certainly counsel you to withdraw and we are able to recommend you do so.
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4.5 Changing supervisor
It does happen sometimes that students want to change supervisors and vice versa. You can ask to change supervisor, this will often be because of a change of focus for the research or simply in the course of their time at WIE you have identified someone else you would like to work with. However make sure this person is willing to supervise you. In nearly all cases this is arranged without ill feeling!
5 Who to turn to if you have a difficulty…
There are many different sources of support and clearly your research student colleagues can be of immense help when settling into your programme. Supervisors are a key source of advice – if they do not know the answer they should be able to point you in the right direction. The research office deals with many enquiries all year round and Joe Winston and Michael Hammond can help with academic related problems in particular. International students may have questions they want to raise with the International office, for example concerning visas and fees, or with the International tutor. The Counselling service has already been mentioned as a source of support for personal difficulty. Op top of all this we encourage you to approach any member of academic staff- they are all here to help.
6 Ethical approval
This has become an increasingly important aspect of the research process. You may first like to look at the BERA code of practice in considering ethical issues more information at: www.bera.ac.uk/publications/guides.php
Before embarking on your main project you should complete the department’s ethical approval form (Appendix I). This will help you identify any ethical issues arising from their work and how these will be addressed. The Ethical Approval form should be sent to the Research Office. All Ethical Approval forms are considered by the Chair of the Ethics Subcommittee of Research Committee or a nominated colleague and returned to the supervisor via the Research Office; where a copy will be kept. Note again this is not intended as a bureaucratic burden – the form is to protect you in case of any ensuing difficulties. Note you must complete an approval form by the time you upgrade.
Most students will have identified sites in which to carry out research and have negotiated access to them. However remember you will need CRB checks to carry out research in schools and with young people in general in this country, please see Pat Butson for more information.
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7 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the abuse of reading in essays and in other writing. It consists principally of direct transcription, without acknowledgement, of passages, sentences or even phrases from someone else's writing, whether this has been published or not. It also refers to the presentation of material from a printed or other source as your own while making only a few changes in wording. There is, of course, a grey area here, in which making use of secondary material can come close to copying it. The problem can usually be avoided, however, by acknowledging that a certain writer holds similar views. It is surprisingly easy for a reader to identify examples of plagiarism by sudden changes of style in your writing or entering key phrases into Google or Google scholar.
All quotations from other sources must therefore be acknowledged every time they occur. It is not enough to include the work from which they are taken in the bibliography at the end, and such inclusion will not be accepted as a defence should plagiarism be alleged. When you submit their thesis it is assumed that it is your own work. The University regards plagiarism as a serious offence.
8 The upgrade process
There is very full advice about the upgrade procedure at:
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/docs/procedures/upgrade/
The upgrade serves four main purposes:
it gives you the opportunity to focus on their research and present it as a coherent ‘story’
it provides you with formative feedback
it gives experience of the viva style of examination
it provides summative feedback on progress i.e. an examination of your student’s ability to produce work that merits transfer from MPhil to doctorate level
We recommend that you prepare an upgrade paper once you have settled on a research question; a literature review; an overall methodology and methods, but before carrying out the main data collection and analysis. This will probably mean submitting the end of the first year or early in the second year of full time study or perhaps the second or third year of part time study.
The formal requirement is to produce a text of 3, 500 - 4,000 word (this is a little longer than as specified in the previous handbook) on the progress of the research. You will be expected to cover
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your interest in the topic and why it matters to you
the key concepts associated with the area of research most likely in the form of a literature review
the key question the research is addressing – this is likely to be in the form of an overarching question(s) with a small number of more precise sub questions
the research design, this will describe the overall framework or the methodology of the research
the proposed research methods and why these are appropriate for the questions being addressed
ethical issues
some speculation of what you might expect to find and the difficulties you may encounter in analysing the data
a selected bibliography or list of references
Make sure your supervisor has read your paper and that the submission has been proof read carefully and referenced consistently. Avoid the temptation of producing an overlong paper. Once finished, present the paper to the Research Office where it will be copied and sent to the examiners. A date will normally be fixed for a viva style exam usually in around 3 - 4 weeks. Prepare a five or ten minute presentation for the panel – makes sure you avoid an overlong presentation, and focus on the key issues. Rehearse the presentation in advance of the viva – it will help you feel more relaxed in front of the panel.
The panel is made up of three members from the academic staff within WIE. Your supervisor is invited to attend the upgrade; this is something to negotiate but most students would want their supervisor there. Your supervisor has no formal role in the upgrade and is not expected to ask questions or help you with replies! However in case of difficulty the panel may turn to him or her for clarification. The upgrade is perhaps less formal than the final viva but it is a serious exploration of the research – it is an examination. Again look at the web site for likely questions and frequently recurring difficulties.
After the presentation the panel will ask you questions and this may take anything from half an hour to an hour, sometimes longer. The panel will always provide formative feedback on the strengths and areas to develop. The panel will also agree a summative judgement based on four options
to agree an upgrade from ‘working towards an MPhil’ to ‘working towards a PhD’
to ask for a resubmission of the paper so that the upgrading can be re considered
to consider the project as working towards an MPhil
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to advise that the planned project will not lead to a research degree.
It is quite common to be asked to resubmit an upgrade paper, with or without a further viva. The points to address will be clearly set out and it will in most cases be a manageable task to address them. You may feel downcast, in some cases quite severe upset, if you need to resubmit. Remember this is normal and ultimately for the good of your project.
