Policy for research proposal submission (apart from the Faculty of Social Sciences)

The research proposal must include, among other things, a cover page specifying the name of the proposal in Hebrew and in English, a survey of the literature addressed by the research including current knowledge on the subject, sections that specify the significance of the study and its objectives, a description of the research methods, the planned research process, a table of contents, and a full bibliography.

The research proposal not including bibliography and cover page should be no more than 30 pages. Departments are entitled to require a shorter research proposal than that specified above.
In the combined track, research proposals may exceed 30 pages.

The double-spaced research proposal shall be submitted with the number of copies as required by the department. A copy of the research proposal shall also be submitted on a flash drive or sent via email.

Every copy of the proposal shall be accompanied by the “Proposal for PhD research work plan” form, signed by the student, the advisor(s) and the departmental committee chair. 

All copies must be clear and legible.

If the research topic requires approval of an ethics committee, such approval must be obtained from the department or the faculty before submitting the research proposal for review.

The proposal shall be submitted by the student to the departmental committee after it has been signed by the advisor(s); the department shall then send it for review as specified above.

The research proposal and the research plan approved by the School of Graduate Studies is binding upon the student.

Any change to the research topic after the proposal has been approved, such as broadening or narrowing its scope, requires approval by the School of Graduate Studies. Such a request must be submitted using the miscellaneous requests form, signed by the advisor and the department.

Research proposal for dissertation as a collection of articles

Students who plan to submit their dissertation as a collection of articles must indicate that in their research proposal, if possible, at the time of writing. Following the cover page, the theme common to all the articles is to be stated in detail (3-4 pages). The research proposal shall include before each article, in addition to discussion of the general topic under study, the topic of the planned articles, their objectives, theoretical or experimental background, hypotheses, their central claim that the article intends to  develop, and the new knowledge it is expected to introduce. If the decision on dissertation as monograph or as a collection of articles is still open, the research proposal shall specify so; in that case, the research proposal shall be written assuming dissertation as monograph.

This does not preclude the option of dissertation as a collection of articles, even if the research proposal referred to the standard dissertation as monograph format, or conversely.

The request to change dissertation format, including submission as a collection of articles when at the time of submission of the research proposal a decision on format had not yet been made, shall specify the reasons for the request in detail, and must be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies together with a recommendation by the departmental committee, as soon as possible following the decision to change the dissertation format.  Submission of such request should not be delayed to the final stages of research and summary.

In the Faculty of Social Sciences, technical guidelines for submission of the research proposal differ somewhat. For guidelines see the link. 

 

Cover page format:

Sample research proposal cover page (Hebrew required; English translation shown in square brackets for your convenience):

 

אוניברסיטת בר-אילן [Bar-Ilan University]

 

המחלקה/הפקולטה/היחידה ל - ________________ [Department/Faculty of _]

 

הצעת מחקר לתואר שלישי [PhD research proposal]

הנושא [Topic]:

(In Hebrew)

_______________________________________________________                 

 

_______________________________________________________                

 

(In English)

  __________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________

 

                             שם המנחה _________________________ [Advisor’s name _]

                             שם המנחה הנוסף (אם יש)_______________ [Additional advisor’s name (if there is one)_]

 

שם הסטודנט/ית ______________________ [Student name _]              מס' ת.ז.  _______________ [ID number   _]