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From concept paper to defended proposal.
For doctoral scholars developing the proposal and writing it up. You know your field. You know your topic. But the concept paper keeps shifting, the chapters refuse to connect, and the weeks you set aside for writing get eaten by your job, your family, and your supervisor's silence. One-on-one coaching puts a coach in your week. Someone who has read what you wrote since last Tuesday, who helps you order your ideas, marks up your drafts the way a fair examiner would, and rehearses you for your proposal defence.
Built for doctoral scholars in the proposal writing stage.
This coaching is for you if
- You have your registration, your topic, and your supervisor. You are not deciding whether to do a doctorate, you are doing one.
- You are developing your concept paper or proposal, or writing your preliminaries, Chapters One to Three, references or instrumentation.
- You know your field in principle. Where you are stuck is the writing, the coherence, the logical flow, and the academic conventions.
- You want a coach in your week, a sounding board for your ideas, not a course you watch alone.
Postgraduate writing breaks down in three places.
Most scholars who reach the writing stage know their topic. They have done the coursework. Where they stall, again and again, is at three predictable points. Coaching is built for exactly those three places.
And it matters now more than ever: supervisors are more stretched than they have ever been, and a proposal still has to be defended by the person who wrote it.
See how coaching fixes them →The statement of the problem that keeps shifting.
You write a draft. You think it is sharp. Your supervisor reads it months later and says "narrow it down." You narrow it. Then the variables do not match and the objectives do not connect to the questions. Conceptualisation is some of the loneliest work in postgraduate research, and the most coachable in a weekly conversation.
The chapters that refuse to connect.
Your literature review argues one thing. Your methodology assumes another. Your introduction promises a third. By the time the examiner reaches Chapter Three, the proposal no longer reads as one coherent argument. Holding one through-line across the whole document is a coach's job. Very few people do it alone.
The writing weeks that get eaten by life.
You blocked Saturday for the methodology chapter. Then work, the children, a relative who needed help. By Sunday you had one paragraph and were exhausted. Without an external weekly rhythm and someone holding the appointment, the writing becomes the thing that gets dropped. Coaching is the rhythm that holds when life is loud.
Five focus areas, from concept paper to proposal defence.
Five distinct pieces of work covering the whole proposal end to end. Tap any one to see how the coaching works on it.
01 Concept paper
You arrive with a draft that is too broad, too narrow, or not yet defensible. We act as your sounding board, push back on the question and the contribution, and help you think critically until the concept holds. You leave with a sharper concept paper. We do not write it for you.
02 Proposal development (Chapters One to Three)
You draft, you send, we read it the way an examiner would. We give feedback on applied writing skills, on coherence and logical flow, and on the interconnectedness of content so the three chapters talk to each other. You revise. We read again.
03 Instrumentation
Questionnaires, interview guides, observation schedules. We discuss whether each item actually measures the construct it claims to, whether the instrument maps cleanly to your objectives, and how to argue its validity and reliability to an examiner. The instrument is yours; the rigour we discuss together.
04 Preliminaries & references
The formal apparatus the examiner reads first and checks last. We coach you on adherence to academic writing conventions, on citation accuracy and consistency, on APA 7 formatting, and on the preliminaries that frame the document. Distinct from the argument, this is the scaffolding that makes the work read as finished.
05 Proposal defence preparation
Before your committee or faculty board signs off, you defend the proposal. We build a question bank specific to your work, drill the questions committees always ask, sharpen your two-minute opening summary, and rehearse your answers until they land cleanly. A coach is on standby the day before for one final rehearsal.
Most clients are working full-time. Coaching has to fit a real life, not a free one.
The rhythm below is what makes the engagement work for scholars who are also working, parenting, or caring for relatives. The principle is simple. The heavy lifting happens in your writing days. The hour with your coach is reserved for substantive discussion of what you already wrote, not for catching up. That is how an hour a week becomes a thesis defended.
Apply last week's three agreed next steps.
The first two days of your week are spent executing what you and your coach agreed in the previous session. Rewrite the paragraph you committed to rewrite. Restructure the section for better logical flow. Read the two papers your coach pointed you to.
This is the smallest, most achievable kind of writing: continuing what is already in motion. Most scholars find these the most productive days of the week.