9 The Viva
Again for more detail go to the web site
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/docs/procedures/viva/
There is a great deal of advice on preparing for the viva exam which you can access through a simple web search, the Graduate School also provides advice and training for the viva and there are guidelines on submitting your thesis provided by the University which it is essential for you to read - go to www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/ourservices/gsp/studentadmin/
Normally there will be one internal and one external examiner for the viva unless your student is a member of staff in which case there will be two external examiners. Please note that choice of examiner has to be approved by the Graduate Office, the colleague in charge is David Botterill (22790 or [email protected]). Your supervisor can discuss choice of examiner with you, but clearly you cannot dictate a choice.
It is now recommended by the Graduate Office that you have a chair or ‘student advisor’ to chair the viva. This is a WIE colleague who is there to help the viva run smoothly and ensure ‘fair play’ but not to take part in the examination of the thesis itself. The role of the chair is to:
introduce the panel to the student and explain the nature of the examination
to monitor the questioning of the student and intervene to remind examiners of turn taking, time keeping and courtesy in giving the student time to respond and generally monitoring the welfare of the student
to lead you from the room while the examiners are considering their response to the viva
to lead you back in, to make sure that feedback is given clearly and procedures for possible re submission are explained, in particular the examiners should be clear as to whether a further viva is required, the timescale for the re submission and the date by which the student will receive written feedback
ensure that the examiner reports are collected and add a further note of your own that the viva was conducted in an orderly and correct manner. Clearly if there are
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grounds for thinking that the viva might be in dispute in some way, e.g. the candidate was failed outright or the candidate looked under severe stress, the chair will need to elaborate on the nature of the questioning and the conduct of the viva.
In nearly all cases the role is a minimal one, but on very rare occasions the chair may have to intervene to ensure the ‘fair play’.
How do you know if you are ready to submit? In many cases it is because you appear to have reached an end, to start on fresh work or fresh interpretation runs the risk of losing the coherence of the original work and leading you well over the expected word length. As you review the proposed thesis ask: is there a clear research question (s) giving coherence to the thesis? is the methodology explained? are the methods clear? is there an analysis of findings and a discussion of issues? is there evidence of extensive reading and a grasp of the issues arising from the reading? It is always a good idea to get a second opinion on the readiness of thesis. Obviously such a colleague cannot give detailed feedback, they will not have the time to do this, but they can comment on the structure of the thesis and look at sample pages or sections. Bear in mind that the outcomes of any viva are uncertain; we all have examples of theses which were passed first time when we expected a resubmission and vice versa. However careful moderation of your work can avoid worst case scenarios.
You may be pushing to submit your thesis early or you may be procrastinating, submission is clearly something for you to negotiate. It is nearly always foolhardy to ignore your supervisor’s advice and submit without a recommendation to do so. If you think you are ready to submit refer to the presentation guidelines before doing so. The thesis shall not exceed 80,000 words exclusive of appendices (which should not exceed 5,000 words), footnotes, tables and bibliography and there are very explicit guidelines for the layout and presentation of the thesis; the title and title page, the table of contents, acknowledgement declaration and inclusion of material from a prior thesis; inclusion of published work; abstract; abbreviations; tables and illustrated material as well as binding and submission. For guidelines on citation Go to
www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/usingthelibrary/guidespublications/bib_cit/
Again go to the Graduate School for examination requirements. Reminder, this can be downloaded from www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/ourservices/gsp/studentadmin/
Make sure your supervisor reads the final thesis as a whole and provide detailed feedback. Pay close attention to the presentation of the thesis – you are preparing a public document accessible in the library and the same standard of presentation is needed as for papers and books. This is sometimes a difficult point for students to grasp as their experience has often been of writing essays for a supervisor or tutor. There are proof reading services offered by
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individuals on campus – these vary in quality, but no matter how good the proof reading there will be issues which you will need to clear up and this can be very time consuming.
Fill in the form (Appendix J) and return this to the Research Office. Be aware that some time will pass between submitting the thesis and the viva – this is four months maximum.
Prepare for the viva (see the guidelines on the web page given earlier). Most examiners will say their judgement of a thesis has been altered by the performance of the candidate at a viva. Before the viva, carry out at least one rehearsal with your supervisor. You might like to use some of these questions to help in the rehearsal:
In one sentence, what is your thesis?
How did your research emerge?
What have you done that merits a PhD?
What was the motivation for your research?
What is your contribution to research in your subject area?
Why is the problem you have tackled worth researching?
What would you do it differently if you could do your thesis?
What have you learnt from your research experience?
What are the strongest/weakest points of your thesis?
Why have you tackled problem x that way?
What are the alternatives ways of approaching your research question?
What is the evidence to support assertion xx?
How have you tackled issues of reliability and validity?
How could you improve your work?
Has your view of your research topic changed during the course of the research?
What are the most recent major developments in your areas?
Who are the most important contributors in your field, how does you thesis support or counter their work?
How would you describe your methodology and why did you decide to use this?
Were there any ethical implications relating to your research? How did you deal with them?
Have you thought about publications – which journals are appropriate?
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Try to be assertive and stand by their main argument, backed up with appropriate evidence, without appearing defensive or aggressive. This means arguing for the thesis but being open, for example, accepting there are aspects of the research that could have been done differently and being aware of any weaknesses. The viva might last from half an hour to two hours, in some cases longer, in very rare case much longer! To quote from the regulations:
‘To satisfy the requirements for the degree of PhD, a thesis shall constitute a substantial original contribution to knowledge which is, in principle, worthy of peer-reviewed publication. The thesis shall be clearly and concisely written, well argued, and shall show a satisfactory knowledge of both primary and secondary sources. In addition, it shall contain a full bibliography and, where appropriate, a description of methods and techniques used in the research.’
Here a key criterion is whether part of thesis is publishable – obviously you are in a much stronger position if you have been able to publish some of your work before but, if not, you need to be prepared to explain where they would publish it and why it is publishable.
