Guidelines for Submitting a Research Proposal

The student must submit the research proposal within a year of being accepted to Stage One.

 

Submitting The Program

 

The student will submit the research program to the Program Committee electronically (via e-mail) and in four hard copies.

The research proposal must consist of 20-30 pages, including sources, in David font size 12 with 1.5 line spacing.

The doctoral thesis will be written in the Hebrew language. Should the student wish to write the thesis in a different language, a request must be submitted to the Research Students Committee.

The research plan must include a 5-7 page synopsis, to be submitted electronically.

If the plan is written in a foreign language, there must be a full translation of the proposal into the Hebrew.

A CV and publication list must be attached via e-mail and submitted in 4 hard copies (see Guidelines for Writing CVs and Publication Lists below).

 

The supervisor/s must attach the following to the research plan:

 

a. A detailed letter (evaluation) in which they provide signed authorization of the plan.

b. A detailed list of at least six potential referees for the research plan, of which at least three are not faculty members at Tel-Aviv University. Each referee’s relevance to the subject must be explained, with their specific addresses attached (mail and e-mail, phone no.) The referees must be senior lecturers and above at recognized universities. A referee without tenure at a recognized university cannot evaluate the proposal.

There can be no research connection between the supervisor and the referee.

 

Without these details, the research plan will not be accepted.

 

The research plan will specifically address, in detail, the following:

1. The research subject
2. The subject’s theoretical framework
3. Presentation of the research corpus
4. The project’s primary hypotheses and their estimated contributions to the research in light of previous research in this field
5. The project’s structure
6. The research plan and estimated schedule
7. Bibliographical list of sources (only publications which are referred to in the research plan); the list will be amended as is the norm with scientific periodicals; and will contain:
   1. Primary sources
   2. Secondary sources

The research plan must have a cover page (see the example below) with the proposed thesis title in Hebrew and English. The title will appear again, in Hebrew and English, on the first page of the research plan.

The student must ensure that the School secretary’s file contains all authorizations for supplementary studies and foreign languages, as required.

 

Sample for Research Plan Cover Page:

Tel-Aviv University School of Cultural Studies Research Plan Proposal towards a Doctorate of Philosophy Title of Paper (in Hebrew) Title of Paper (in English) Submitted by: ID: E-mail: The paper was written in the Hebrew/other Language Date of Submission: Word Count:

Link to Sample Page format

 

Guidelines for Composing a Curriculum Vitae

Note: The Curriculum Vitae form is linked to at the School website under “Forms” – fill out the document per the directions listed here.

1. The top of the CV must list the research student’s name and the date the document was composed.
2. The CV must be submitted in the Hebrew language.
3. The CV must be submitted via e-mail and in 4 hard copies.
4. The following sections must be included in the document:

i. Personal details (name, ID, address, phone no., e-mail)

ii. Date and place of birth

iii. Date of Aliya and Country of Origin

iv. Names of schools with start/end dates listed

v. Names of institutes of higher learning in which the student completed degrees, with start/end dates listed

vi. Places of employment, specifying role and duration

vii. List of courses and supplemental courses

viii. Participation in scientific conventions, scientific activities, and other professional activities

 

Guidelines for Composing a Publication List

1. The top of the list must have the research student’s name and the date of composition
2. The publication list must be submitted in the Hebrew language, except for scientific projects published in English-language magazines which must be listed in the language of the publication.
3. The list will contain the following sections:

i. Books. The following details must be listed: Author names in the order of their appearance, book title, publisher, volume no. (if applicable), total number of pages, year of publication.

ii. Chapters in books and scientific collections. The following details must be listed: author names in order of appearance, book title, chapter title, publisher, page count (start page/end page), year of publication.

iii. Articles in journals or scientific collections. The following details must be listed: author names in order of appearance, article title, journal or collection title, volume number, page count (start page/end page), year of publication.

iv. Editing. The following details must be listed: editor names in order of appearance, book or collection title, publisher, total number of pages, year of publication

v. Papers accepted for publication: author names in order of appearance, article title, journal name

vi. Papers submitted for publication: see section v.

vii. Lectures given at congresses and conferences: reports and synopses.

viii. Other projects (translations, etc.)

 

Submitting a Research Plan and Transitioning to Stage 2 Research Status

 

a. Submitting the Program

The student will submit a detailed research plan to the Program Committee. The plan must be authorized by the supervisor/s in accordance with the “Guidelines for Submitting the Research Plan”, downloadable from the School’s website.

The approval of the plan by the Program Committee and the Supreme Research Students Committee is a core requirement for receiving Stage 2 status.

 

b. Evaluation of the Plan

i. The Program Committee will examine the offered plan, typically calling on no less than two expert opinions, at least one of whom will be an external expert.

ii. The Program Committee will be authorized to return a research plan to the student prior to its submission for evaluation in the event that the Committee members believe the plan is not ready for evaluation (clear structural weaknesses, incomplete or flawed bibliography, stylistic errors, etc.)

iii. When addressing experts, the Committee will ask for their evaluation of the following subjects:

1. The research’s theoretical framework
2. The professional justification for the research
3. The researcher’s central questions
4. The scope of the research (in terms of questions and corpus)
5. The anchoring of the research in contemporary literature
6. The potential contribution of the research to its respective field.
    

iv. Based on the responses of the referees, the Committee will adopt one of four possible resolutions concerning the research plan:

1. Authorizing the plan
2. Authorizing the plan while drawing the student’s attention to reader feedback
3. Returning the plan to the student for revision as required by the referees
4. Rejecting the plan (per section 24 of the Research Student Protocols)