home | research supervision | advice for L1A research | research students
Andrew Radford, October 2001
I am happy to supervise research students (at MA, MPhil or PhD level) who want to work with me on aspects of English syntax or on the L1 acquisition of English syntax (or on some other language I feel competent to deal with). Anyone wanting to be supervised by me should (i) work within the principles-and-parameters/minimalism framework and have a good background knowledge of relevant research in the framework, (ii) work on a topic which interests me and which I am competent to supervise, and (iii) have the ability to do independent research at the appropriate level (which, in the case of PhD students means having obtained distinction-level grades in relevant aspects of their graduate coursework).
I generally adopt a seminar format for supervision. That is, I supervise my PhD students as a graduate seminar group whose membership (generally around half a dozen students) is restricted to the PhD students I supervise. The idea of this is to build up a research group in which students work together, and support each other in whatever way is appropriate (whether it be moral support at times of crisis, or discussing topics of mutual interest). General or specific research questions relating to your own research can be raised at the seminar; more personal issues (e.g. problems affecting your research) can be discussed with me privately (e.g. during my office hours). The seminar meets weekly in term-time (I am not generally available for supervision outside term-time, but always try to help out in times of crisis; e-mail me on radford@essex.ac.uk.).
My role as supervisor is to guide you in your choice of topic, help you plan and organise your dissertation, and offer detailed written comments on any written work you submit to me (but not to provide you with a detailed research bibliography; one of your first tasks is to do a full literature search - see below).
One of the things I expect you to do is to present a written research paper (around 5,000 words in length) to the relevant research seminar group at regular intervals (typically a couple of times each term). The paper should be distributed by its author to all members of the relevant seminar group (including me) at least two days in advance of the relevant meeting. It will be discussed orally by the group as a whole at the seminar; this enables you to benefit from other people's experiences and ideas, and gets you used to coming to terms with criticism from others (which is a vital life skill when you go out into the big wide world and present your paper at a conference). I also provide detailed written comments on each paper presented to the seminar in private to the author. A typical seminar paper might be (e.g.) a review of one or more articles, or a discussion of a particular set of data. Comments (from me and others) might relate to the presentation, exemplification, argumentation, or the crucial question of how your paper might be modified in order to be integrated into your eventual dissertation.
I also expect you to attend relevant training courses and seminars in the department (whether on syntactic theory, or on quantitative research methods: note that I myself have no statistical expertise, so expect you to be responsible for any quantitative element in your research). In addition, I expect you to do a full literature search (going through journals and books published in the last decade), and keep abreast of current developments by reading the latest journals (articles on syntax in the case of syntax students, and on both acquisition and syntax in the case of acquisition students). It's a good idea for you to form self-help student reading groups of your own to discuss recent work.
Your agreeing to be supervised by me will be taken as a sign of your consent to these conditions.