Research Degrees

The PhD

The period of registration is 4 years full-time or 7 years part-time, leading to a thesis of 80,000 words. However, the expectation of the University is that full-time students work toward submission by the end of the third year, utilizing the fourth year, if needed, solely for the purpose of writing the thesis and expressly not for undertaking any further research.

Students are assigned a supervisor, who will guide their research and writing, and a mentor, who offers pastoral support and advice.

PhD students have a wide range of opportunities to develop their professional expertise while studying at Warwick, including the chance to gain experience in undergraduate teaching (at the discretion of the Head of Department), participation in the Arts Faculty Postgraduate Research and Professional Training ProgrammeLink opens in a new window, and the Doctoral College Researcher Development ProgrammeLink opens in a new window and the chance to compete in the Humanities Research Centre’s Doctoral Fellowship programmeLink opens in a new window.

PhD students who have not already taken the Warwick MA are strongly advised to take the Research Methods (EN100) module of the taught MA. This will not be formally assessed but will ensure that you have acquired the necessary skills for further research. For information on taking part in this module, please email PGEnglish@warwick.ac.uk.

The MPhil

A two year full-time leading to a 60,000 word thesis.

MA by Research

The period of registration is 1 year full-tie or 2-5 years part-time, leading to a 40,000 word (exclusive of appendices, footnotes, tables and bibliography) thesis.

Students are assigned a supervisor, who will guide their research and writing, and a mentor, who offers pastoral support and advice. As a research student you may find it helpful to take the Research Methods module of the taught MA. This will not be formally assessed but will ensure that you have acquired the necessary skills for further research. For information on taking part in this module, please email PGEnglish@warwick.ac.uk.

What is a thesis/dissertation?

The English Department defines a postgraduate thesis/dissertation as a sustained piece of research organized around a specific and defined topic. The PhD and the MA by Research are demanding degrees, and the final dissertation is expected to make an original contribution to knowledge. It can be undertaken as an exciting and fulfilling project in its own right, or as the essential preliminary qualification for an academic career.

The argument of the dissertation will be broken down into subdivisions/chapters, but each chapter will work towards explicating the overall thesis of the research. The thesis/dissertation is expected to reach (and not exceed) the maximum words allowed for the degree in question. The Department is not likely to accept a thesis made up of a series of discrete, unconnected chapters even if the prescribed word length is achieved. Students are advised to discuss the shape and content of their theses/dissertations regularly with their supervisor. Any queries which cannot be resolved in this way can be answered by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Important Dates

University of Warwick's term dates

MPhil to PhD Upgrade

During your period of study, you will be subject to a series of monitoring procedures. Their purpose is to ensure that you are making good progress in your studies, and to provide valuable opportunities to discuss and evaluate your progress with Departmental academics other than your supervisor. Monitoring procedures occur on a number of different levels.

The MPhil to PhD upgrade is an important monitoring procedure. It is a university requirement, and all students wishing to take a PhD must successfully complete it. All students admitted to the MPhil/PhD programme are registered initially as MPhil students. To make the transition to full PhD status, students must submit a dossier of work, which will then be assessed by two members of staff. Provided it is considered to be of doctoral-level standard, students will then be registered as full PhD students. We aim to make the whole procedure as helpful as possible. While there is undoubtedly an element of assessment, we see this as an enabling exercise, whereby students get the benefit of feedback from various members of staff who have not seen their work before. The Upgrade procedure takes place during the third term of first year, full-time registration. Part-time students normally apply to upgrade in the sixth term of their registration. Students who begin studies partway through the year should prepare to apply for the upgrade in their third term (in the case of full-time registration) or in their sixth term (in the case of part-time registration). The Director of Graduate Studies will inform you and your supervisor of the exact application date at the beginning of the year in which you must upgrade.

The deadline for application is the end of the 2nd week of term 3. If you are registered part-time, or started your registration later in the year, you may be asked to submit your upgrade application in a different term. The Director of Graduate Studies will contact you and your supervisor with the details.

The Upgrade process is comprised of three parts:

Preparing the dossier

For the Upgrade, you must put together a dossier containing the following:

• a cover sheetLink opens in a new window
• thesis abstract (500 words), plus a list of chapters (this can be brief and subject to change, but your assessors will need to see that you can conceptualize your thesis as a whole)
• timetabled programme for completion: you need to say clearly which chapters you have already researched / drafted, and which you plan to research and write, and by when. It’s best to be realistic. We recognise, of course, that at this early stage you may not have worked on more than one or two chapters, and may not yet know the final shape of the thesis, but it’s important nonetheless to give a clear and accurate picture of how things look at the moment.
• a sample chapter/section of chapter from the thesis (8,000-10,000 words exclusive of footnotes and bibliography)

M4C students may submit the 5,000 words from the M4C Mid-year Review as part of the sample/section of a chapter from the thesis (8,000 - 10,000 words exclusive of footnotes and bibliography), if appropriate. M4C students can provide the same timeline and chapter outline that was produced for the M4C Mid-year Review or a revised timeline and chapter outline, as appropriate.