Momentum, not blank pagesAdvance the chapter into new territory.
Now the harder writing. You move into the section of the chapter you have not yet drafted, the synthesis you have not yet attempted. This is where doctoral work feels lonely. You sit with the page until words arrive.
Even imperfect drafts are better than no drafts. Your coach will sharpen what you wrote. The cost of writing nothing this week is a session that has nothing to discuss.
Defended blocks of two or three hoursSubmit your draft. Send your questions.
You email your coach what you have written this week. The chapter section, the revised argument, the paragraph you wrestled with. You include your two or three specific questions for the session: the bits you are unsure about, the choices you want to discuss, the places you got stuck.
Submitting by Day 5 gives your coach two full working days to read carefully before the session. This is the discipline that makes the hour substantive.
Two or three specific questions, not a wish listYour coach reads and annotates carefully.
Behind the scenes, your coach is reading your draft the way a fair internal examiner would read it. Marking the places where the argument breaks. Querying the variables that do not connect to the objectives. Noting the literature you have not yet engaged. Drafting the discussion they want to have with you tomorrow.
You are not idle on Day 6. You are revising other work, reading, resting, preparing for the session. But the substantive coaching work for this week is happening on your draft already.
Read before, marked up afterYour sixty-minute hour.
You arrive with the work already submitted, already read, already annotated. The hour is substantive from the first minute. You discuss your draft, your conceptualisation, your variables, your argument, the answers to your specific questions.
You leave the session with three concrete next steps for the coming week and a clear sense of what your work needs. The detailed marked-up draft follows in writing within five working days.
Three next steps, every hourWhat not to do
The patterns that waste your hour.
Arriving without a submitted draft. The hour becomes catch-up, not coaching.
Sending a draft on the morning of the session. Your coach has not had time to read it carefully.
Expecting your coach to write or rewrite your text. That is the line we will not cross.
Skipping the hour to "save it for next week." Momentum is the product. Missed weeks compound.
Bringing software or data-analysis questions. This product coaches your proposal and writing, not your analysis.
Arriving without two or three specific questions. The clearer your questions, the more your hour returns.
Two products. Two jobs. Both worth paying for.
Scholars sometimes ask whether they should buy a course or begin a coaching engagement. The honest answer is most often both, in sequence, and rarely either as a substitute for the other. Courses build the underlying craft. Coaching applies that craft to your specific thesis. They are different products that do different jobs.
| Dimension | AOSARS Courses For learning the craft USD 35 per course, from | One-on-one coaching For applying it to your proposal and chapters From USD 150 per package |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Structured curriculum, video and written modules, downloadable resources, certificate on completion. | A coach in your week. Live discussion of your draft. Examiner-grade markup on every chapter. Proposal defence preparation. |
| Format | Self-paced e-course. Study on your own schedule. Same content for many learners. | One coach, one scholar. Weekly 60-minute live session. Built around your specific proposal and chapters. |
| Scope | The full research craft, taught generically across all stages. | Your preliminaries, Chapters One to Three, references and instrumentation. Proposal development, writing and defence. |
| Who it suits | Scholars who need to develop the underlying skill. Anyone at any stage of their research training. | Doctoral scholars developing a proposal and writing their chapters who need a coach on the work itself. |
| What it produces | Capability you can use across any project, now and later. | A defensible proposal and well-written chapters. This specific work, with the markup to show it. |
| Relationship | You and the curriculum. | You and a coach. The whole engagement. No rotation. |
A senior coach in your week, working through your chapters with you.
One coach, the whole way
One coach for the whole engagement. The same person every week, not a different reader each session, so your argument is remembered from one hour to the next.
Weekly 60-minute live sessions
On Zoom or Google Meet. The same hour, every week, held protected in both of your calendars. Disciplined rhythm beats heroic effort every time.
Written feedback on every draft
Each draft is read before your session for the live discussion. The detailed examiner-grade markup is returned within five working days afterwards. Annotated as a fair internal examiner would annotate it, never rewritten as our own work.
Email and WhatsApp access between sessions
Short questions answered the same day. Long questions held over for the live hour. No paywall on a quick read of a tricky paragraph.
A shared working plan you can both see
One living document that holds the plan, the milestones, the action items and the next deadline. Nothing is forgotten between meetings. Nothing is rebuilt from memory.
