University of Oxford
Faculty of History





Study plan or project proposal

Proposal/Statement of Purpose/Study Plan

In general we would emphasise (contrary to what seem to be common North American expectations) that we are not so much interested in your personal story as in your academic potential. All applications will be read and carefully evaluated by specialists. You don’t need to catch our attention. What you do need to do is to convince us that you have the right intellectual qualities, academic knowledge and skills (this should not take more than between 500 and 1,000 words).

In your Proposal/Statement of Purpose/Study Plan you should explain:

  • how you see the programme you are applying for as building upon your previous study, and what you hope to do with the qualifications you gain from us
  • what kinds of problems and issues you hope to engage with during the programme; what the current state of your knowledge and understanding of these is, and how you hope to advance that

Depth and structure of this explanation will naturally differ with the nature of the programme for which you are applying.

Programmes


Master's programmes with significant History content in other Faculties

Recognised Student Status

Useful contacts

Master’s programmes Doctoral programmes
Indicate what optional or advanced paper classes you are interested in taking Submit a developed proposal of your individual research project. We will regard this as crucial evidence of your readiness for doctoral research

Give enough of an indication of your individual research interests to make it possible for us to identify an appropriate supervisor.

[We recognise that applicants for some specialist master’s training courses – especially Economic and Social History and History of Art – may not yet have sufficient discipline-specific knowledge to do that.]
If you want to preface the research proposal in your admissions application with some introductory remarks about your background and the reasons why you are making your application, you must make it clear where the research proposal proper starts.
You may find some guidance from the detailed advice for doctoral applicants, although we will not expect this proposal to be as developed for a master’s applicant as for a doctoral candidate. Doctoral work involves three, sometimes four years of preparation, research and writing. To demonstrate that you are equipped for this you will need to formulate a developed research proposal. Even if you cannot cover all the elements outlined below, you will improve your chances if you can cover at least some of the points listed.
If you wish to be considered for an AHRC or ESRC award you should take account of what these bodies require as a ‘case for support’. If Faculty and University agree to shortlist you for AHRC or ESRC funding you will be asked for a final version of a developed research proposal which must not exceed 4,000 characters including spaces, or c. 600 words (this is an AHRC requirement, but in any case your ability to prioritise and select, so that you can cover a lot of ground in a short space, is one ability that is being tested).

Your proposal should supply all of the following:

Research question: the central issue or problem with which you intend to grapple

Historiography: some account of the current state of scholarship in this area. You may want to explain why you are dissatisfied with existing scholarship: is it limited, dated or unconvincing? what kind of contribution will your work make?

Sources: an indication of the kinds of sources you expect to use, where these can be found, how they will contribute to your research, what technical skills you will need to work with them (e.g. language, quantitative, use of specialist software), and whether you already have those skills or will need to acquire them
Method: thinking about your approach to dealing with sources and constructing your thesis. Some of the following considerations may apply. At what level is your inquiry: micro or local, regional or national, comparative or transnational? Will you be using qualitative or quantitative techniques? Samples or case studies? Will your research draw on a body of theory? Does your approach draw on the agenda or methods of related disciplines such as anthropology, sociology or literary studies? 



Be as precise and concrete as you can – though be assured that assessors will bear in mind that what you are submitting is a proposal for research yet to be undertaken.

It will be normal for your ideas subsequently to change in some ways as you investigate the evidence and develop your project. You should nonetheless make the best effort you can to demonstrate the extent of your research question, historiographical engagement, sources and methods at this moment.