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Research guide

From a broad field to one research question

Narrow an interest into a direction card: question, subject, method and resources. Leave unknowns as unknown.

Last checked 2026-10-25

This is a method guide, not a university rule

This is a method guide, not a university rule. Department, degree and year rules come from that programme's official page. Editorial advice and university rules are labelled apart in the text.

Who this is for

Undergraduates, taught master's students and students at Hong Kong universities who are exploring research.

Last checked

2026-10-25

The point

Turn "I like artificial intelligence" into four cells: question, subject, method and the resources you can actually use in two weeks. Write unknown where you do not know. Do not invent a supervisor or a dataset to fill a box.

The method comes from public advice about finding supervisors and reading papers. It is not an admission condition at a Hong Kong university. The Edinburgh Business School supervisor page is only an example of reading a specific piece of work before writing. It is not a Hong Kong programme rule.

Save it on a direction card. Next, choose an official directory rather than a public score for a supervisor.

What to do

  1. Write one aim for this round. Do not change three paths at once.
  2. Open the matching official page and copy only the year, eligibility and deadline that page states.
  3. Leave unstated cells unknown. Unknown does not become open and it does not become a negative mark.
  4. Put the draft in a template or in My research. Copying is not sending.

An example

Turn "I like artificial intelligence" into four cells: question, subject, method and the resources you can actually use in two weeks. Write unknown where you do not know. Do not invent a supervisor or a dataset to fill a box.

The method comes from public advice about finding supervisors and reading papers. It is not an admission condition at a Hong Kong university. The Edinburgh Business School supervisor page is only an example of reading a specific piece of work before writing. It is not a Hong Kong programme rule.

Save it on a direction card. Next, choose an official directory rather than a public score for a supervisor.

Easy mistakes

  • Inferring that applications are open because the page still loads.
  • Treating contact with a supervisor as formal admission.
  • Merging different deadlines, or adding 23:59 to an unknown time.

Template

The template below this article can be filled in. Blanks stay marked unwritten.

How to use the sources

Source titles, links and the check date are listed under this page. Only sources checked for this round, and not marked search_only_403 or retired_redirect, are cited. The scope does not exceed what that source says.

Next step

Return to the research home and open the next list for the stage you saved.

Direction card

Narrow an interest into a question, a subject, what you know and a two-week task. A blank is unwritten, not a negative.

Question: 【未填写】
Subject: 【未填写】
What I know: 【未填写】
What I do not know: 【未填写】
Two-week task: 【未填写】
Next decision: continue, change the question, change the method, or pause. Blanks stay unwritten.

Blanks stay unwritten. Copying does not mark this as sent.

Sources