You should begin planning your dossier with the help of your supervisor well before the due date. Your supervisor should read and comment on your sample chapter in plenty of time for you to make changes, as necessary. Your dossier must be emailed to the Postgraduate Team by (week 2, term 3). You may of course submit it in advance of this date, but not later.

Assessing your progress

Your submissions will be distributed to your supervisor and two assessors. Your supervisor will submit a report on progress so far, which will include a recommendation as to whether a change from M.Phil to PhD registration is advisable. During the second half of Term 3, Review Interviews, of 30-45 minutes each, take place. Your assessors will confirm the date, time and location of the interview, which will be conducted by your two assessors. Your supervisor will not be present. You will be discussing your progress, and ways to improve it, with your two assessors, but this is also a chance for you to air your views and concerns, and to talk about your research in detail with someone other than your supervisor. Please note that it is your responsibility to be available for interview during this very crucial stage of your research career. Assessors will draw up reports of their views and record key points raised at the interview.

Notifying you of our recommendation

By the end of Term 3, the Director of Graduate Studies will consider all the reports and decide on the best and most useful action to be taken. You will be informed in writing by the Director of Graduate Studies of the outcome. Copies of the assessors’ reports will be sent to your supervisor by the end of term. You and your supervisor should agree to meet together at this time to review the assessors’ comments and to and plan your future work in the light of them. Where the decision is not to recommend a student for upgrading, the assessors will explain their reasons in a report issued to the supervisor, and a date will normally be set for the student to apply a second time. An MPhil student may apply for the upgrade only twice. In the event of a second upgrade application being turned down, the student has the right of appeal under certain conditions as set out in the University Regulations (the Director of Graduate Studies will be able to offer advice in such cases).

Annual Research Review

All students (apart from students currently going through the Upgrade procedure or who will be submitting within one month) are subject to a Departmental review process to assess their academic progress.

Progress is reviewed on the basis of (i) a Review Dossier, similar in format to the upgrade dossier, submitted by the student and (ii) the supervisor’s summary report assessing the student’s progress over the past year. The student’s reviewer will be asked to view the Dossier and to confirm that the work currently produced is at an appropriate level and that the completion schedule remains feasible. The Director of Graduate Studies will then review all submissions, and decide whether there is a need to arrange a meeting with the student to discuss progress.

Please note that the Department measures progress in part quantitatively. In order to make good progress towards completion within the normal 3-year period, most FT students should be producing PhD quality work and have 40-50,000 words at the end of the second year, and 80,000 words by the end of the third year; for PT students the expectation is pro rata (year 3 – 40,000; year 4 – 60,000, year 5 – 80,000). The Annual Review, however, will take into account the nature of the research, any special skills training that might have impeded progress, and also postgraduate students’ teaching commitments, which can sometimes slow down progress; the outcome of the Review may be to suggest practical ways for students to juggle these competing demands on their time.

In preparation for the Review, each student is asked to prepare a dossier containing the following items:

• Thesis abstract (500 words) plus a list of chapter titles and contents
• Completion schedule (1-2 pages). Please be precise: for completed chapters or parts of chapters, indicate the number of words written, and when you’ve completed them; for chapters yet to be written, indicate a date when you realistically expect to finish writing them; finally, indicate a projected submission date. We realise that in some cases this might still be far away, but it’s important for our discussion that a completion date figures on the horizon.
• A sample of recent written work from the PhD – length approximately 5000 words.

You may wish to discuss these items with your supervisor.

Submission deadlines: If you commenced your PhD programme in October, your dossier must be e-mailed to PGREnglish@warwick.ac.uk by the end of Week 1 in Summer Term. If you commenced your PhD programme in January, the deadline for submitting your dossier to the Postgraduate Team will be the end of Week 1 in Autumn Term. You may of course submit it in advance of this date, but no later. Supervisors and an assessor, who will normally be from your Upgrade panel, will be asked to comment on your progress and this will form part of the dossier.

