History Phd in NUIM

pinkypinky

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on doing a phd in history in Maynooth, part-time.

I've met with a potential supervisor and discussed ideas. It was a 15 minute meeting and he left me with more questions than answers! I've been trying to get answers since by email without success.

There are classes to attend at NUIM for phd level and no one seems be able to indicate how much per week/per term. The supervisor suggested mailing the dept head which I did, to no avail. I'm not asking for a timetable here, just a ballpark because I'm working. This phd would be done on work time as well as my own but I need to be able to let my employer know just how often I'll be gone to class. I don't think it's an unreasonable question at this stage.

Secondly, I'm to submit a 4000 word proposal. I've read lots on how to draft these online (as Maynooth offers no guidelines or advice) but most are around the 1500 mark. Is this a crazy level of writing for a draft proposal? I feel like every second sentence says something like "I'll go to the National Library, see what they have on the topic and analyse it!"

I've found lots of good advice in reading old threads on this forum so hopefully someone can help me with something a bit more specific!

Thanks,
Pinky

gutenberg

pinkypinky wrote: »

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on doing a phd in history in Maynooth, part-time.

I've met with a potential supervisor and discussed ideas. It was a 15 minute meeting and he left me with more questions than answers! I've been trying to get answers since by email without success.

There are classes to attend at NUIM for phd level and no one seems be able to indicate how much per week/per term. The supervisor suggested mailing the dept head which I did, to no avail. I'm not asking for a timetable here, just a ballpark because I'm working. This phd would be done on work time as well as my own but I need to be able to let my employer know just how often I'll be gone to class. I don't think it's an unreasonable question at this stage.

Secondly, I'm to submit a 4000 word proposal. I've read lots on how to draft these online (as Maynooth offers no guidelines or advice) but most are around the 1500 mark. Is this a crazy level of writing for a draft proposal? I feel like every second sentence says something like "I'll go to the National Library, see what they have on the topic and analyse it!"

I've found lots of good advice in reading old threads on this forum so hopefully someone can help me with something a bit more specific!

Thanks,
Pinky

Does the history department have a Head of Graduate Studies/Director of Postgraduates, someone like that? It might be worth making contact with them if possible, rather than the department head as they might have more specific information, plus it's part of their role to liaise with new students. If the history department specifically doesn't have one, check it out at School/Faculty level. Often, these kinds of training classes are shared between several departments across a school (for example, in TCD the historians share their classes with History of Art and Classics), so perhaps have a poke around on the administrative pages for the wider School/Faculty for someone to contact.

As regards the proposal, 4,000 words does seem preposterously long! Both my applications for PhDs required a 2,000 word proposal. I guess you can expand sections on theoretical underpinnings, perhaps, or include a longer literature review section, really identifying the gap that you believe to have found in your topic? I can't offer much beyond that at the moment. I applied for history PhDs last year (though not in NUIM unfortunately) so I'll try to be of assistance.

ledgebag1

Hi there

I am also considering applying for the PHd in History in Maynooth. I am only beginning to put my proposal together but any advice or information on the application, proposal structure would be gratefully accepted. I completed my masters there and would like to do my PHD there too but I am finding the lack of info a bit frustrating.

dukedalton

pinkypinky wrote: »

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on doing a phd in history in Maynooth, part-time.

I've met with a potential supervisor and discussed ideas. It was a 15 minute meeting and he left me with more questions than answers! I've been trying to get answers since by email without success.

There are classes to attend at NUIM for phd level and no one seems be able to indicate how much per week/per term. The supervisor suggested mailing the dept head which I did, to no avail. I don't think it's an unreasonable question at this stage.

Thanks,
Pinky

Welcome to the NUIM History department

I did research there a few years ago. I submitted my thesis on time and I was happy with the mark I got for it, but, unfortunately, my experience with the department was a largely frustrating one. I found it extremely difficult to get a straight answer out of anyone, and on many occasions I thought the people I was talking to were being deliberately evasive. I can only surmise that they see this as a process of discovery by you, and that you need to find things out for yourself. I can accept that to a point, but when it comes to nuts and bolts questions like you've described, it becomes very frustrating.

My advice to you would be to go to the head/lecturers in person and not to be put off by any standoff-ishness. To be fair, I'm sure they're busy people and get scores of emails every day- they might not have got around to your query. I would also say that you should make absolutely sure you've got the topic nailed down and that you're happy with it before you sign up. The fees per year are quite steep. You don't want to be in a position whereby two years in you realise there isn't enough material to get a PhD out of it.

Best of luck.

pinkypinky

Ledgebag1,

They gave me almost nothing on how to write the 4000 word proposal other than it should have "title, aims, objectives, methodology, how it fits with the current historiography, what primary sources I'll use and reviewing relevant literature on the subject".

Good luck!

PP

ledgebag1

Hi Pinky

I have to admit this would be the fairly standard kind of advice you will get. They never really go into any detail about the proposal this was the same for the masters thesis proposal.

I suppose have your core idea of the proposal and build around it. My queries are as you mentioned if doing this part time, what are the costs yearly? The hours required, what days, times etc. I presume there are classes/ tutorials to attend, all information like this because as you mentioned I am working too and would like to have an idea

pinkypinky

Costs:

http://fees.nuim.ie/documents/PostgradFeeBook14082012.pdf

ledgebag1

nice work, thanks for that

gutenberg

pinkypinky wrote: »

Ledgebag1,

They gave me almost nothing on how to write the 4000 word proposal other than it should have "title, aims, objectives, methodology, how it fits with the current historiography, what primary sources I'll use and reviewing relevant literature on the subject".

ledgebag1 wrote: »

I have to admit this would be the fairly standard kind of advice you will get. They never really go into any detail about the proposal this was the same for the masters thesis proposal

The list of things they want covered is fairly standard. Essentially they are looking for you to outline what your research question(s) are, why you think they're worthy of PhD study, and by asking you about the literature/primary sources they're looking to see whether this is a project that can be completed in the time allowed for PhD projects.

With the 4000 word proposal you'll have a lot more space to really expand on sections. For instance when I wrote my proposals, my literature review section was very scanty, because I wanted to devote the space to addressing the research questions. But you will have the space to really grapple with some of the key works in your field and why you disagree with them/think they're incomplete in some way, and how your stuff is then going to slot into the wider field.

You'll also have space to outline any theoretical or methodological frameworks you're thinking of using, such as literary theory, linguistic analysis, oral history, and so on, and you'll be able to address fully the benefits of adopting these approaches.

You might also have space for a more detailed discussion of the relevant archives: for instance on mine I just included 'British Library', but if I'd had the space I could have expanded by saying I was specifically interested in the Cotton, Milles & Rawlinson collections. This kind of level of detail shows you've really done your homework and have a good grasp of what you're doing.

One further thing potentially to include is an indicative outline of your 'timetable' of reseach, i.e. when you expect to do certain things, which is something I imagine they'd be interesed in seeing as you would be part-time, and they would want to see how you plan to juggle other commitments around archive visits and so on.

I hope some of these suggestions are helpful; good luck.

pinkypinky

Thank you very much for the replies.

Maynooth have now come back to me with some answers on my questions so I feel a lot better. I'm hopefully meeting with someone else there next week to discuss further.