Using these criteria the examiners will agree one of six outcomes which will need to be confirmed by the University – again see the University handbook for more details here.
award of the doctorate – great!
make minor corrections - these really are minor corrections, typically typographical errors or some very limited rewriting. These will be explained and they should be addressed within a month – this is also great!
resubmission of the thesis. Here you and your student will be sent notes for guidance prepared by the examiners. A time limit will be set for the resubmission. Students can only resubmit your thesis once and may or may not have a second viva examination.
award of an MPhil
re submission for Phil
outright fail
It is very difficult to exaggerate the stress involved in the viva and the sense of disappointment some students (and many supervisors) experience on being told they need to re-submit a thesis. Yet re submission is for better or worse fast becoming the default. Many will want to give up as they misinterpret what is involved in the resubmission. The case of the award of an MPhil can be even more dispiriting. Students have the right of appeal against the decision of the examiners, the quality of support may be considered in this appeal which is one reason why you should have a record of key events during the supervision.
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If / when you have been awarded your degree let the Research Office and let other students know through a brief entry on the web log! Make every effort to attend your graduation.
10 Extensions
It is likely that you will underestimate the time need for the project or will lose time through illness or other events. It is important to use the review process to discuss long term planning – many students will underestimate the time needed for synthesis and analysis of findings and of course the preparation of the final thesis.
If you become seriously behind through illness or work difficulties, you are entitled to apply for temporary withdrawal. You can apply to withdraw for a fixed term (maximum one year). Fees are not charged for this period. Note that taking temporary withdrawal changes the date for the end of registration. Generally this is arranged through email request to Louisa and then on to Graduate School.
If you and your supervisor feel that the thesis will not be submitted within the normal registration period, it is important to apply for an extension as early as possible. Note it is assumed that students will need an extra time for ‘writing up’ so that, for example, full time students need not apply for an extra three months. Longer than that, you need to mail the Research Office requesting an extension and your supervisor will be asked to support the request. The Graduate School writes with its decision (normally a request for a short further extension is granted, but sometimes conditions are set, such as a particular time limit and the submission of a study plan). Extensions are not an automatic right and the Graduate School is becoming increasingly strict about agreeing to them. There is no requirement for your supervisor to strongly support applications from students who appear to be dragging the process out. Extensions of more than one year beyond the end of normal registration are rarely granted.
11 Funding and Fees
Doctorate research is expensive and many of our students find money short and prospective students can be put off studying here at all. To get the background on fees and funding go to the relevant section of the postgraduate admissions site. Some of these sources are open to existing students some presume you are applying before starting your programme.www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/funding/
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The WIE website has information and links to a variety of funding sources and it has tips and advice on how to make a good application: www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/courses/degrees/fundingTo explore sources of support speak first to Louisa Hopkins ([email protected] ext 24763) or Sean Neill ([email protected] ext 23836) who have responsibility for support in this area.
In case of financial hardship please talk to the research office and the international office and the students union.
MA and PhD Funding
The ESRC competition is open annually, the Warwick Postgraduate Research Scholarship WPRS ) competition is open bi-annually. For AHRC we are now a Block Grant Partner (BGP) and applications are drawn from WPRS entries. There is also now an additional WIE scholarship. To be eligible for any of these competitions students must hold a conditional or an unconditional University of Warwick study offer.
WIE Scholarship competitionWIE is now able to offer a research council equivalent scholarship (£16,680 this year) for 3 years starting September 2009. It is open to all home, EU or overseas PhD applicants and open to full or part time students. Students should apply in time for entry the following academic year. Contact Louisa for more information, ([email protected]).ESRC, AHRC and WPRS deploy an on-line application system which will require input from supervisors and you will have the option of uploading references on-line.
ESRC competitionsESRC Competition is open to Home/EU students. It offers full payment of fees plus a maintenance grant (the maintenance grant will not be available in full to EU students who have not been resident in the UK less than three years by April 2010.
There are two awards – the Quota (Nomination) award and the Open (Proposal) award. The WIE will decide which award the successful applicants are entered for, hence all applicants should apply through the WIE in the first instance before the 31 March 2010.
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Successful applicants will then complete the ESRC joint electronic submission (J-es) form with WIE.
Again this is open to full or part time students and for entry for the following academic year. Applicants must hold an offer at WIE at the time of applying (it can be a conditional offer). The award will fund either Masters followed by PhD (1 + 3) or PhD only (+ 3)If advanced quantitative methods are to be used, a further £3,000 above the grant will be awarded. Candidates should use either ESRC 1 + 3 form or ESRC + 3 form and return it electronically and by hard copy to WIE before 31 March 2009. Both forms can be found here: www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/courses/degrees/funding
Any questions should be addressed to Louisa.
The AHRC studentship competition (through WPRS)This competition is open to Home and EU students, and to overseas students who can show a connection to UK normally by having resided here for three years prior to applying and not for the purposes of full time education. The award pays home fees plus a maintenance grant.
Overseas and EU students are advised to see the AHRC website to check whether they will be eligible to apply for the full award or fees only:www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/StudentshipCompetition.aspx
The award will fund either Masters (Research Preparation Masters Scheme) or PhD (Doctoral Awards Scheme). Applications should be made through the WPRS scheme. Suitable applications will then be directed to AHRC. Again contact Louisa for more information.
