Film Studies Department, King’s College London, 2012-13
Transfer MPhil to PhD (9-month Review) Protocol
The panel that will comprise the nine-month review of progress on your MPhil/PhD consists of
your second supervisor and another member of the department. The documents you are required to
submit for review are:
ABSTRACT
You should provide an abstract of your project (including any indications as to how it may have
changed since you started). The abstract should be no more than 300 words.
SECTION OF DRAFT REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Ideally this should be approximately 4000 words in length; if the review will be longer than this,
please indicate what the remainder will cover. The literature review should clearly indicate how the
material has been selected and how it relates to the dissertation’s aims, research questions and
theoretical and methodological orientation.
SECTION OF DRAFT CHAPTER
The section of a draft chapter should be approximately 4000 words in length; please ensure you
explain the structure of the whole chapter of which it does, or will, form a part, as well as providing
any introductory/contextualising summary for it in relation to the dissertation as a whole. Although
it will be necessary to engage with literature specific to the chapter’s research aims, it is important
that this chapter provide the review panel with a clear idea of how you will use this literature. The
research aims and objectives specific to the chapter should be clearly spelled out. If textual analysis
will be a major component of your dissertation then this chapter should offer textual analysis of
your chosen films. If the primary aim of the research is to provide detailed cultural and historical
analysis of the context in which particular films or institutions emerged, then the chapter should
demonstrate this aim.
PROVISIONAL STRUCTURE & TIMETABLE
Please provide a provisional chapter outline and timetable for completing each chapter. Under
provisional chapter titles (these should be descriptive, working titles) please indicate:
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what the key issues or themes being explored in the chapter will be
what (in a brief statement) the method or approach of the chapter will be (e.g. historical
survey, close analysis, historical contextualisation, etc.), with an indication of the key
literature drawn upon
what films might be examined (and how they have been selected, according to criteria such
as period in which they were made, genre, style, etc.)
It is not necessary to provide a bibliography or filmography. However, indications of these will
need to be evident in the above documentation.
OUTCOME
The academic panel will determine whether a candidate should be upgraded from MPhil to PhD
after the review meeting. The panel may recommend that the candidate submit additional materials.
The primary supervisor (or, in the case of co-supervision, the nominated primary supervisor) is not
involved in the panel’s decision. During the review meeting, your supervisor will, however, take
notes to review with you at an agreed date after the meeting. Candidates don’t usually receive
written feedback from readers.