Last Updated on 28/09/2023
The thesis is the largest piece of research work that trainees undertake. It requires considerable planning. This section tells you how to go about planning for your thesis.
Initial proposal form for thesis project
In October of the first year (full time programme) or second year (part time programme) trainees will be asked to submit a form expressing a preference for up to five topic areas from those identified in the thesis ideas booklet for that year, which must include topics offered by at least three different supervisors. The trainee will then be allocated an academic research supervisor, who will in most cases be a member of the programme team. The trainee will then receive supervision from their supervisor relating to the Thesis Preparation Assignment (submission in March) and then draft a thesis proposal form with the input of their supervisor(s) for submission in June of the first year of training. The level of support provided is detailed in the consistency framework for research. This proposal will be reviewed and the trainee informed of the outcome.
Ethics committee proposal(s)
For trainees to plan their research time effectively, it is vital that they are ready to start work on their project in good time. For trainees on the full-time programme this is normally considered to be by January of the second year, and for trainees on the part-time programme April of the third year. This means gaining approval from relevant ethics committee(s) well between October and December in the second year. Therefore, it is recommended that trainees make applications to relevant ethics committee(s) as early as possible. This is to allow time to make any alterations ethics committees require, considering the fact that some ethics committees do not meet as frequently over the summer. Supervisors would expect to see at least one complete draft of the ethics application before submission, including copies of measures and draft information sheets and consent forms.
Custodianship of the data
Please note that your thesis supervisor will act as the data custodian throughout the life of the project.
Funding for research
Trainees may wish to consult the policy on funding for research in the online handbook.
The Thesis
The thesis is comprised of three papers; a literature review, research paper and critical appraisal. For details regarding the supervisory support that trainees can expect for the thesis, please see the ‘consistency framework’. Links to both resources can be found at the bottom of the page.
Presentation guidelines
Following the submission of your thesis, you will be required to give a short presentation of your work to fellow trainees, supervisors and members of the wider faculty. This should be thought of as a public presentation and copies of the presentation will be made available afterwards to the public through the course website. You should bear this in mind when choosing what to present and include on your slides.
Electronic submission in the library
Trainees are required to submit an electronic copy of their thesis to the University Library using an online system. More information about this can be found in the guide to depositing your thesis below.
Guide to the thesis format and examination
Thesis contract and action plan
Thesis proposal form
Research expenses
Data collection and analysis methods
Deposit your Thesis – a how to guide
Consistency framework
Initial proposal form for thesis project
After the Introduction to the Thesis teaching session the trainee will identify three broad topic ideas and email these to the research co-ordinator in October. The trainee will then be allocated an academic research supervisor from the programme team. The trainee then drafts a thesis proposal form with the input of their supervisor(s). This form is to be completed in the first part of the second year. This proposal will be reviewed and the trainee informed of the outcome.
Ethics committee proposal(s)
For trainees to plan their research time effectively, it is vital that they are ready to start work on their project by October of the third year. This means gaining approval from relevant ethics committee(s) well before October in the third year. Therefore, it is recommended that trainees make applications to relevant ethics committee(s) as early as possible. This is to allow time to make any alterations ethics committees require, taking into account the fact that some ethics committees do not meet as frequently over the summer. Supervisors would expect to see one complete draft of the ethics application before submission, including copies of measures and draft information sheets and consent forms.
Custodianship of the data
Please note that your thesis supervisor will act as the data custodian throughout the life of the project.
Funding for research
Trainees may wish to consult the policy on funding for research, which can be found in the online handbook.
Literature review
To assist trainees in writing the literature review in good time, supervisors would expect to see the following:
Draft literature review structure. This should be no more than a couple of pages of A4, and should contain the proposed title of the literature review and any subheadings, together with brief outlines of what issues each trainee is planning to discuss under each subheading. This should enable trainees to plan the overall structure of the literature review. Supervisors would expect to see this draft literature review structure in the first part of the s year. At the same time, supervisors also need to see the name of the target journal that is being considered for the literature review and the notes for contributors for that journal.
A first complete draft of the literature review should normally be completed and handed in to supervisors by mid-December of the third year. It should be a complete first draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, literature review, any tables/figures and reference list.
A second complete draft of the literature review should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of February of the third year. It should be a complete second draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, literature review, any tables/figures and reference list.
Research paper
To assist trainees in writing the research paper in good time, the research team would normally expect to see the following:
By the end of December of the third year, the name of the target journal that is being considered for the research paper and the notes for contributors for that journal. This is to ensure that trainees begin writing the research paper in the appropriate format for their target journal. However, a trainee may find that he or she wishes to change the target journal at some point; this is not a problem as long as the new target journal is acceptable to the research team.