The Warwick Postgraduate Research Scholarship (WPRS)
Round 1 opens in November for one month, Round 2 opens in February. The WPRS competition is open to Home and Overseas students. It offers payment of home fees and a maintenance grant similar to that of the ESRC. Overseas students will need to consider how they will make up the difference between home and overseas fees if they are successful in their application. Again this is open to full or part time students and for entry for the following academic year. Applicants must hold an offer at WIE at the time of applying (it can be a conditional offer). WPRS is for MPhil/PhD study only and students who are in their first year of PhD study can also apply. Applicants should complete the on-line form but NOT SUBMIT it until they have discussed their application in detail with their supervisor. In particular the part of the form giving description and detail about their
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research topic is likely to need input from an academic member of staff who will be able to relate it to research within WIE. WIE selects its candidates for the competition and only those supported by WIE will be entered. The on-line form can be accessed through the following link:www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/courses/degrees/fundingMore information, again from Louisa.
Postgraduate professional development (PPD) Funding
This is provided by the TDA for MA by Research students or Doctoral students who have QTS and are GTC registered. It offers a contribution to funding (something like half of a MA course). Unlike other funding it is almost always given. Your student’s project must be related to school and pupil improvement, or teachers’ professional development. The amount of funding varies from year to year. The funding is paid in arrears and is a report on progress is required. For further information contact Lisa Smith in the CPD office: [email protected]: 02476 523830
Other sources
There are further scholarships and funding opportunities available for postgraduate students through the Graduate School and the International Office. These can be accessed through our website: www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/courses/degrees/funding
The page also gives guidance on how to complete funding applications and tips on what to include. The Research Office staff are always very happy to help and advise with applications and it is recommended that applicants for any scholarship or studentship should ask for their application to be reviewed.
Charities often grant awards tailored to particular circumstances e.g. awards that are confined to an area or to particular categories of people. Consult directories of charities for bursaries. You will find a list of such directories at:www.dsc.org.uk/acatalog/Grant_making_Trusts.html.
The University library and your local library may have further information. Examples of such charities are: a) The Knowle Hill School Fund, which provides financial assistance to people under 25, who are, or have a parent, resident in the old county of Warwick, as constituted in 1905 (including Solihull, Coventry and parts of East Birmingham). Applications should be made in January for the Trustees’ April meeting.
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b) The William Edwards Educational Charity (Warwick) which provides financial assistance to those who live(d), or went to school in Kenilworth, or whose parents live(d) in Kenilworth.
As an example two overseas students received some funding from the British Federation of Women Graduate (www.bfwg.org.uk/) last year. Regrettably, the Dorothy Hodgkin postgraduate award is not available to students in WIE. ORS is no longer available (payment of the difference between home and overseas fees).
Any competitions for funding are going to be intense and only a very small number of projects will be funded. Look at successful applications in the research office to get a feel of what is required. Applications will take far longer than you imagine but don’t give up they are an important for you for your students and for WIE as a whole.
Timetable for applying for external and internal funding.
This is the timetable we set out for prospective students, clearly you will need to find out which sources of support might apply to you.
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You should work on your proposal with advice from your supervisor and others as early as possible so that by the time the forms are available you can work on honing the application to its very best.
Autumn term
In November apply for WPRS Round 1 in consultation with your (potential) supervisor and the Tutors for Graduate Awards. With your supervisor you need to discuss the reasons for embarking on postgraduate study, sources of funding, the application procedure, choosing a topic, expertise in the department the MPhil/PhD route etc. Meet your (potential) supervisor to discuss formulating your research question and methodology. You will need your supervisor’s help throughout the process e.g. for advice on preliminary drafts. You should also ask about the criteria and include any awards, recognition, publications or other relevant esteem indicators. Your references will need to be very strong.Those who have already started their PhD study are advised (usually) to enter Round 2 when there can be some valid comment on their progress at this level).Applications for AHRC are drawn from WPRS.
December/January Apply formally for a place to study at Warwick. Failure to do this means that you are ineligible to apply for funding. Spring term: continue discussing your proposal with (potential) supervisor WPRS Round 1 nominations by department
February WPRS Round 2 opens for one month.
March ESRC on-line (Je-S) forms available for submission by the end of March
April WPRF round 1 resultsWIE scholarship advertised and applications invited
May WPRF round 2 nominations
June WIE scholarship decisions
August ESRC and AHRC results are announced
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Appendix A: Guidelines given to applicants for writing an MPhil/PhD proposal
The more detailed the proposal is, the easier it is for us to decide if we have a suitable supervisor and if you appear to have an appropriate background for starting an MPhil/PhD degree. However, you will not necessarily be committing yourself to every detail of your plan: many students alter their focus as they develop during the period of study.
Normally candidates write around 1000 words about their field of interest and the specific plans they have for their study. This should be attached to your application form. The following is a guide.
Focus:
Please give us a concise description of your research.
Background:
Tell us where you hope your planned research will take place and your knowledge of, and access to, that context. For example you could be planning to carry out research in your school; a Ministry of Education, Local Authority; a teachers’ centre; a household; a university; a virtual environment and so on. Tell us a little about this context even if you cannot be sure of access at this stage. You might also comment on how the research arises from your personal, professional or academic history.
Literature
We are looking for evidence that you have a reasonable level of knowledge of the general field in which your research will be carried out. You should make reference to relevant literature, indicating how it relates to your proposed study. This is unlikely to be a full blown literature review but show you have done some reading, including some academic journal articles!
Research Questions:
While you might not be able to formulate all of your research questions at this stage of your proposal, think about a key question you want to address and three or four related sub questions. A weakness of many proposals as they are too broad, for example to explore the
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contribution of ICT to learning is undoable. Focus the question down to, in this case, to how does a particular software package support students (11- 14) in learning mathematics. Your sub questions could then be: what opportunities does the package provide? What difficulties are associated with its use? In what contexts is it being used.
