SCHOOL OF LAW POSTGRADUATE STUDIES DEVELOPING, WRITING AND DEFENDING A LONG PROPOSAL

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Why a long proposal?

The School of Law admits candidates to its PhD programme, as well as its LLM (Dissertation) programme, based on an ‘Expression of Interest’. This is a short proposal that identifies an area for doctoral or masters research. The first requirement of a doctoral or masters student, once registered, is to develop this idea into a long proposal. This long proposal tells us two things: •

You have identified an area of academic or scholarly research that is appropriate to your degree (Ph D or LLM (dissertation))

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You demonstrate an ability to conduct research and to engage in scholarly writing at this level. This includes: o Knowledge of the relevant literature and sense of where your work fits into this body of work; o The ability to identify research questions that will guide your research; o An understanding of the methodology required to undertake your research; o An ability to argue and write in a scholarly manner, including evidence of analytic and evaluative skills.

The standard for passing a PhD is that your thesis must involve original research and must contribute to the advancement of knowledge in an area that shows a mastery of the subject at very high level. The standard for passing an LLM is that your dissertation is ( as above) in an area that shows a mastery of the subject at a reasonably high level.

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The Structure of the Proposal

The Standing Orders of the School of Law describe the Proposal as follows: 2

ORAL DEFENCE OF A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

After initial registration and appointment of a supervisor, a candidate for a LLM by dissertation or a PhD must submit, with the agreement of the nominated supervisor, a comprehensive research proposal to the Chairperson of the

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Postgraduate Studies Committee. The proposal is a carefully written document describing the originality of the research to be undertaken and should consist of: 1)

A brief and concise title which avoids redundancies and unnecessary phrases;

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Describes specifically and concisely the aims of the research;

3)

Lists the specific problems to be investigated and the approach to such an investigation;

4)

Provides a structure for the proposed research and a clear indication of the manner in which the material will be arranged;

5)

Gives a comprehensive review of the relevant literature to be investigated;

6)

A comprehensive bibliography of the relevant literature.

There is no set structure or list of headings, so what follows is for guidance only. What is most important is that your proposal is clear and logical, and seeks to argue for, explain and justify, your doctoral/masters research project; demonstrate its originality, and show how you intend to pursue it. Importantly, don’t blindly follow predetermined headings, it will distract you and take away from the development of your own arguments. Rather take control of the information and make it work for you. 3.1

Title

The title must be ‘brief and concise … [and] avoid … redundancies and unnecessary phrases’. Formulate a clear and simple title. Remember that internet searches need to able to identify it accurately, so, for example, if your research concerns the law of South Africa, include ‘South Africa’ in the title. The title is registered with the Faculty when you pass your Oral Defence. It can, however, be changed if that becomes necessary. This is a formal procedure that must go through your supervisor and the School and Faculty Postgraduate Committees. 3.2

Introduction and background

A brief and clear introduction should set out the area of your work and the key points of the proposal. The introduction may include a general section setting out the background to your research, or this may be a separate section. 3.3.

Literature Review

Although not necessarily called a ‘literature review’, you need a section or sections that set out the existing literature in field, demonstrating your knowledge of this literature and showing where your work fits in.

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This is not merely a description of this work. Rather you need to engage with it critically, demonstrate its strengths and weakness, as well as the issues and/or gaps that your research will address. 3.4

Research objectives and research questions

Usually, the literature survey should result in a clear statement of the general objectives of your research, as well as the specific questions that you seek to answer/issues that you seek to address. These might appear at different parts of the discussion of the literature or at the end of this discussion. Research objectives generally refer to the ‘big’ questions that you seek to engage. Research questions are much more specific and refer to actual questions or issues that your research will address in furtherance of your research objectives. In arriving at research questions, you should always ask yourself how the questions validate the research objectives guided by your central assumption. For example: If the objective of the research is to “arrive at a model that enables the academic staff of the School of Law to collaborate more in their research work” The research questions here can include: i. “What are the benefits of collaborative research in a school like ours? ii. What is the current level of research collaboration? iii. What is hampering research collaboration in the school iv. How can the current level of research collaboration be improved? A central assumption on which the above research objective is based may be that there is either a low-level or non-existent research collaboration between academic staff in the School of Law. The above research questions will help to validate or disprove the assumption. However, research projects differ in the number and kinds of questions that you identify. Sometimes you might identify one ‘big question’ and a number of smaller research questions, as in the example. Other times, a student might merely identify 2 or 3 questions that he or she will explore (without smaller ones). What suits your project can be worked out with your supervisor.

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3.5

Methodology

The section on methodology speaks to the methods to be used in the research. Most law theses and dissertations consist of textual, archival and desktop research. If the candidate wishes to conduct interviews or otherwise obtain information from human subjects/informants, this needs to be discussed and justified in the proposal. Research on human subjects requires approval from the University Research Ethics Committee. See http://www.wits.ac.za/academic/research/ethics.htm/7075/ethics.html 3.6

Chapter outline and time-frames

The final section of the proposal sets out the chapter outline. This shows us that the candidate has considered the structure and argument of the thesis, and helps to demonstrate that it is a manageable project. It is helpful to attach time-lines to the chapters. The chapter outline and time-lines provide important guidelines to the process and progress of the candidate’s research after successful defence of the long proposal. 3.7

Bibliography

A comprehensive bibliography of all that the candidate has read must be provided. Much the early period of the doctoral research is spent reading and these are the books and articles that should be in the bibliography. The candidate is expected to have identified and read all major and relevant sources. The bibliography must be accurately and correctly recorded, in categories. 3

Length, formatting etc.

The proposal should be about 20 pages or more (excluding the bibliography). 1.5 spacing, 12 pt. font (10 p.) for footnotes. It must be written and presented in an academic style, using the house-style of the SALJ or SAJHR. These can be found at the journal website: SAJHR: http://www.wits.ac.za/academic/clm/law/southafricanjournalonhumanrights/ 11083/housestyle.html SALJ: http://jutalaw.co.za/media/filestore/2011/08/SALJ__Author_Guide_for_the_South_African_Law_Journal.pdf

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The process of writing and defending a long proposal - Overview

The candidate develops this proposal under the guidance of his or her supervisor. Full-time students are expected to complete this in approximately 6 months, while part-time students are permitted a year. There is limited flexibility in these dates and the candidate must provide a good reason, should he or she not meet the deadlines. When the proposal is complete, and the supervisor is satisfied with it, the candidate submits it through the supervisor to the Chairperson of the Postgraduate Studies Committee. The Chair then convenes a Panel to evaluate the Proposal, consisting of at least three internal members and one external member. The candidate presents the proposal to the Panel and answers questions posed to him or her. The Panel will deliberate to determine whether the candidate has met the threshold for doctoral or masters research. As the standards only need to be met by the thesis or dissertation handed in at the end of your research, the Panel is especially interested in evidence of ability or potential to meet the required standard. If the Panel is satisfied, the candidate is permitted to proceed. If not, the candidate will be asked to make major or minor revisions to the Proposal: Major revisions: the candidate will probably be asked to submit to a further panel, and will present again. Minor revisions: the revised proposal will be circulated to the Panel for approval, without a further presentation. Once the Panel is satisfied, it submits report to the Faculty Graduates Studies Committee for final approval.

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