A first draft of the introduction and method of the research paper should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of January of the third year. This should be written in the format of the target journal, and should also contain a title page and a reference list of the references cited in the research paper so far.
A complete draft of the research paper should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of March of the 3rd year. It should be a complete draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, tables/figures and reference list.
Critical appraisal section of the thesis
The research team would normally expect to see a first draft of the critical appraisal, completed and handed in to the research team by the end of March in your third year. This should be written in the format of the target journal used for the research paper, and should also contain a title page and a reference list. Given that the critical appraisal contains reflections on the whole thesis process, it is usual to leave this section to the end to write.
The Thesis
The research team would normally expect to see a complete draft of the thesis by the end of April of the third year. This should contain all the constituent parts of the thesis, including a cover page, word counts, the declaration, acknowledgements, contents pages, the literature review, the research paper, the critical appraisal, the ethics committee proposal, and appendices. Please also refer to the consistency framework for details of support.
Presentation guidelines
Following the submission of your thesis, you will be required to give a short presentation of your work to fellow trainees, supervisors and members of the wider faculty. This should be thought of as a public presentation and copies of the presentation will be made available afterwards to the public through the course website. You should bear this in mind when choosing what to present and include on your slides.
Examples of previous presentations can be found on the programme website.
Electronic submission in the library
Trainees are required to submit an electronic copy of their thesis to the University Library using an online system. More information about this can be found in the guide to depositing your thesis below.
Guide to the thesis format and examination
Thesis contract and action plan
Thesis proposal form
Research expenses
Deposit your Thesis – a how to guide
Consistency framework
Initial proposal form for thesis project
After the Introduction to the Thesis teaching session the trainees need to gain agreement, in principle, from a member of the research team to act as the academic supervisor. The trainee then works up a thesis proposal form with the input of their supervisor(s). This form is to be completed by mid-December of the second year. Ideas for the thesis project do not have to be finalised at this point. The academic supervisor will then liaise with another member of the research team to gain feedback on the proposal which will be communicated to trainees. The trainee should then complete and submit the thesis feedback form.
Ethics committee proposal(s)
For trainees to plan their research time effectively, it is vital that they are ready to start work on their project by October of the third year. This means gaining approval from relevant ethics committee(s) well before October in the third year. Therefore, it is recommended that trainees make applications to relevant ethics committee(s) for June meetings (of the second year) at the latest. This is to allow time to make any alterations ethics committees require, taking into account the fact that some ethics committees do not meet as frequently over the summer. After consultation with a research team member, staff would normally expect to see one complete draft of the ethics committee application by the end of May of the second year, including copies of measures and draft information sheets and consent forms.
Custodianship of the data
Please note that the pFACT form asks about the custodianship of the data relating to your thesis. The Research Director will act as the data custodian throughout the life of the project.
Funding for research
Trainees may wish to consult the policy on funding for research, which can be found in the online handbook.
Literature review
To assist trainees in writing the literature review in good time, the research team would normally expect to see the following:
Draft literature review structure. This should be no more than a couple of pages of A4, and should contain the proposed title of the literature review and any subheadings, together with brief outlines of what issues each trainee is planning to discuss under each subheading. This should enable trainees to plan the overall structure of the literature review. The research team would expect to see this draft literature review structure by the end of October in the third year. At the same time, staff also need to see the name of the target journal that is being considered for the literature review and the notes for contributors for that journal.
A first complete draft of the literature review should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by mid-December of the third year. It should be a complete first draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, literature review, any tables/figures and reference list.
A second complete draft of the literature review should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of February of the third year. It should be a complete second draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, literature review, any tables/figures and reference list.
Research paper
To assist trainees in writing the research paper in good time, the research team would normally expect to see the following:
By the end of December of the third year, the name of the target journal that is being considered for the research paper and the notes for contributors for that journal. This is to ensure that trainees begin writing the research paper in the appropriate format for their target journal. However, a trainee may find that he or she wishes to change the target journal at some point; this is not a problem as long as the new target journal is acceptable to the research team.
A first draft of the introduction and method of the research paper should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of January of the third year. This should be written in the format of the target journal, and should also contain a title page and a reference list of the references cited in the research paper so far.
A complete draft of the research paper should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of March of the 3rd year. It should be a complete draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, tables/figures and reference list.
Critical appraisal section of the thesis
The research team would normally expect to see a first draft of the critical appraisal, completed and handed in to the research team by the end of March in your third year. This should be written in the format of the target journal used for the research paper, and should also contain a title page and a reference list. Given that the critical appraisal contains reflections on the whole thesis process, it is usual to leave this section to the end to write.
The Thesis
The research team would normally expect to see a complete draft of the thesis by the end of April of the third year. This should contain all the constituent parts of the thesis, including a cover page, word counts, the declaration, acknowledgements, contents pages, the literature review, the research paper, the critical appraisal, the ethics committee proposal, and appendices. Please also refer to the consistency framework for details of support.