Rehearsal for your proposal defence
Your coach plays examiner, drilling a question bank built from your own work, recorded with your permission and followed by written notes. A full mock defence is included with the Proposal + Defence package. You will not walk into the defence room cold.
Coaching is not ghost-writing. The work is always yours.
What we do not do
The line we will not cross.
- Write your chapters, your proposal or any part of your thesis text.
- Restructure or rewrite your draft as our own work, with your name on it.
- Submit your work to your university on your behalf, or speak as you in any examined defence.
- Replace your supervisor or override their academic authority.
What we do, in detail
The work that actually moves you.
- Read your draft chapter and mark it up the way a fair examiner would.
- Sit beside you while you work through the argument and structure, line by line, until it is right.
- Ask the hard questions about your problem, your variables and your method, so you sharpen the answers yourself.
- Hold you to a working plan with weekly external deadlines that mean something.
Three steps. Pay to enrol, then start writing with a coach.
No long forms. No sales call. You choose a package, pay to enrol, and book your weekly hours. You are working with a coach the same week.
Pick the package that matches where you are.
Choose from the three packages below: Concept Starter, Full Proposal, or Proposal + Defence. Most doctoral scholars choose Full Proposal, the complete written proposal. If you are unsure which fits, email info@aosars.com and we will help you decide before you pay.
Enrol and settle your package fee.
Payment confirms your place. You pay in USD, settled in your local currency, by card, bank transfer or mobile money.
Book your weekly hours and start.
Once enrolled, you book your weekly 60-minute hours via Calendly. Bring the concept paper or chapter you are stuck on, send your draft ahead of each session, and the work begins. The same coach stays with you for the whole package.
Choose the package that matches where you are.
Packages run from USD 150 to USD 540. You pay to enrol, then book your weekly hours. The packages differ by what they cover, not by cosmetics: how much of the proposal they take you through, how many drafts we read, and whether proposal defence preparation is included. Most doctoral scholars choose the middle package, the complete written proposal.
3-Session Package
For getting unstuck at the very start: a defensible concept paper and a clear direction for the proposal.
Use within 2 months
- 3 live 60-minute sessions
- Covers: concept paper and proposal direction
- Written feedback on 2 drafts
- Email access between sessions
- Feedback within 5 working days
7-Session Package
For the complete written proposal: from concept paper through Chapters One to Three, instrumentation, preliminaries and references.
Use within 4 months
- 7 live 60-minute sessions
- Covers: concept paper, Chapters One to Three, instrumentation, preliminaries and references
- Written feedback on 5 drafts
- Instrumentation review included
- Email and WhatsApp access
- Feedback within 5 working days
12-Session Package
For end-to-end support: the complete proposal, plus full proposal defence preparation and a mock defence.
Use within 6 months
- 12 live 60-minute sessions
- Everything in Full Proposal, plus:
- Proposal defence preparation and a full mock defence
- Written feedback on 8 drafts
- Priority feedback within 2 to 3 working days
- Priority email and WhatsApp access
Not ready to commit yet? Take the Defence-Readiness Checklist.
A four-page diagnostic that walks you through where your proposal stands today against the markers an examiner uses. Statement of the problem, conceptual framework, methodology coherence, chapter interconnectedness, defence preparation. Free, no engagement required, useful whether you become an AOSARS coaching client or not.
The five focus areas, and the key terms in each.
A doctoral proposal is judged on the precision of its parts. These are the five areas your coaching moves through, with the terms an examiner expects you to own in each. We coach the thinking and the writing; the work, and the words on the page, stay yours.
Concept paper
Where the proposal starts. We help you sharpen a problem worth studying and an objective worth defending before anything is built on top of it.
Proposal development (Chapters One to Three)
The introduction, literature review and methodology, coached as one connected argument rather than three separate chapters.
Instrumentation
We coach you to design tools that measure what your objectives claim, and to argue their rigour before a sceptical committee.
Preliminaries & references
The formal apparatus an examiner checks first and last, coached to the letter of APA 7 so the document reads as finished.
Proposal defence preparation
We rehearse you for the room: the questions a committee always asks, a clean two-minute opening, and answers that land under pressure.