If a personal review meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies is deemed to be necessary, you will be contacted by the Postgraduate Team to arrange a date, and you are required to attend. A report of the meeting will be put on file and another sent to your supervisor to be discussed with you. Students are free to request a personal review meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies. If you do not hear from the Director of Graduate Studies by the end of Term 3, you can rest assured that you will not be required to attend a personal review meeting.

Thesis Submission and Viva Examination

Timeframe

Applying for an Extension

Can I request an extension to my period of registration?

If you are unable to submit your thesis by your end of registration you may be able to request an extension, depending on the course on which you are registered and the date on which you enrolled. Please see the relevant link below for specific information.

• MPhil/PhD Student enrolled on or after 1 August 2011

What information do I need to include in my extension request?

Your personal details

• First name
• Surname
• University ID number
• Course
• Department
• Funding body

Extension details

• New submission deadline sought and reason(s) for request

Documentation required

• Overview of work completed to-date
• Detailed work plan
• Evidence - covering letter, medical evidence (as appropriate), etc.
• Supervisor's statement of support (email/letter)
• Statement of support from the Director of Graduate Studies

Can I apply for a retrospective extension?

Retrospective requests for extension will only be considered in very exceptional circumstances. Students who do not submit their thesis by the end of their extension period (or do not apply for a further period of extension) will be contacted by Student Records Management in due course and, if no submission is forthcoming, steps will be taken for the student to be permanently withdrawn from the University.

What happens if my request for an extension is granted?

If approved, your University record will be amended to reflect the new end date. Student Records Management may approach you or your department with a request for further information if your submission is incomplete or if additional information/evidence is required.

What happens if my request for an extension is refused?

If the Chair of the Board of Graduate Studies is not persuaded by the evidence provided, or is not satisfied that your situation is conducive to effective study/work on your thesis, the extension will not be granted. Student Records Management will notify your department and provide reasons for declining the request. In such a case, you will be required to submit your thesis by the existing deadline.

I can't submit my thesis by the original deadline, what can I do?

If you are not in a position to submit your thesis by the deadline, you would be advised to request to be permanently withdrawn from the University, but when your thesis is ready for examination at a later stage submit it with a ‘leave to submit’ request with support from your department. Requests for ‘leave to submit’ will be considered on merit - submitting your thesis late with the request does not automatically guarantee that your thesis will be accepted for examination. The Chair of the Board of Graduate Studies, who will consider your request, will need to be satisfied that there were good reasons for you to submit late.

If I don't submit or withdraw from the University, what happens next?

If you do not submit your thesis by the deadline and do not request to be withdrawn from the University, Student Records Management will take steps to withdraw you permanently from your course of study for non-submission of your thesis.

What else do I need to know?

Overseas students should be advised to seek advice regarding immigration matters before assuming an extension will have no effect on their leave to remain. They should contact either the International Office (immigrationservice@warwick.ac.uk) or the Students’ Union Advice Centre (advice@warwicksu.com).

Students funded by a Research Council (as part of a 1+3 scholarship) should consult the Doctoral College, since the Research Council may not accept a request for an extension. Students sponsored by other bodies should be informed they will need to consult their sponsor about their extension request. The University will not be liable for any costs the student incurs as a result of an extension being approved.

Students should also be aware that they may be required to pay Council Tax during their extension period.

Pastoral Support

Personal Tutor

All PhD students are assigned a personal tutor on arrival. This is a member of the Department, who offers personal support and guidance, if required, during your period of study. On arrival, please contact your personal tutor, either by email or in person during their Office Hours, to introduce yourself, and arrange to meet them in term 1. After that, the nature of the contact is largely voluntary, but it is reasonable to expect your personal tutor to be available for consultation on any matter relating to personal circumstances or general academic progress.

Director of Graduate Studies

You are always welcome to contact the Director of Graduate Studies about any questions/difficulties/ideas you may have during your time at Warwick.

The University also offers a wide range of Wellbeing Support Services.

Student Engagement (PGSSLC)

PG Staff-Student Liaison Committee (PGSSLC)

This is one of the principal ways staff and students communicate about practical matters relating to graduate provision in the department, from library provision to conference funding. The student body of the department will elect annually representatives from each of the MA programmes, and two PhD students to serve on this committee. These representatives will nominate a student chair and a secretary (to take minutes). This committee will meet twice each term with the Director of Graduate Studies and the MA Convenors. Minutes of each meeting should be taken by the student secretary, and the chair will report annually to the University Board of Graduate Studies. The subject librarian must attend one of these meetings annually and should be invited by the PGSSLC chair. If you have any matters which you want to raise about the course, the department, or the facilities supplied to you, please do so through your SSLC representative. Details of who they are will be posted on the dedicated webpage along with the dates and times of the scheduled meetings.