Methods:
You should indicate how your research methods will help you address the questions above. For example, if you are exploring the experiences of learners following a drama programme or the experiences of teachers following in service training then you are almost certainly going to interview them at some point. As you complete this section do not ignore the obvious.
Outcomes:
Try to speculate on what you hope your study might achieve in practical terms and as a wider contribution to knowledge.
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Appendix B INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
RESEARCH STUDENT REQUEST TO ATTEND A CONFERENCE
NAME:
CONFERENCE DETAILS: TITLE: VENUE:
DATES: FROM: TO:
WILL YOU BE PRESENTING A PAPER? YES/ NO
WILL THE PAPER BE PUBLISHED IN CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS? YES/ NO
Please give a brief statement on how the conference links into your research student studies:
ESTIMATED COSTS: Please give an estimate of the total costs involved in attending the conference.
Conference fee £ Travel £Subsistence £Estimated total cost £
FUNDING OF CONFERENCE COSTS: Please summarise below the funding sources intended for the above costs:
INSTITUTE FUNDS £ SAP code ……………… DISCRETIONARY FUNDS £…………… SAP code ………………
APPROVAL:
Conference Approved. Supervisor Date
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DOCUMENT SUPPLY REQUEST FORM
PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS
PERIODICALS OR CONFERENCES BORROWER DETAILS NAME PROF / DR / MR / MRS / MISS / MS
BORROW NUMBER
TITLE OF PERIODICAL OR CONFERENCE
DEPARTMENT TEL. NUMBER E-MAIL AUTHOR OF ARTICLE
TITLE OF ARTICLE ADDRESS (IF APPLICABLE)
Pages Year of publication Volume Number Part Number TO
I SSN COPYRIGHT
Conference Date
Conference Location Sponsor/Organiser Conference Publisher
Source of reference for all Publications
BOOKS, REPORTS, THESES
I have read the statement overleaf and declare it to be true. Signed……………………………………. Date……………………………………….. TITLE
AUTHORISATION AUTHOR/EDITOR SIGNATURE OF TUTOR / SUPERVISOR
Place of Publication Publisher
Date of Publication Edition NAME OF TUTOR / SUPERVISOR
This edition YES/ Specifically NO
University ( If Thesis)
ISBN COST CODE (if applicable)
DECLARATION: COPY OF ARTICLE OR PART OF PUBLISHED WORK
I declare that:- a) I have not previously been supplied with a copy of the same material by you or any other library;
b) I will not use the copy except for private study or research that is not for commercial purpose and will not supply a copy of it
to any other person; and
c) To the best of my knowledge no other person with whom I work or study has made or intends to make at or about the same time as this
request, a request for substantially the same material for substantially the same purpose.
d) If this item was delivered by an electronic method (which includes facsimile transmission), I will retain only a single paper copy and destroy
any electronic copies after printing
I understand that if the declaration is false in a material particular, the copy supplied to me by you will be an infringing copy and that I
shall be liable for infringement of copyright as if I had made the copy myself.
FOR LIBRARY USE ONLY Sources Checked :
WEBCAT
COPAC
WORLDCAT
GLOBAL BOOKS IN PRINT
M25
GOOGLE / OTHER WWW SEARCH ENGINE
SUBJECT DATABASE i.e………………………………………...
OTHER
Appendix C Interlibrary loans form
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Appendix D Guidelines on authorship
The primary guideline is taken in a slightly modified form, from the Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association as this forms a concise, helpful statement: a) Members of the Unit take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed or to which they have contributed. b) Principal authorship and other publication credits accurately reflect the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their relative status. Mere possession of an institutional position, such as Department Chair, does not justify authorship credit. Minor contributions to the research or to the writing for publications are appropriately acknowledged, such as in footnotes or in an introductory statement. c) A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored article that is substantially based on the student’s dissertation or thesis.
The following guidelines add to and moderate the Primary Guideline: 1. Order of authorship should be determined primarily by the contribution made to the publication in question. In particular, the first author will normally be the person who takes primary responsibility for producing the paper, and producing the first substantial draft. 2. Any publications arising from a student’s research will be expected to include the supervisor’s name as they will have contributed substantially to the study in question. Normally, the student will plan this publication and complete the first substantial draft and hence will be first named author. If the supervisor, by agreement, undertakes this task they should be first author. 3. Where co-researchers are colleagues, all full contributions will be acknowledged in the list of authors. Order shall be determined by contribution to the publication in question. Minor contributions to the paper, or contributions to the research but not the publication, may be acknowledged by other means (e.g. a footnote)4. In research projects conceived by staff, drawing upon the work of research assistants in their execution, the first author(s) shall normally be those staff. 5. Where a publication is produced by a supervisor, drawing upon the work of more that one student, each contribution should be acknowledged. Such publications are likely to be general review papers. 6. Where contributions to a publication are equal, order of authorship shall be alphabetical. 7. Where several publications arise from a study, rotation of order of authorship is encouraged, subject to appropriate acknowledgement of contributions.
