{"id":789,"date":"2019-10-31T17:13:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T17:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/?p=789"},"modified":"2019-10-31T17:14:14","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T17:14:14","slug":"789-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/789-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A PhD in Children’s Literature: The Process of Applying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rebecca Jane Francis<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you\u2019re partway through your MA (or maybe finished a long time ago and want to go back to school again!), and you know that you want to do further study, and that you want that further study to be centred around children\u2019s literature. But where do you start? How do you even begin tackling such a task? Maybe you\u2019re in a one-year MA course, so you haven\u2019t even handed in any papers yet \u2013 how can you go about applying for PhD? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we here in Newcastle University\u2019s CLU have been there!\nHere are some thoughts and suggestions on how to go about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, and MOST importantly: THE APPICATION DEADLINES\nARE MUCH EARLIER THAN YOU THINK THEY ARE. Yes, even earlier than that.\nSeriously. Especially as you probably have deadlines starting to come up in\nDecember and January as well, and you really<\/em>\ndon\u2019t want to be trying to get your PhD applications in at the same time as you\nare writing your first MA papers. Put the deadlines in red in your diary, and\nthen set reminders for them at least two weeks before. Check when any other\ndeadlines or breaks you might be having are (as the applications are typically\ndue across the Christmas holidays), and block out times when you will sit down\nto prepare for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But where do you want to apply to? You can\u2019t start thinking\nabout deadlines until you know where you are going, as every university has a\ndifferent deadline and a different application process! Well, that\u2019s actually\nquite a complicated question, so let me try to break it down for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two main ways to go about deciding where to study.\nThe first is looking at universities that have a strong children\u2019s literature\nunit. A good indicator for this is whether or not they offer MA courses\nspecifically for children\u2019s literature (or, failing that, at least an\nundergraduate course) and exploring things like library resources for\nchildren\u2019s lit. The second is looking at the major critical works that have\ninfluenced your thinking and your desire to study children\u2019s literature, and\nthen seeing if any of those critics work at universities that you could attend.\nYou should also look at what kind of funding opportunities the universities and\nthe departments have!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you have a list of places you think might be feasible,\nspend time finding out about the university and the literature department as a\nwhole. I know how hard this is to do from overseas, but chat forums and the\nschool websites are helpful \u2013 if you can\u2019t even navigate the website, it may\nnot be the place for you! If you possibly can, try to visit the campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you are doing this, you need to sort out a clear idea\nof what you actually want to study in your head. \u2018Children\u2019s Literature\u2019 is a\nvast and multi-faceted area of study that crosses over several departments\n(literature, linguistics, history, psychology, etc) and covers several\ncenturies and many different cultures. Is there a particular period or author\nthat you are interested in? Why? Is there a problem that you think needs\naddressing? Are you interested particularly in a specific language or country,\nor want to do a cross-comparison of, for example, American and Canadian\nliterature?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next step is to get in contact with the researcher that\nyou want to work with. Send a quick email, explaining who you are, what you are\nstudying, what you want to study, and why you think that your work would fit\nwith this researcher, and ask if they think that they might be interested in\nsupervising your PhD project. If you are not applying straight from a one year\nMA, then ideally you should do this in the summer, as university teachers are\nvery busy in September and October and it may take them some time to get back\nto you. Don\u2019t worry too much if you can\u2019t, though. It is KEY to do this: your\nsupervisory relationship will be one of the most important things throughout\nthe process of your PhD, so you should at least get a feel for what your\nsupervisor might be like to work with. Do they reply in a timely manner? Do\nthey seem enthusiastic? Do they want to hear about your<\/em> thoughts, or does it feel like they might take over the\nproject? All of these you can get a feel for relatively quickly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my own case, I emailed multiple places. I was politely\nturned down by one person, which is not unusual, and you should not let\nyourself get too down about. I was invited to a Skype meeting to discuss my\nresearch plans by two other researchers, which gave me a chance to get a feel\nfor what supervisory sessions might feel like with them. It is also great to\nget that encouragement that someone in the field thinks that your ideas are\nworth exploring! I also got a wonderfully enthusiastic and very encouraging\nemail from my now-current supervisor, who offered to look over drafts of any\napplications to the school or for funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you have someone you think that you could work with,\nand whose work aligns with yours, you need to write the application piece. If\nyou have managed to make contact with a potential supervisor and have already\nestablished a rapport with them, ask them to check over your application before\nyou send it in. IMPORTANT: Bear in mind that you will have to order transcripts\nfrom your school and that some universities still require that these be sent by\npost! Make sure that you order transcripts, for both UG and your Masters, well\nin advance of the deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of writing the main body of your application: every\nuniversity will require different lengths and levels of detail. My suggestion\nis to write the longest<\/em> one first,\nand polish that one to the best that you can. Then, once it is as good as you\ncan make it, choose what to cut out for the other applications. Make it as\nPRECISE AS POSSIBLE. Discuss your own particular projects, mentioning critical\nworks that you have already read, to show that this is not a pipe dream but\nsomething that you have put serious thought into and already know what some of\nthe discussion around your chosen area is saying. If the word count allows for\nit, try to give draft chapter titles, and a brief idea of what the thesis would\nlook like broken down into these chapters. At the end, spend a paragraph\ntalking specifically about why you want to attend that particular university<\/em>. Mention that you already have someone\nwilling to supervise you, talk about library and archival resources, and about\nany relationships the university might have with outside groups (such as\nNewcastle University\u2019s partnership with Seven Stories). Make it clear that you\nhave done the research into the place itself and that you are enthusiastic\nabout studying there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally \u2013 send it in! Check that you have filled out\neverything that the university wants (multiple checklists may be required).\nOnce you have done that, though, don\u2019t just wait: you need to get your funding\napplication deadlines in a row next! Most of these will not be due until after\nyou know whether you have been accepted by the school, but some require earlier\napplications, so keep a careful eye out. Make sure that you keep going back to\nwhat you want to study, and thinking it through more, as some of the most\ncomprehensive funding bodies (such as the AHRC) often want far more detail than\nthe general school application, partly because they want to see that your\nthought processes have moved on since your initial application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good luck! I hope that this was helpful, and that your\napplications go as smoothly as possible!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Jane Francis So, you\u2019re partway through your MA (or maybe finished a long time ago and want to go back to school again!), and you know that you want to do further study, and that you want that further study to be centred around children\u2019s literature. But where do you start? How do you … Continue reading A PhD in Children’s Literature: The Process of Applying<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7893,"featured_media":790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":795,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions\/795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/childrensliteratureinnewcastle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}