All of the forms are here: the student fills this in, the supervisor completes this, the internal examiner fills in this, and these are overall notes about the process.
The reports should all be submitted to your supervisor in the first instance.
1. Fill in a Progress Form and email it to me (DWC).
2. Do the other things below, according to your year and mode of study.
Part-Time PhD students
Everything on this page covers you too, however you do the FIRST-YEAR things at the end of the SECOND year, the SECOND-YEAR things at the end of your THIRD year, and the THIRD-YEAR things at the end of every subsequent year. At the end of your FIRST year, just do the Progress Form above.
(DWC students: Ridzuan Daud, Jeanne Lynch-Aird, Osama Mobarik, Kareem Shaker, Alan Vella)
The following additional things needs to be done:
A standard format for this is as follows. In individual cases we (student and me) can agree modifications to this. However, what is needed in all cases is a decent literature review, a clear `research question', and a good plan for the next two years.
So: your first year report should comprise:
(a): A critical literature review of (minimum) 4,000 words, covering the main historic and (mainly) recent and important research papers in the area that you are working in. The conclusion of the review should be a 500-word (or so) summary which indicates the main problems and challenges that still seem to be in the area you are working in, and suggestions for ways forward.
In some cases, you may have produced one or more documents already -- e.g. maybe we have already published a paper, or you have written down a brief report of some ideas for discussion at our meetings. In a good first year report, such documents can be referred to in the `progress so far' bit of the thesis proposal, and attached as an appendix to the report.
An independent member of staff (usually someonw who has no connection with your project) will have a 20 minute (or so) chat with you about your research. This is to generally get a feel for how you are getting on, and partially to help verify that your report is your own work, and to dicuss issues on your progress form and your plan for the remaining years.
(DWC students: Steve Gill (?), SheRi GuLeng (?))
The following additional things needs to be done:
The contents and nature of this report can be highly variable. The role of this report is to satisfy us that progress is going well, and that you are on track to complete at the end of the third year. A standard format for this is as follows.
(a): A restatement of your research question(s) ; in (minimum) 500 words, provide a statement of your research question(s), and a justified discussion of how and why these may have changed since your first year.
(b): A research progress report; in (minimum) 2,000 words, describe each main activity you have been doing in the second year, and how it contributes to your PhD. See next:
(c): Copies of any submitted papers, reports, and/or anything similar you have produced during your studies so far. The model scenario is that the research progress report will have paragraphs describing blocks of work which refer to specific attached reports. E.g. "At the beginning of the second year we finished experiments on X and submitted a paper on this to Y (paper 1 attached)"; "In May I did an analysis of a large dataset, to help indicate what changes might be needed to my algorithm in future work. A report on this analysis is attached (paper 2 attached).", etc ...
(d): A plan for your third year. Either the following or an equivalent: for each month of the third year, a sensible statement of what research you will do, with milestones, indicating how each contributes to your PhD. Thesis drafting should begin at least 6 months into it.
An independent member of staff (usually someonw who has no connection with your project) will have a 20 minute (or so) chat with you about your research. This is to generally get a feel for how you are getting on, and partially to help verify that your report is your own work, and to dicuss issues on your progress form and your plan for the remaining years.
In the case of second years, see this as an opportunity to (if necessary) explain and state your case if it seems that progress is not all that good. This is not very uncommon, since the shape and direction of the PhD can change materially between the 1st and 2nd year, and there may not have been much progress in the new direction. However, you need to convince the internal examiner that you wll stay with any such new direction and complete successfully.
(DWC students: Silang Luo, Zelmina Lubovac, Jonas Gamaliellson, Dan Taylor)
The following additional things needs to be done:
This is only needed if you do not expect to submit before the end of October. So, if you are not that close to submitting, then do the 1(b) and 1(c) items for the Second Year Report, as above.
A plan (1 or 2 pages) covering the period from September 2007 until the date that you expect to submit your thesis (hopefully, in full-time cases who started beginning October 2004, submission should be no later than end of September 2008). The plan should cover any remaining research that you and supervisor have agreed necessary, plus details of production of draft chapters leading up to a full draft. This will be with reference to next:.
1 or 2 pages indicating each chapter title, and a 50-100 word description of what will be in that chapter.