Deciding to pursue research is a hard decision for many students to make. Many students, after finishing their undergraduate and masters studies, are eager to start their careers. However, many are eager to begin a career in academia and so PhD research is vital in achieving this goal. To pursue a PhD, however, you need to propose future research to your faculty and gain approval. This is a very tough part of the PhD process that every student has to overcome. As a PhD student, I will detail the steps I took to gain the approval of my faculty department.
Unsurprisingly, the first step is to ensure you have done proper research. At the PhD level, you cannot just propose research on any old topic and expect to gain approval for it. Firstly, you need to ensure that the topic you choose to pursue research in is something you are genuinely interested in.
While conducting your research, you will need to treat it like a full time job. You do not want to spend a significant part of your day working on a topic that you are not passionate about. This will greatly impact the quality of the research your produce.
Another aspect to take into consideration is to choose a topic that is fitting of PhD level research. One of the main requirements for most PhD thesis topics is that they have to be original topics. So make sure that you research very carefully to choose a topic that is unique to your field.
Once you have narrowed it down to the topics you will like to write about, then you need to conduct research about your topic. You will need to answer questions such as why further research is needed on the area, what the current literature related to your topic is about and how your research will impact this subject field.
Once you have planned an outline for your research, you will be required to present your proposal to your faculty and supervisor. They will then judge your proposal and decide whether or not it is worthwhile to allocate funds towards your research. This is the most nerve wrecking part of the process for many students.
For your presentation, make sure that you state very clearly why this research is needed and your motivations for wanting to undertake this research. Ensure that your presentation is easy to follow and understand, and do not be nervous when presenting; remember that the faculty wants to help you succeed in your proposed research.
These are the main steps I would take when proposing about future research. The proposal needs to answer important questions such as why it is important to undertake.