Essential Components Of A PhD Dissertation Prospectus In Journalism

Before you begin writing your dissertation paper in Journalism, you need to be able to submit a prospectus that satisfies and then is selected by a board of experts, some of whom might eventually become your mentors and guides through your research process. Keep in mind, of course that you should give yourself ample time to prepare the prospectus alone. Here are some of the essential components that will go into creating a prospectus for the selection committee.

What should you include in the prospectus?

The aim of the prospectus is to convey in clear terms what your doctoral research is going to be about and how you are going to go about it.

• It should firstly contain a clear statement of what your project’s topic is and what particular problem or theory of Journalism you wish to explore through your research.
• Next you also need to include what method of research you will be employing and what your plan is to put this method into action.
• You should also include a list of the potential sources you will use and a possible Bibliography. This can of course change over time, but this list of tentative primary, as well as secondary sources, will help the decision-making committee decide whether you are headed in the right direction or not.
• You should also be able to include an outline of the chapters that you will be writing in your paper. Again, this will not be set in stone but will merely indicate to the committee that you have already begun your research and have put a lot of thought into your research subject and have a visual of what the paper will finally look like.
• You will also need to present in your prospectus a timetable - divided between research, writing and a final completion date-range. This could again evolve over time and with the permission of your advisors, but you need to show that you have a clear idea of how much time your dissertation can potentially take.

A lot of the times, different institutions have some other requirements in their prospectus format that you should also consult when you are preparing it. Essentially, the above components remain the same but there might be some additional information that you will also need to include in your prospectus if the institution asks for it.