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Appendix E University code of practice for research supervision
Responsibilities of Research Students
As candidates for research degrees, students are expected: (a) To discuss with their supervisor(s) the type of guidance and comment they find most helpful, and to agree a schedule of meetings and other contact both during term-time and vacations for the prescribed period of study. (b) To seek advice from their supervisor(s) in an active manner recognising that it is the student's responsibility to have their own topics to raise with the supervisor(s). (c) To maintain the progress of the work in accordance with the stages agreed with the supervisor(s) and in accordance with departmental monitoring procedures, including in particular, the provision of well-presented written work within the agreed timescales for comment and discussion before proceeding to the next stage. (d) To take note of the guidance and feedback on their work provided by their supervisor(s) and to recognise that the supervisor’s role is to offer advice on the academic content of the work and its general presentation and not to provide detailed correction of written English. (e) To inform the supervisor(s) of other individuals with whom the work is being discussed so that this may be taken into account when examiners are recommended for appointment. (f) To be familiar with and comply with the regulations and departmental guidelines relating to their degree and the monitoring of progress and with the regulations for any studentship or award that they may hold. (g) To contribute to the research environment of the department as appropriate by taking up opportunities to present work at departmental seminars etc. and by engaging in discussion with other researchers. (h) To respect the contribution and intellectual property rights of the supervisor(s) in external output of any form (e.g. publications, patents etc.) emanating from the research. (i) To conduct their work at all times in accordance with University and departmental safety requirements and to follow ethical guidance provided by the department or supervisor(s). (j) To raise, through the departmental Staff-Student Liaison Committee and Graduate Progress Committee (or equivalent) in the first instance, any general issues related to the resources and facilities available in the department which may affect the progress of research students. (k) To inform their supervisor(s), in good time where possible, should they plan to be away from the University for more than two weeks. (l) To provide an annual report on their progress to the Graduate School. (m) To take the initiative in raising problems or difficulties with the supervisor(s) in the first instance, however elementary they may seem, including any matters which may
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require a suspension of registration or will cause a delay in the expected completion date of the work. (n) To accept a commitment to complete their project and submit their thesis in good time within the period specified by the University and, where ever possible, by the end of the period of fee-paying registration. (o) To decide when to submit the thesis taking due account of the opinion of the supervisor(s), which is necessarily only advisory and whose agreement to submission is not a guarantee of success. The supervisor(s) should be provided with a complete draft of the thesis in reasonable time to provide comment and feedback.
Responsibilities of Supervisors Supervisors are expected: (a) To give guidance about the nature of research and the standard expected, about the planning of the research programme, about literature and sources and the use of requisite techniques (including instruction where necessary) and to encourage students to keep aware of all relevant developments within the subject. (b) To discuss training requirements with students and recommend attendance at taught courses or specialist training as appropriate, beyond compulsory training provided by the department. (c) To draw the attention of students to all relevant University and departmental regulations and monitoring arrangements as well as any regulations attached to a scholarship or studentship held by the student. (d) To give detailed advice on the necessary completion dates of successive stages of the work, agreeing objectives for each stage so that the thesis may be submitted within the scheduled time. It is important that students are made aware of the deadline for submission of their thesis at the beginning of their research programme. Supervisors should discuss with students a likely submission date during the last year of fee-paying registration. (e) To monitor the progress of students against the agreed plan for completion of their research programme and inform students if either their progress or the standard of their work is unsatisfactory. (f) To liaise with the Directors of Research Degrees as appropriate with regard to the progress of individual students and to report on each student's progress in line with departmental procedures for monitoring progress. (g) To provide advice on writing up the work, requesting written work as appropriate and returning such work with constructive criticism and within reasonable time. To read through a complete draft of the thesis and provide detailed comments. (h) To maintain contact with students through regular supervisory meetings and other types of structured communication as appropriate, to ensure that meetings are largely uninterrupted and of adequate length. The frequency of such contact should be agreed between the student and supervisor at the start of the project and should be reviewed throughout the period of study. It is expected that these arrangements will vary
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depending on the stage which the student has reached in their project and on the nature of the academic discipline. As a guide to frequency of interaction, one such contact per month throughout the academic year is a generally acceptable minimum for full-time students. Supervisors may wish to agree a schedule of supervision meetings with each student at the start of each academic year. Supervisors should keep a note of any missed meetings.
Contact with part-time students will typically be less frequent than that with full-time students of the same discipline in proportion to the length of their period of study. Supervisors are expected to ensure that part-time students are aware of the frequency of supervisory contact and feedback that they can expect during their period of study. (i) To be accessible to students at other times by arrangement should advice on academic or personal problems be required. To refer students to the Senior Tutor’s Office, Advice and Welfare Services or other University support services as appropriate. (j) To inform students should they plan to be out of contact for more than two weeks to allow students to plan accordingly. (k) To make appropriate contact arrangements/alternative supervision arrangements should either a supervisor or student be away from the University for more than a month, for example during study visits/leave, industrial placements or University vacations. Where the student is expected to be away from the University for the majority of their period of study the supervisors should ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place for the supervision of these students and that these arrangements are agreed with and communicated clearly to the student. The normal expectation is that such students can expect the same frequency of supervision as other comparable students within the department, recognising that the mode of supervision and provision of feedback may differ significantly. (l) To assist the student in development of personal transferable skills, as appropriate, through for example: (i) Arranging for students to discuss their work at staff or graduate seminars. (ii) Encouraging and assisting students to publish the results of their research and to present it at scholarly conferences. (iii) Encouraging students to participate in the Warwick Graduate School Generic Skills Programme for Research Students (m) To respect the contribution and intellectual property rights of the student in external output of any form (e.g. publications, patents etc.) emanating from the research. (n) To advise Research Support Services (RSS) of cases where particular consideration may need to be given to the protection of intellectual property developed within a project. RSS is responsible for ensuring that students retain appropriate rights over the results of their research and that undue restrictions are not placed on access to the student's thesis by a research sponsor.
