What materials must be presented at upgrade? (IoE guidelines)

Your upgrade submission must demonstrate to the upgrading panel that you are working at doctoral level and are capable of completing a doctoral thesis in a timely manner.

You should discuss and agree with your supervisor what will go into your upgrading submission. There is some flexibility about the form that upgrade submissions may take, according to the nature of the research you are undertaking.

Upgrade submissions must include:

a) a record of the research training you have undertaken to date and a plan of the research training you have yet to undertake;

b) a timetable for carrying out your research and completing the doctoral thesis.

c) a research outline of around 2,500 words, normally comprising the following elements (though it is recognised that not all of these will be relevant to students undertaking theoretical or library-based research):

• introduction/background to the research
• conceptual framework/rationale for the research
• research focus/research questions
• research design/methodological approach
• methods of data collection
• methods of data analysis
• consideration of ethical issues

d) additional material of around 7,500 words.

The additional material included in the upgrade submission may include
one or more of the following elements:

i) a critical engagement with research of the literature on your topic,
demonstrating your abilities to:

• identify and locate relevant literature, using library catalogues, bibliographic databases and other resources
• critically evaluate literature
• relate literature to your research focus or questions
• accurately use a recognised referencing system

ii) a report on preliminary empirical work, normally including
discussion of

• sampling/selection of cases
• data collection
• data analysis

iii) a critique of a PhD, book(s) or collection of articles that makes clear the contribution of the critique to the development of your research

iv) a draft chapter or chapters of your thesis

In addition, the upgrade submission must show evidence that your English
meets the standard required for a PhD thesis of the Institute of Education,
University of London.