The report

The confirmation report

Your written report or research proposal, must meet the requirements of your School. Ask your supervisor about any School guidelines for preparation of the research proposal.

To satisfy the Confirmation process, your report must include:

1. A concise statement of the research question(s)
2. A critical summary and analysis of relevant literature
3. As appropriate to the discipline of study, an explanation of the conceptual framework to be used and/or a summary of experimental methods and equipment requirements
4. A summary of progress to date including preliminary data, resources developed etc
5. An argument for the relevance and importance of the study
6. A proposed schedule and timeline for the phases of the study, including a date for submission, which should be on or before the date determined by SGS
7. A brief bibliography
8. A list of publications produced or presentations made during probationary candidature.

UNE has provided a guide to writing a research proposal which may be of assistance when you start on this path.

We'd suggest that when you begin to write your report you use these requirements as preliminary sub-headings. If you reorganise the material later, check that you have provided the information necessary to satisfy each requirement.

Items 7 and 8 are pretty straightforward. A brief bibliography usually means 1-3 pages of the main studies and papers that you will be drawing on in your project. The list of publications or presentations is often only a couple of lines - your confirmation presentation included.

Item 6, the timeline, needs to show that you have thought through all the requisite stages of your project and allowed a reasonable amount of time for each major task.