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(o) To encourage the student to approach other workers in the field and appropriate academic bodies and societies. (p) To advise students on matters of confidentiality or ethical considerations relating to particular techniques, sources or results. (q) To ensure that the correct safety procedures are followed when using equipment or laboratory materials (full details on safety procedures are available from Departmental Safety Officers and from the University Safety Officer). (r) To ensure that, should a major change in research direction occur, appropriate adjustments are made to the supervisory arrangements and, if necessary, to advise the Department's Directors of Research Degrees should the student's research lead in a direction which the supervisor is not equipped to supervise. (s) To agree with the other supervisor(s) and with the student the respective responsibilities and roles of the different supervisors and to maintain good communication with the other supervisor(s) concerning the student's progress throughout the period of study. (t) To recommend examiners for the student's thesis to the department, normally at least one month before submission of the thesis, for proposal to the University, after discussion with the student to check that the proposed examiners have not had significant input into the project or a significant personal or financial relationship with the student. (u) In cases where a thesis is referred for resubmission, if the candidate wishes, to advise on the necessary revisions in consultation with the internal examiner or examination advisor if necessary.
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Appendix F Review of knowledge, skills and attitudes
Refer to this throughout your time with us, set and share your goals with your supervisor
Name:
Supervisor(s):
In successfully carrying out your project you will need to develop a complex mix of subject and generic knowledge, skills and attitudes. Let us think about these a little more.
To get your project underway you will need to: recognise and validate problems; know of recent advances within your field and in related areas; show a broad understanding of the context, at the national and international level, in which your research takes place; identify and access appropriate bibliographical resources, archives, and other sources of relevant information.
To collect data, you will need: an understanding of relevant research methodologies and techniques and their appropriate application within your field; to design and execute systems for the acquisition and collation of information.
To carry out your project responsibly you will need to: demonstrate awareness of issues relating to the rights of other researchers, of research subjects, and of others who may be affected by the research, eg confidentiality, ethical issues, attribution, copyright, malpractice, ownership of data and the requirements of the Data Protection Act. Justify the principles and experimental techniques used in your research.
To contribute to the knowledge base you will need to: critically analyse and evaluate your findings and those of others; show original, independent and critical thinking, and the ability to develop theoretical concepts.
To get your message across you will need to: write clearly and in a style appropriate to purpose, eg progress reports, published documents, thesis; construct coherent arguments and articulate ideas clearly to a range of audiences, formally and informally through a variety of techniques; constructively defend research outcomes at seminars and viva examination; contribute to promoting the public understanding of one’s research field.
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To keep your project on track you will need to: summarise, document, report and reflect on progress; apply effective project management through the setting of research goals, intermediate milestones and prioritisation of activities; recognise boundaries and draw upon/use sources of support as appropriate; use information technology appropriately for database management, recording and presenting information.
As you near the end of your project, think about your future career management, you will need to: take ownership for and manage your career progression, set realistic and achievable career goals, and identify and develop ways to improve employability; demonstrate an insight into the transferable nature of research skills to other work environments and the range of career opportunities within and outside academia; Present your skills, personal attributes and experiences through effective e-portfolios, CVs, applications and interviews.
How are you going to achieve all these things? Very often through experience, through trial and error through feedback from others. But take time throughout your programme to consider how you can be proactive in achieving these goals. Consider for example, the range of support available. For example, to help you develop better communication skills you might attend relevant graduate school events, to develop knowledge of research methodologies you will almost certainly have to attend ARM sessions, to understand more of your field you may need tutorials with your supervisors. Use the following table to help you set goals.
Goals How to be achieved Reflection
To get your project underway I will need to:
recognise and validate problems.
know of recent advances within my field and in related areas.
show a broad understanding of the context, at the national and international level, in which my research takes place.
identify and access appropriate bibliographical resources, archives, and other sources of relevant information.
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To collect data, I will need:
an understanding of relevant research methodologies and techniques and their appropriate application within my field.
to design and execute systems for the acquisition and collation of information
To carry out my project responsibly I will need to:
demonstrate awareness of issues relating to the rights of other researchers, of research subjects, and of others who may be affected by the research
To contribute to the knowledge base I will need to:
critically analyse and evaluate my findings and those of others.
show original, independent and critical thinking, and the ability to develop theoretical concepts.
To get my message across I will need to:
write clearly and in a style appropriate to purpose, eg progress reports, published documents, thesis.
construct coherent arguments and articulate ideas clearly to a range of audiences
constructively defend research outcomes at seminars and viva examination
contribute to promoting the public understanding of I
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research field.
To keep my project on track I will need to:
summarise, document, report and reflect on progress.
apply effective project management through the setting of research goals, intermediate milestones and prioritisation of activities.
recognise boundaries and draw upon/use sources of support as appropriate.
use information technology appropriately for database management, recording and presenting information.
As I near the end of my project, think about my future career management, I will need to:
take ownership for and manage my career progression, set realistic and achievable career goals, and identify and develop ways to improve employability.
demonstrate an insight into the transferable nature of research skills and the range of career opportunities within and outside academia.
Underlying whatever you do to achieve a successful project you will show special personal qualities, for example to: demonstrate a willingness and ability to learn and identify your own training needs; listen, give and receive feedback and respond perceptively to others; show self-discipline, self reliance, motivation, and thoroughness; be creative, original and independent; develop and maintain networks
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and working relationships with supervisors, colleagues and peers, within the institution and the wider research community.
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Appendix G
Postgraduate Supervision Record Sheet: Institute of Education
Student:
Supervisor:
FT/PT: Date:
Year of Study: Duration:
Programme:
Key areas of discussion:
Agreed action points:
Signed: (Student)
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Signed: (Supervisor)
Date of next supervision:
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Appendix H
WIEWarwick Institute
of Education
Yearly Review
In order to help you reflect on your progress towards your research degree please could you discuss the following areas with your supervisor (s). Please make three copies, one for you, second copy for your supervisor and a third copy for the Research Office. Feel free to make electronic copies and mail to [email protected]
Your name:
Supervisor (s) name:
Date
What do you feel you have achieved over the last six months?
