Cambridge Mphil Politics and International Studies

OP

@noturgirl, I’ll probably send it off around October or so, since I’ve already contacted my referees and I’m working right now on my research proposal.

Reply 5

noturgirl

3

Have you been on the application portal yet?
Im confused as to what we’re supposed to write in the “research” section? Are you leaving it blank?

Reply 6

guajo220

9

Original post by noturgirl

Have you been on the application portal yet?
Im confused as to what we’re supposed to write in the “research” section? Are you leaving it blank?

I'm probably leaving it blank since we'll have to upload a full research proposal anyway.

Reply 7

OP

How is your work on the research proposal going? Exactly how specific do you think it should be? I’m freaking out about it hahaha, I’ve been working on it for months and I still feel like it’s not ready

Reply 8

Original post by AnnaGB00

How is your work on the research proposal going? Exactly how specific do you think it should be? I’m freaking out about it hahaha, I’ve been working on it for months and I still feel like it’s not ready

Wow since you’ve been working on it for months, I think you’re already way more prepared than I am! I still have to start mine... and I really don’t know where I can start from. I’ve looked through the people teaching in the POLIS department to find someone who could be my potential supervisor. I know that, if I were to select a topic that no one in the department is interested in, it’d be harder.

I’m currently planning on writing about language reform (my specialty) and how it’s tied to authoritarianism, with a focus on the Central Asian region. The people I found have authoritarianism, post-Soviet state-building and international relations in Asia listed as their interests. Do you think this would potentially work?

The research proposal should contain about 500 words. This page might help you! You must have probably seen it already though.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by JFChris

Wow since you’ve been working on it for months, I think you’re already way more prepared than I am! I still have to start mine... and I really don’t know where I can start from. I’ve looked through the people teaching in the POLIS department to find someone who could be my potential supervisor. I know that, if I were to select a topic that no one in the department is interested in, it’d be harder.

I’m currently planning on writing about language reform (my specialty) and how it’s tied to authoritarianism, with a focus on the Central Asian region. The people I found have authoritarianism, post-Soviet state-building and international relations in Asia listed as their interests. Do you think this would potentially work?

The research proposal should contain about 500 words. This page might help you! You must have probably seen it already though.

That’s a very interesting topic! In my opinion and experience, you don’t have to find a potential supervisor who is doing the exact same thing you are proposing to study. In fact, that shouldn’t be the case because it could create some conflict of interest. I would say just find someone whose expertise you would need to complete your topic (post-Soviet state building and Asian IR sounds about right). Also I think that academics usually have many different areas of interest, maybe try to look at the list of publications of people you’re interested in because they might as well have written an article close to your proposed project.
Hope this helps!

Reply 10

Original post by AnnaGB00

That’s a very interesting topic! In my opinion and experience, you don’t have to find a potential supervisor who is doing the exact same thing you are proposing to study. In fact, that shouldn’t be the case because it could create some conflict of interest. I would say just find someone whose expertise you would need to complete your topic (post-Soviet state building and Asian IR sounds about right). Also I think that academics usually have many different areas of interest, maybe try to look at the list of publications of people you’re interested in because they might as well have written an article close to your proposed project.
Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! Yes, I spent a long time looking through publications as well. My plan B would’ve been architecture and dictatorships, but the POLIS department already offers the “Architecture and Political Theory” module, so I felt like the overlap would’ve been too much.

By the way, good job for your 72 at KCL! That gives you great chances, so I’m sure you’ll perform beautifully this year as well... Don’t worry too much! (Or at least, enough so that you can be consistently good this year too!)

Have you finished your research proposal then? 500 words is not enough... At first I thought that I had to include a little personal statement as well, but apparently Cambridge doesn’t require it? I really think I should talk a little bit about myself as well haha, and I feel like my CV is not the right place for lengthy paragraphs.

