Hello,

I am applying for politics MRes courses for 2008, and need to decide what area I want to research for my Masters thesis for my application. Can anyone tell me if a thesis at masters level should be original research (this affects how much of a literature review I need to do at this stage).

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice. I'm not applying for this year so no rush just yet.

Hello and sorry to annoy anyone with my ignorance...

I am currently an undergraduate, considering applying for the MPhil/PhD course in comparative politics at Oxford. I would only be able to do this if I got ESRC funding.

Is there any hope for a student with a first from a non-prestigious university, with no relevant work placement/internship to my name, to get 1+3/2+2 ESRC funding?

Is it harder to get 1+3 funding than 3 funding?

I have read on here that your research proposal is really important. But I presume I would be considering and developing my project during my first year. Would I have to have already come up with something by the time I apply to have a chance of getting funding?

I have read a lot of posts about applying for advertised PhDs, which sems to imply a specific topic and funding. Is this more common in the sciences than in the social sciences? I haven't really come across these for Politics, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places.

Thank you for any info. I have been through the relevant websites but am still confused about these things.

And i just realised I should have posted that in the funding section. Sorry.

Hello and sorry to annoy anyone with my ignorance...

I am currently an undergraduate, considering applying for the MPhil/PhD course in comparative politics at Oxford. I would only be able to do this if I got ESRC funding.

Is there any hope for a student with a first from a non-prestigious university, with no relevant work placement/internship to my name, to get 1+3/2+2 ESRC funding?

Is it harder to get 1+3 funding than 3 funding?

I have read on here that your research proposal is really important. But I presume I would be considering and developing my project during my first year. Would I have to have already come up with something by the time I apply to have a chance of getting funding?

I have read a lot of posts about applying for advertised PhDs, which sems to imply a specific topic and funding. Is this more common in the sciences than in the social sciences? I haven't really come across these for Politics, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places.

Thank you for any info. I have been through the relevant websites but am still confused about these things.