Complaints and Appeals

Student Academic Complaints Procedure

The University has a Student Academic Complaints Procedure to deal with complaints made about the teaching and learning process and provision made by the University to support that process. If you are considering making such a complaint, you may wish to contact the Students’ Union Education Officer or the Senior Tutor for advice.

This procedure may not be used for complaints which can be dealt with under the Disciplinary Regulations, the Harassment Guidelines, or the Appeals Procedures.

For more information, click on the University’s Complaints procedure.

Changing your supervisor

Any difficulties raised by the student relating to supervision will not prejudice that student in any way. However, it is important to note that it is the responsibility of the student to bring the difficulties to the attention of their personal tutor, the Director of Graduate Studies or, in the last resort, to the University's Doctoral College Office, in good time. The University cannot remedy difficulties or failings of which it was not made properly aware.

If, for any reason, your supervisor should become absent or unavailable to direct your work, the Director of Graduate Studies will assign a replacement supervisor, on either a temporary or a permanent basis, at the earliest available opportunity.

As a Postgraduate student, what can I appeal against?

Regulation 42 details the decisions and grounds for which a Postgraduate Taught and Research student may appeal against.

How can I submit an appeal?

If you wish to submit an appeal you should complete the appeals form . Please read the guidance notes carefully and provide all of the requested information, including any supporting evidence. Only evidence provided will be considered by the Preliminary Review Panel.
It is the appellant’s responsibility to provide sufficient independent documentary evidence to substantiate their appeal. An appeal is highly unlikely to succeed if no suitable evidence is provided. For examples of the type of evidence required please see the ‘supporting documentation’ column of the table in the University Mitigating Circumstances Guidance.
Appeals should be submitted to pgappeals@warwick.ac.uk within 10 University working days of notification of the decision that is subject to appeal. Appeals submitted after this time will not be considered unless evidence of exceptional reasons why you could not comply with the relevant timescales is also submitted.

Where can I access support in relation to submitting an appeal?

You may wish to seek advice from the Dean of Students’ Office or the Students’ Union Advice Centre.

What happens after I submit an appeal?

If your appeal is not eligible the Doctoral College will contact you to explain why your appeal cannot be considered.

If your appeal is eligible the Doctoral College will contact you to confirm receipt of your appeal and explain the appeals process. If your appeal is eligible, it will be sent to your academic department for their response. The Department’s response will be sent to you for consideration and any further comments you may wish to make.

All paperwork relating to your appeal will then be sent to the Preliminary Review Panel (PRP), which is constituted of academic members of staff as outlined in Regulation 42, who will determine whether or not you have presented grounds for your appeal to be considered by a full meeting of the Graduate Appeals Committee (GAC).

Regulation 42 outlines the procedure of the Preliminary Review Panel and Graduate Appeals Committee.

You can read further information regarding appeals on the Doctoral College webpage: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dc/support/pgr-guidance/pg_appeals/

Teaching in the Department

If you would like to find out more information, please go to the Postgraduate Teaching page hereLink opens in a new window.

Research Seminars

Annual Postgraduate Research Symposium

This is a popular and important fixture in the Department’s calendar. Each year towards the end of term 3 the Department hosts the Annual Postgraduate Research Symposium, a one-day event where MA and doctoral students present their work to members of staff as well as fellow students. Papers are organised in panels according to research area and chaired by appropriate members of staff. The atmosphere is friendly and supportive; students receive feedback and exchange ideas across research areas, as well as having the chance to develop their communication and presentation skills. It is an excellent opportunity to meet other postgraduate students and staff with similar research interests and to get involved in the life of the department. Participation is open to all doctoral students, irrespective of their year of study. You can find more details about the PG Symposium and previous years, here.

The Departmental Research Seminar

This is a programme of regular visiting speaker events. The seminar meets on selected Wednesday afternoons during term time. All postgraduate research students are expected to attend.

Seminars and Conferences outside the Department

There are a great variety of seminar and conference events taking place at Warwick each term. For information, keep checking the postgraduate notice board, and the notice boards in the fourth floor extension (Graduate Space), especially outside the Humanities Research Centre office. The Faculty of Arts sends out a weekly diary of forthcoming events by email to members of staff and postgraduate students – you should receive this as a matter of course, but if you haven’t, please contact the Faculty of Arts secretary.

Numerous seminar programmes are run by research centres and departments across the university which postgraduate students of all departments are welcome to attend. These include:

Humanities Research Centre

Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre

Centre for Research in Philosophy, Literature and the Arts

Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies

Centre for the History of Medicine

Centre for the Study of the Renaissance