Presentation guidelines
Following the submission of your thesis, you will be required to give a short presentation of your work to fellow trainees, supervisors and members of the wider faculty. This should be thought of as a public presentation and copies of the presentation will be made available afterwards to the public through the course website. You should bear this in mind when choosing what to present and include on your slides.
Examples of previous presentations can be found on the programme website.
Electronic submission in the library
Trainees are required to submit an electronic copy of their thesis to the University Library using an online system. More information about this can be found on the eTheses guide below.
Thesis format, word limits and advice given to examiners
Thesis proposal form
Thesis feedback form (2014 cohort onwards)
Thesis feedback form (2013 cohort)
Thesis feedback form (2012 cohort)
eTheses Guide
Initial proposal form for thesis project
The thesis proposal form is to be completed by of December of your second year. Ideas for the thesis project do not have to be finalised at this point, but this form gives the thesis review panels (made up of course staff, trainees and service users) the opportunity to evaluate each trainee’s initial thesis research idea, and to allocate to each trainee the most appropriate research team member.
Ethics committee proposal(s)
For trainees to plan their research time effectively, it is vital that they are ready to start work on their project by October of the third year. This means gaining approval from relevant ethics committee(s) well before October in the third year. Therefore, it is recommended that trainees make applications to relevant ethics committee(s) for June meetings (of the second year) at the latest. This is to allow time to make any alterations ethics committees require, taking into account the fact that some ethics committees do not meet as frequently over the summer. After consultation with a research team member, staff would normally expect to see one complete draft of the ethics committee application by the end of May of the second year, including copies of measures and draft information sheets and consent forms.
Custodianship of the data
Please note that the pFACT form asks about the custodianship of the data relating to your thesis. The Research Director will act as the data custodian throughout the life of the project.
Funding for research
Trainees may wish to consult the policy on funding for research, which can be found in the online handbook.
Literature review
To assist trainees in writing the literature review in good time, the research team would normally expect to see the following:
Draft literature review structure. This should be no more than a couple of pages of A4, and should contain the proposed title of the literature review and any subheadings, together with brief outlines of what issues each trainee is planning to discuss under each subheading. This should enable trainees to plan the overall structure of the literature review. The research team would expect to see this draft literature review structure by the end of October in the third year. At the same time, staff also need to see the name of the target journal that is being considered for the literature review and the notes for contributors for that journal.
A first complete draft of the literature review should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by mid-December of the third year. It should be a complete first draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, literature review, any tables/figures and reference list.
A second complete draft of the literature review should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of February of the third year. It should be a complete second draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, literature review, any tables/figures and reference list.
Research paper
To assist trainees in writing the research paper in good time, the research team would normally expect to see the following:
By the end of December of the third year, the name of the target journal that is being considered for the research paper and the notes for contributors for that journal. This is to ensure that trainees begin writing the research paper in the appropriate format for their target journal. However, a trainee may find that he or she wishes to change the target journal at some point; this is not a problem as long as the new target journal is acceptable to the research team.
A first draft of the introduction and method of the research paper should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of January of the third year. This should be written in the format of the target journal, and should also contain a title page and a reference list of the references cited in the research paper so far.
A complete draft of the research paper should normally be completed and handed in to the research team by the end of March of the 3rd year. It should be a complete draft, written in the format of the target journal, containing a title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, tables/figures and reference list.
Critical appraisal section of the thesis
The research team would normally expect to see a first draft of the critical appraisal, completed and handed in to the research team by the end of March in your third year. This should be written in the format of the target journal used for the research paper, and should also contain a title page and a reference list. Given that the critical appraisal contains reflections on the whole thesis process, it is usual to leave this section to the end to write.
The Thesis
The research team would normally expect to see a complete draft of the thesis by the end of April of the third year. This should contain all the constituent parts of the thesis, including a cover page, word counts, the declaration, acknowledgements, contents pages, the literature review, the research paper, the critical appraisal, the ethics committee proposal, and appendices. Please also refer to the consistency framework for details of support.
Presentation guidelines
Following the submission of your thesis, you will be required to give a short presentation of your work to fellow trainees, supervisors and members of the wider faculty. This should be thought of as a public presentation and copies of the presentation will be made available afterwards to the public through the course website. You should bear this in mind when choosing what to present and include on your slides.
Examples of previous presentations can be found on the programme website.
Electronic submission in the library
Trainees are required to submit an electronic copy of their thesis to the University Library using an online system. More information about this can be found on the eTheses guide below.
Thesis format, word limits and advice given to examiners
Thesis proposal form
Thesis feedback form (2012 cohort)
eTheses Guide