there is light at the end of the tunnel

unless it’s a train coming…as my friend once said…

I am pre-empting a positive outcome…as I see light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, lesson of the moment is: Weird ideas can really stuff me up!!

For some reason I had it in my head that I needed to finish my research proposal before I did my confirmation of candidature.  The confirmation happens in some universities, maybe not yours.  And although it would be highly beneficial to have the research proposal and ethics approval ready by your confirmation, if you have the proposal ready at least, and the submission for ethics approval pending…you can possibly still have your confirmation.

The main thing is to make sure you have a good quality proposal and ethics application as this will help with the confirmation and ethics approval.

So…until next time, when I hopefully have good news to share about my confirmation….onwards and upwards with draft 56 of my research proposal.  (Just kidding…probably draft 8 which isn’t toooo bad).

Research Proposal – the biggest speedbump

Why am I still at the research proposal stage?  Draft #3million…

Not sure about you but in my case I had an initial research plan.  This was a few naive paragraphs about how I was going to take over the world.

Then the research proposal was massive document in contrast…that is supposed to be my actual blueprint for my mastermind.

That’s why I’m still here…

However..I noticed my supervisors were rather calm about me still not having a final version ready to go.  Until one of them said this was one of the biggest hurdles in the PhD journey.  The concept phase to actual blueprint is never easy.

It’s like a kid having an amazing idea to climb a tree, then actually figuring out how to climb the tree without falling out and breaking a leg is another thing altogether.

So – worry not if the research proposal takes ages and your grand plan of attack also morphs into several versions of the one alien.  Just keep your eyes on the mothership.

Research Proposal Structure – https://www.monash.edu/education/current-students/academic-language-literacy-numeracy-support/proposal-writing

Research Question (this was what got me the most and also changed heaps between  my research plan and research proposal): http://www.theresearchassistant.com/tutorial/2-1.asp

P.S those of you who have been following my blog know I attempted to change my supervisory team a little while back. I am happy to report that it worked out well and my boss supervisor is getting along just fine with the new addition to my supervisory team.  If you know someone’s going to be of value to bring along with you on your PhD journey – always remember it’s your life and you should totally go for it (albeit in a really nice, polite way coz you’re probably going to bump into some of these academics if you pursue a career in this field)…