Year 1: Confirmation of Route

PHD central

Confirmation of Route is a pivotal milestone during your PhD journey and a formal requirement you must complete to progress to the Dissertation successfully. In this process, an internal reviewer will assess your progress and the viability for successful and timely completion by ensuring you include essential literature and other resources and clearly understand your research questions, methods, context, and a clear plan for submission. 

Your reviewers will confirm your route to doctoral candidacy, request clarifications, or recommend that you accept an MPhil at this stage. You have the option to reapply to the program with advanced standing with the MPhil at a later date. 

Full-time candidates will complete this process by the end of term three of year one (or part-time, end of year two).

In addition to the Confirmation of  Route document, you will also present your work. This presentation will take place during the second hybrid residency. The presentation provides a supportive environment in which you will discuss your work with your colleagues. The review panel will include your advisors, the independent Chair of Dissertations and an external reviewer.

You may invite your peers to attend for mutual support. Your presentation will be followed up by a discussion, which may help you identify ways to refine or enhance your project, suggest additional resources, ensure the timeline is achievable, and provide an opportunity to give positive feedback on your progress.

We outline a clear suggested structure for your document, but you will consult with your advisory team to address any additional unique requirements your project may need to address. 

You are free to structure your Confirmation of Route document as you see fit; however, it should contain a title and the sections below and be approximately 2,000 - 10,000 words. Optionally include other material, media, images, recordings, or anything relevant in support of your application. If you feel your proposal would best serve its purpose by being structured differently, your advisory team will discuss this and approve it.

CONFIRMATION OF ROUTE APPLICATION

(2,000 - 10,000 words)
The culmination of year one (or year two, part-time)
Determination: MPhil award or PhD-track

A qualifying review consists of submission of the Confirmation of Route form here and an oral presentation with follow-up Q&A. The Independent Chair of Dissertation will engage two reviewers to attend the student's residency presentation and forward their feedback and suggestions to the Advisory Panel within the week.

The report will summarize the research's aims and key objectives or questions, explain how the project contributes to (or challenges) existing work in the field (i.e., its originality or significance), and provide a brief outline of the proposed plan of work (research proposal).

SECTIONS

1. Project Summary
2. Research Background
3. Research Approach
4. Significance of the Research
5. Timeline
6. Dissertation Outline
7. Additional Resources and Training
8. Budget
9. References

SECTION SPECIFIC GUIDES

1. Project summary
Summarize the main parts of your proposal (Research Background, Research Approach, Significance of the Research), in 500 to 1,500 words. Though this section comes first, you will want to complete it last. Briefly explain in the following sequence:
- Background to the aim/s of your research.
- Approach your research efforts will use to address your aims and objectives.
- Expected significance of the research.

2. Research background
Referencing your literature and other sources, identify one or more gaps in your field of research interest. Explain how your research will either:
-  answer a question,
- solve a problem,
- test a hypothesis, or
- achieve a goal
- other

3. Resarch approach
Explain how your research activities will help you achieve your aims. Describe the specific objectives of these activities. Describe the project’s methods and methodology. Explain how it is viable for you to achieve your goals in the expected timeframe.

4. Significance of research
Describe the contribution that you expect your research to make to the field. Explain how it will:
- Reduce gaps and achieve the aims identified in your Research Background section.
- Provide information, insights, potential applications, or direct material outcomes of use for your research community or broader context discussed in the Research Background section.

5. Dissertation outline
Describe the proposed structure of your Dissertation using text or a combination of text, maps, drawings or diagrams. Describe each chapter, noting its expected content and role, being as precise as possible, and understanding it is an evolving project.

6. Timeline
Indicate when you expect to start and finish the various research activities of your project, including writing Dissertation chapters and submitting them. If your project is complex, a diagrammatic work plan (Gantt chart, flow chart, or simple spreadsheet) might help your reviewers and advisors understand the timing and relationships between the various components.

7. Additional resources and training
If any equipment, software, database access, or access to expert guidance is required to complete the project, explain how you will gain access and outline the costs in the next section. If your project requires you to receive specialized training, explain how that will occur.

8. Budget
Use a table to list all of the costs associated with your research. For each item, also list the source of funding that will cover its cost.

9. References
Provide a full list of the sources you have cited in the proposal in your chosen citation style.

Optional: 
- Table of Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Tables
- Preliminary work
- Footnotes
- Endnotes
- Appendices

Sample

A sample Confirmation of Route, generously provided by a TT Alum only, can be found here.