Through a hands-on approach students learn how to formulate a research question and design a research strategy to answer this question. The end product of this seminar is a research proposal for an RMA or PhD thesis, that will be defended for a (mock) committee. After successfully completing this course, students can:
• Formulate a research question appropriate to graduate research
• Design a research proposal in which research question, theory, methodology and historiography are aligned
• Present and defend their research proposal
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As a first step students will examine a number of existing research proposals to determine what constitutes a good research plan. For this purpose we will give students some good and some bad proposals along with a standard NWO referee assessment form. Students will do a first individual assignment in the form of a written evaluation of one of the proposals. At the end of week 3, students propose one of their previous papers (written for another course) as a starting point for their research design. Students interview a senior researcher inside or outside the department to explore the feasibility of their design. The written report of this interview is the second assignment of this course. After the interview there are two study weeks in which students work on their research proposal. In week 8 there is a one-day session with 'committee hearings´. Every student presents his or her proposal to a committee of fellow students, following the exact procedures of NWO. The participation in the committee meetings (presentation, referee report, discussion) is the third assignment. In the last week there are individual meetings with the individual students to discuss their revised research plan (the fourth assignment).
Career orientation:
Writing a research proposal according to NWO guideline.
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