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How to upgrade from MPhil to PhD Status

How to upgrade from MPhil to PhD Status. By Oksana Afitska PhD Student Graduate School of Education University of Bristol Oksana.Afitska@bristol.ac.uk. Structure of presentation. Preparing for upgrading Process of upgrading. Preparing for upgrading: what you will need.

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How to upgrade from MPhil to PhD Status

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  1. How to upgrade from MPhil to PhD Status By Oksana Afitska PhD Student Graduate School of Education University of Bristol Oksana.Afitska@bristol.ac.uk

  2. Structure of presentation • Preparing for upgrading • Process of upgrading

  3. Preparing for upgrading: what you will need • The assignment you’ve written for “Data collection and Analysis” unit (whichever option you’ve chosen); • Your tutor’s comments on it; • MPhil/PhD Research Handbook 2005-2006; • Any written work you’ve done for your PhD thesis (e.g.: literature review, methodology, data collection procedures).

  4. Preparing for upgrading: how to use what you have • MPhil/PhD Research Handbook 2005-2006 It will help you to get an idea of what the upgrade committee will be looking for in your upgrading report. Briefly: * Description of the research problem, its background; * Research aims, questions and hypothesis; * Methods of data collection and analysis; * Theoretical framework underlying your research; * Timetable for your work; * Chapters (or their parts) you’ve already written; * Working bibliography.

  5. Preparing for upgrading: how to use what you have - continue Note the difference between the requirements for the length of a written report set in MPhil/PhD RH 2004-2005 and MPhil/PhD RH 2005-2006. It is approximately 20 pages (double-spaced) for the former and 10.000 – 15.000 words (excluding references and appendices) for the later.

  6. Preparing for upgrading: how to use what you have • The assignment you’ve written for “Data collection and Analysis” unit Compare the parts you have in your assignment with those set in MPhil/PhD RH 2005-2006. * Are they the same? * What is missing? * Is there anything you should exclude/add? • Look at your tutor’s comments * What does your tutor suggest? * Try to follow his/her recommendations.

  7. Preparing for upgrading: how to use what you have • Written work you’ve done for your PhD thesis Use all your written work (especially chapters on literature review) when writing your upgrading report. Remember: Detailed examination and critical analysis of research relevant to your study will add value to your work.

  8. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Introduction * Do outline setting and scope of the study and state its aims and focus at the very beginning of your report. You need to say what you are doing and why you are doing it in this part of your paper.

  9. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Research background * Tell here about the areas that underlie your research. This section actually should allow a non-specialist in your area of research to get a clear idea of what it is that is introduced and discussed in this proposal.

  10. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Literature review * Make it nice and extended. Try not to use too many tables here – put tables into appendices. Say how literature you reviewed is relevant to your research. * If you do not know how to organise this section, I suggest the following: • Introduce the core concepts in tern; • Review the research made on them; • Reveal the main findings; • Provide implications for your own study.

  11. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Theoretical frame * Here you will discuss the concept(s) / idea(s) which is/are taken as core unit(s) or basis for your research. Roughly speaking - in literature review section you talk about research made by others in this section you talk about your own research.

  12. Preparing for upgrading: your report • The pilot study • If you have done the pilot (you are expected to do it!) then talk in this section about how you’ve done it and what are the outcomes. • Did you have to change anything in your original design? • What are the findings of your pilot? • Do they support the hypotheses you’ve stated earlier? • Did your pilot revealed any problems with data collection or analysis? How are you going to deal with that?

  13. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Potential problems of the proposed study * You will talk here about limitations of your research, about difficulties you may come across and how you will deal with that. It relates to data collection procedure for example – how many participants are you going to have? What if they withdraw from the research? Any ethical issues to be considered?

  14. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Outputs of the research * In this section you will say why your research is worth conducting and what are the possible outcomes of it – who will be able to use it, for example.

  15. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Provisional schedule for implementation of your research * Be realistic * Accurate * Allow yourself more time than you think you might need You may have the following table here: Task; Date; Presentations/Conferences; Publications.

  16. Preparing for upgrading: your report • Appendices * You may have as many of these as you wish. What you can put into appendices put into them. It especially concerns tables, diagrams, provisional questionnaires, consent forms.

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