How have you addressed the issues arising out of your previous review? (If this is your
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first year review your initial review when starting the course)
Provisional title of your project
(This will be added to the course web page so research degree students can identify colleagues carrying out similar research)
FRM / ARM attended
Any additional training attended eg CELTE, WIE language support, Graduate School
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training, IT services training
Review your progress in the relevant areas of research and identify any further research training needs.
Progress Research training needs
Identifying and refining your research question?
The key concepts associated with your research question?
Your methodological framework
Your ethics approval
Your data collection methods
Your reporting of results
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Your modelling of your findings /
Your analysis of data
Your comparison of your findings with other literature
Your discussion
Your project report
My mid term targets are …..
Comment on the progress you think you are making towards your research degree
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and estimated date for completion.
Student comment
Supervisor comment
Student signature
Supervisor signature
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Appendix I
Institute of Education:
Research student and Masters by Research: Ethical Approval
All research undertaken by research student students and students undertaking a Masters degree by research must be approved not only for their technical, academic and professional appropriateness, but also to ensure they comply with ethical practice. The following process is intended to be speedy, but appropriate for these projects.
Process1. The student specifies the ethical issues arising from the project and how these will
be addressed. This is submitted on the Ethical Approval form with the proposal for the project.
2. The supervisor reviews the Ethical Approval form and recommends approval. If the supervisor is not satisfied, this shall be explored with the student and a revised proposal submitted which the supervisor is prepared to sign off as satisfactory.
3. The Ethical Approval form should be sent to the Research Office.
4. All Ethical Approval forms are considered by the Chair of the Ethics Subcommittee of Research Committee or a nominated colleague and returned to the supervisor via the Research Office; where a copy will be kept.
5. A report is made annually to the Research Committee.
6. A brief note of guidance for completing the form is appended.
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Research degrees: Application for Ethical Approval
About you
Name
Project title
Supervisor
Degree (please circle) : MA by research EdD MPHil / PhD
Please ensure you have read the Guidance for the Ethical Conduct of Research available in the handbook.
About the participants
Please specify all participants in the research including ages of children and young people where appropriate. Also specify if any participants are vulnerable e.g. as a result of learning disability.
Respect for participants’ rights and dignity
How will the fundamental rights and dignity of participants be respected, e.g. confidentiality, respect of cultural and religious values?
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Privacy and Confidentiality
How will confidentiality be assured? Please address all aspects of research including protection of data records, thesis, reports/papers that might arise from the study.
Consent
- will prior informed consent be obtained from participants? Yes / No
- from others? Yes / No
- explain how this will be obtained. If prior informed consent is not to be obtained, give reason:
- will participants be explicitly informed of the student’s status?
Competence
How will you ensure that all methods used are undertaken with the necessary competence?
Responsibility
i) Well-being
How will participants’ safety and well-being be safeguarded?
ii) Addressing dilemmas
Even well planned research can produce ethical dilemmas. How will you address any ethical dilemmas that may arise in your research?
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iii) Misuse of research
How will you ensure that the research and the evidence resulting from it are not misused?
Integrity
How will you ensure that your research and its reporting are honest, fair and respectful to others?
Have you and your supervisor discussed and agreed the basis for determining authorship of published work other than your thesis?
Other issues?
Please specify other issues not discussed above, if any, and how you will address them.
Signed
Research student Date
Supervisor Date
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Action
Please submit to the Research Office (Louisa Hopkins, room WE132)
Action taken
Approved
Approved with modification or conditions – see below
Action deferred. Please supply additional information or
clarification – see below
Name Date
Signature
Stamped
Notes of Action
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Appendix J
Graduate Studies
APPLICATION FOR TRANSFER OF REGISTRATION FROM THE MPHIL TO THE PHD DEGREE
To be completed by the student and supervisor submitted with the upgrading material
Name
Initial date of registration (month/year)
Title of research topic
Have you applied for upgrading on a previous occasion? Yes/No (please delete as appropriate)
If yes, when?
Signature Date
Name of Supervisor(s) Signature(s)
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To be completed by the supervisor(s)
I / we confirm named student's application for upgrading from MPhil to PhD has been considered in accordance with University Guidelines.
The student has been recommended for upgrading to PhD Yes No
The student has been recommended for upgrading to PhD with a further review in one year’s time
The student has not been recommended for upgrading to PhD with the advice given:
Re-apply for upgrading - please specify any time limit on the re-application:
Work towards MPhil
Other (eg counselled to withdraw)
Chair of the Upgrade Committee
Name Signature
The members of the up grading panel were:
Date of upgrading interview:
Copy of letter sent to student with recommendations should be attached.
Please return to Louisa Hopkins, Room WE132, within a week of the upgrade taking place.
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Appendix K Application for a temporary withdrawal or extension
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Request for a Temporary Withdrawal or Extension of Registration for Postgraduate Studies
This form should be completed by a department to request an extension of registration or a temporary withdrawal from studies for a postgraduate student from the Chairman of the Board of Graduate Studies
Please complete and return to the Research Office. Retrospective requests will be considered only in exceptional circumstances.
Student Name ...................................................................Student No ......................
Programme of Study ..................................................................................................
Supervisor ..................................................................................................................
Extension requested
From ..................................................................................To ...................................
Is this a request for an extension of full fee paying registration? (ie if a student receives an extension to their funding) Yes/No.......................................
Temporary Withdrawal requested
From .................................................................................. To ..................................
1
Reason for extension/temporary withdrawal............................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
Documentation attached.............................................................................................
Student’s Progress to date .......................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
Expected date of submission of work ......................................................................
Additional comments ................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
Signed .........................................................................................................................
(Director of Research Students)
2
