How do masters feed into PhDs?

Yes: my Masters Long Study was recommended for publication, and it was the springboard for my first PhD research proposal and approach to a potential supervisor. However a funded opportunity cropped up at a different institution so I quickly shelved my initial plan and took the funding instead. I had 3 young kids at the time and frankly the funding and readymade research framework were a better fit for my circumstances.

Hi, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who responded to my most and to provide a short update for anyone that might be interested. I have decided that I will take a year out to work and save up for postgraduate study. I've submitted a deferral request to the university that I have an offer from and anticipate reapplying for the university that I'm on the waiting list for. I think financially this seems like the most logical decision because I was struggling originally with the costs of postgraduate study and so might as well save up rather than jump into a course that I don't really want to do. Thank you again for everyone's help, you've all really made a difference and helped me through this process so thank you for your informative responses and useful pieces of advice!

Cheers for letting us know - congrats on making a decision, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Hi @Wildean99,

I'd agree with @threeportdrift that ensuring your course develops you wider research and literary critical/analytical - and that is interesting to you - is more important than experience in specific modules - certainly for English Literature anyway.

I'm now in the second year of my PhD in English Literature at Keele and, during my MA year, I didn't do any specific modules on my PhD specialism (which is eighteenth-century medievalism). However my MA year included two dedicated research skills modules (which included topics such as applying for funding, archival skills training, writing for academic journals, book history, the role of humanities with the university, interdisciplinary research, digital humanities etc), plus a number of modules that developed my critical analysis skills and deepened my knowledge of literary theory and its application, all of which has been helpful both in applying for and completing my PhD.

There were also opportunities during my MA year to engage in additional research training, conference organisation, external and internal presentation of my research, and relevant work experience - all of which fed into my (successful) application for PhD funding. This allowed me to go straight from my MA to my PhD - although that did mean developing a PhD proposal and writing a lengthy funding application alongside studying for my MA, which is not for the faint-hearted! I should also say I took a lengthy (11 year) gap between my BA and my MA, so I'd had time to build additional skills and hone my research interests during that period, which helped with my PhD application process.

My MA dissertation project was also directly related to my PhD research - not wholly the same but it was on eighteenth-century medievalism, albeit with a different focus to my PhD in terms of specific thematic and textual content - and I had the support of a supervisor who was a specialist in eighteenth-century literature and culture (and who has gone on to be one of my PhD supervisors). So whilst I didn't study my specialism on specific modules during my MA, I did complete an extensive piece of writing within that specialism and could demonstrate prior work in that field - and knowledge of the literature and current research within the field - for my PhD application.

So whilst I don't think it's essential for you to have specific modules on your specialism, I do think it's important that you can write your thesis on something that both interests you and that is related to (or at least adjacent to) the literary specialism/field that you might like to eventually undertake your PhD in - and to have a member of staff who would be able to supervise you in that regard. As @threeportdrift has said, its also important to pursue the course you are interested in - you'll have a much better chance of succeeding in your MA (and in your PhD application) if you are interested in what you're studying, feel engaged with the course, and feel supported by the staff and research culture of the university you're based at.

Hope that helps!

Amy Louise

My opinion is that it can feed in to varying degrees depending on the person. You can build on masters work or start something completely new. You might even find that initially it seems to feed in to a high degree but as you work on the topic you move away from it to the point that the link is barely detectable.