Reply 11

guajo220

9

Original post by JFChris

Wow since you’ve been working on it for months, I think you’re already way more prepared than I am! I still have to start mine... and I really don’t know where I can start from. I’ve looked through the people teaching in the POLIS department to find someone who could be my potential supervisor. I know that, if I were to select a topic that no one in the department is interested in, it’d be harder.

I’m currently planning on writing about language reform (my specialty) and how it’s tied to authoritarianism, with a focus on the Central Asian region. The people I found have authoritarianism, post-Soviet state-building and international relations in Asia listed as their interests. Do you think this would potentially work?

The research proposal should contain about 500 words. This page might help you! You must have probably seen it already though.

I wonder how they think about the "about 500 words" thing. The application portal says "Research proposal (M): This should be about 500-800 words, one-two pages..."
Mine is about 750 words, so I hope they're not expecting 500ish.

Reply 12

SebastianMesser

11

Original post by guajo220

I wonder how they think about the "about 500 words" thing. The application portal says "Research proposal (M): This should be about 500-800 words, one-two pages..."
Mine is about 750 words, so I hope they're not expecting 500ish.

If they ask for 800 words try to get close to 800 words… but also keep in mind the quotation attributed to Henry David Thoreau, “if I’d had more time i would have written a shorter letter”. It’s much harder to edit and be succinct while also conveying your point. They will not appreciate ‘filler’.

Reply 13

Quick question: how many relevant sources have you listed in your research proposal?

Original post by JFChris

Quick question: how many relevant sources have you listed in your research proposal?

They aren't required at all for a research proposal. You might briefly name the chief protagonists in an argument, or list a few authors who will be early sources, but the research proposal doesn't have to be a fully reference document at all.

Much more important is that you demonstrate the scope of the topic can be completed in the time, that you have access to the necessary resources, that you've chosen the research method with some reason, that you have some idea of the internal timescales, and that you've considered any of the obvious challenges/problems that could arise.

Reply 15

Original post by threeportdrift

They aren't required at all for a research proposal. You might briefly name the chief protagonists in an argument, or list a few authors who will be early sources, but the research proposal doesn't have to be a fully reference document at all.

Much more important is that you demonstrate the scope of the topic can be completed in the time, that you have access to the necessary resources, that you've chosen the research method with some reason, that you have some idea of the internal timescales, and that you've considered any of the obvious challenges/problems that could arise.

Thank you so much for your help!

I feel like I became the only one who’s asking questions here, but let’s change that! Since I’ve already more or less finished my research proposal, we could turn this into a discussion where we could, helpfully, help out each other! How’s your research proposal going? If you’ve finished writing it, what are you currently working on?

PS: Last question (sorry)! Could you list a PhD student as one of your potential supervisors? They are listed in the department pages (under the “People” section, with their own CV and stuff, just like any other professor), so I wonder whether it’d be possible to include them as well.

Original post by JFChris

Thank you so much for your help!

I feel like I became the only one who’s asking questions here, but let’s change that! Since I’ve already more or less finished my research proposal, we could turn this into a discussion where we could, helpfully, help out each other! How’s your research proposal going? If you’ve finished writing it, what are you currently working on?

PS: Last question (sorry)! Could you list a PhD student as one of your potential supervisors? They are listed in the department pages (under the “People” section, with their own CV and stuff, just like any other professor), so I wonder whether it’d be possible to include them as well.

PhD students can’t supervise, at least I’ve never heard of that happening in POLIS. Senior lecturer or above is usually the level, though co-supervision or guided supervision from junior lecturers might be possible.

What POLIS is/was good at is having Supervisors outside the department, so if your research could be covered by someone in POLIS or someone in History or Economics etc then POLIS can usually accommodate that.

In the UK the term professor is restricted to professors and not to any academic that teaches.

Reply 17

OP

Is there any place in the application portal where we are asked to talk about our interest in the course? I thought I’d read it somewhere but anyone knows where it is?

Reply 18

OP

Also, does anyone know whether the research proposal word count includes references and bibliography?

Reply 19