From the scholars now writing.
I was on my third complete rewrite of the literature chapter and beginning to wonder if I would ever finish. The coaching gave me an hour every week with someone who had read what I sent and could tell me what the chapter was actually arguing. My supervisor noticed the difference in the very next submission.
My proposal had been sitting with my supervisor for four months. After two coaching sessions I rewrote the statement of the problem and the conceptual framework. The proposal was approved at the next sitting.
The mock defence was the moment I stopped being afraid. The questions my coach asked were the questions the committee asked the next week. I walked in knowing exactly which answers were strong.
Answers, before you ask.
Your supervisor remains your supervisor. We do not replace them. The honest reality is that most African postgraduate supervisors carry between fifteen and thirty students, see each one every six to twelve weeks, and have limited time to mark up draft chapters line by line. That structural shortage is not their fault. It is the system you are studying inside.
Coaching fills the gap between supervision meetings. We read what you wrote since last Tuesday. We mark it up in detail. We discuss the weak places. We rehearse you for the next conversation with your supervisor so you arrive prepared. Almost without exception, our clients report that their supervision becomes more productive, not redundant, once coaching is in place.
Almost universally, yes. Universities permit, and many encourage, external coaching, mentoring and tuition, in exactly the same category as private tutoring at undergraduate level. What universities prohibit is ghost-writing: someone writing the thesis text for you and you submitting it as your own. We do not cross that line.
If your university has a specific written policy on external coaching, share it with your coach at your first session and we will work within it.
Often yes, first. Courses teach the craft itself: research methodology in theory, academic writing strategies, and proposal development. They are far cheaper because they serve many learners at once. If you have never written a literature review or a methodology chapter, a course will teach you the craft far more affordably than a coaching hour will.
Coaching, by contrast, is for after that. Or for those who already have the underlying skills. The coaching hour is a coach's discussion of your specific draft, your specific writing choices, your specific chapters. You will not get that in a course, however good the course is. Most clients take both, in sequence.
No. This is the AOSARS bright line. We do not write your chapters, your proposal or any submittable content. We coach you to do all of it. If you are looking for a ghost-writing service, AOSARS is not it.
One-on-one coaching is designed for the proposal writing stage: you have your registration, your topic and your supervisor, and you are developing your proposal or writing your preliminaries, Chapters One to Three, references or instrumentation. If you are still picking a discipline, a university or a topic, our self-paced e-courses on research methodology and proposal development are a far better and cheaper fit.
Your supervisor remains your supervisor, with full academic authority over your project. We work alongside them, not in place of them. Where their instruction conflicts with our advice, their instruction prevails.
In practice the coaching relationship makes your supervision better, not redundant: you arrive at every meeting with cleaner work and clearer questions, and your supervisor's time goes further.
Tell us early. Raise it in writing after your first session and we will adjust how the coaching runs: the focus of the sessions, the pace, and the kind of feedback you get. The aim is to make the hour work for the way you actually write, and most concerns are resolved simply by naming them early.
Individual sessions may be rescheduled with at least 24 hours' notice, free of charge. On the Proposal + Defence package, documented pauses (illness, fieldwork, family events) extend your use-by window at no extra cost up to a fair-use cap.
No. Consistent with AOSARS policy, fees are non-refundable. Unused sessions on early termination may, at our discretion, be credited towards another AOSARS service within 12 months but are not refunded in cash. Read section 7 of the AOSARS Policies page before paying.
Calendly settles in USD at the moment of booking. Scholars across the continent settle in their local currency at the prevailing official exchange rate on the day. Card payment, bank transfer and major mobile money channels are accepted through Calendly’s payment processor.
Our expertise lies in the research and writing process itself, which is topic-agnostic across the social sciences, education, public health, business, economics, governance and applied policy. Your coach reads for the things that travel across every discipline: a defensible problem, a coherent argument, a sound methodology, and clean academic writing. If your topic falls outside our depth, we will say so honestly within the first session and credit the fee against any other AOSARS service, rather than take work we cannot coach well.
A thesis-writing service writes your thesis. We coach you to write it. The work is yours; the discipline, structure and a coach's feedback are ours. At the defence, you defend what you wrote, because you wrote it. That is the difference, and it is the entire point.
