Research Proposal

1. OUTLINE, FORMAT AND EXAMPLES

2. 1. What is a Research Proposal?
A research proposal is a concise summary of your
research paper. It creates the general idea of your
research by highlighting the questions and issues you
are going to address in your paper.
For writing it, demonstrate the uniqueness of your
research paper. This is the first draft that demonstrates
your skills to conduct research.

3. 1.1 Research Proposal Definition
 A research proposal is a document written with the
goal of presenting and justifying your interest and
need for conducting research on a particular topic. It
must highlight the benefits and outcomes of the
proposed study, supported by persuasive evidence.

4. 2. Research Proposal Outline
 Sometimes students don’t realize how important a
research paper proposal is and just end up putting all
the information together without following the basic
outline or thinking this through.
 To summarize its importance, if you want a successful
research project, you need to write a great proposal
for it.
 Before starting with the outline, you need to
understand the basic components. It goes without
saying that a clear outline is important when it comes
to presenting the literature review and writing the
entire paper.

5. 2.1 Research Proposal Format

6. 2.1 Research Proposal Format
 Your proposal should have enough data and
information to persuade and convince your readers
regarding the significance of your research.

7.  Here is a basic format you can follow while writing
your proposal:
 Title
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Literature Review
 Research Methodology
 Result
 Discussion
 Citation
2.1 Research Proposal Format

8. 3. How to Write a Research Proposal
 Now you have the basic outline you can follow. Let’s
discuss how to write it by following the format
mentioned in the previous slides.

9. 3.1. Title
 Your proposal title should be concise and clear to
indicate your research question. The title is the first
thing that your reader is going to read. A catchy yet
informative title will attract readers.
 Your readers should know what to expect in the paper
after reading the title. Your title should clearly indicate
the relationship between the independent and
dependent variables. Avoid writing titles in a general
perspective or phrases like “An investigation of …” or “A
review of …” etc. Make it concise and well defined.

10. 3.2 Abstract
 The abstract is a short summary that is around 100-250
words. The abstract should include the research
question, hypothesis of your research (if there is any),
the research methodology and findings.
 If the proposal is detailed then it will require a section
of the table of contents after the abstract.

11. 3.3 Introduction
 You need to start with a strong introduction. The
introduction is written to provide a background or
context related to your research problem. It is
important to frame the research question while
writing the proposal.
 Your entire proposal will revolve around your research
question. If the research question is not specific and has
a very general literature review, then your proposal
might seem insignificant. A specific research question
will make your research focused on.

12.  However, there is no one way to frame your research
question.
 Start the introduction with a general statement related
to the problem area you are focusing on and the
justification for your study.

13.  The introduction usually covers the following elements.
 What is the purpose of your research or study?
 Mention the background information and significance before
you introduce your research question.
 Introduce your research question in a way that its significance is
highlighted by setting the stage for it.
 Briefly mention the issues that you are going to discuss and
highlight in your study.
 Make sure that you identify the independent and dependent
variables in the title of your study.
 If there is a hypothesis or a theory related to your research, state
it in the introduction.

14. 3.4 Literature Review
 As per the requirements of your instructor, you can
incorporate the literature review in the introduction or
create a separate section for the review.
 A separate section dedicated to the literature review
will allow you to conduct extensive background
research and support your research question with
ample proof from credible sources and research.

15.  The following are the basic purposes of the literature
review.
 To give reference to the researchers whose study has been a
part of your research.
 To help you construct a precise and clear research question.
 To critically evaluate previous literature information related
to your research.
 To understand research issues relevant to the topic of your
research.
 To convince the reader that your research is an important
contribution to the relevant niche.

16.  A literature review is an important component.
However, there are some common mistakes that
students make while reviewing the literature.
 Lack of organization and coherence.
 No proper structure.
 Lack of focus on the topic.
 Not citing the papers and researchers properly.
 Not including the recent studies relevant to the topic.
 Trivial citation

17. 3.5 Significance of the Research
 The significance of your research will identify the
importance of your work.
 It should be mainly stated in the introductory
paragraph.
 You must highlight how your research is beneficial to
the development of science and society in general.
 Similarly, you can also state its contribution to the field
in both the broader and narrow sense.

18. 3.6 Research Methodology
 This section explains how you are going to conduct
your research and the method you choose for your
research question.
 Explain why the specific method is suitable for your
research and how will it help you attain your research
goals. Your research methodology will give you an
organized plan for the research.
 Mention sufficient information regarding your research
methodology for readers to understand how you are
conducting your research. It must contain enough
information regarding the study for another researcher
to implement it.

19.  Choose the type of research methodology that is
suitable for your research.
 Quantitative research is suitable for projects
involving collecting and analysis of statistical data like
that in social sciences, medicine, and psychology.
 Qualitative type is used in a theoretical type of
research like that in literature.
 Some research involves both; if your research topic also
involves an analysis of both the statistical data and
theory, then make sure that you use them appropriately.

20.  For a qualitative approach, the method section of your
proposal needs to be more detailed and elaborate as
compared to the one in the quantitative approach.
 How you will collect your data and analyze it
according to the qualitative approach should be
described with great care.

22.  When you choose a quantitative approach for your
research, the method section should contain answers to
the following elements:
 Design – Is it a laboratory experiment or a survey?
 What are the sample size and the subject of your study?
 What is the procedure of your study and how will you carry
out the activities involved in it?
 Describe your questionnaire or the instruments you will be
using in the experiment.
 Have detailed knowledge of all the research methodologies
to justify your approach towards the research problem.

23. 3.7 Research Objectives
 Your research objectives will clearly concise what the
writer is trying to achieve.
 Moreover, these aims and objectives must be
achievable. It means that it must be framed according
to the:
 Available time
 Infrastructure
 Other important resources.

24.  However, it is beneficial to read all the developments in
the field and find research gaps before deciding your
objective.
 It will help you come up with suitable aims for your
projects.

25. 3.8 Ethical Considerations
 It is an essential part of your outline. Researchers need
to consider ethical values while conducting research
work.
 Furthermore, you also have to be very careful in the
data collection process and need to respect the
rights of the participants.
 They should not subject to harm in any way. Similarly,
full consent should be obtained from them prior to the
study.
 Lastly, it is the moral duty of the writer to promise
complete confidentiality so that they feel
comfortable while sharing information.

26. 3.9 Research Limitations
 The research limitations indicate the flaws and
shortcomings of your research. These may include:
 Unavailability of resources.
 Small sample size
 Wrong methodology
 Listing the limitations shows your honesty and
complete understanding of the topic.

27. 3.10 Result
 You won’t be having any results of your experiment
while you are writing the proposal.
 In this section, you can describe how you will analyze
your research question; present hypothesis based on
the data you have collected in the research.

28. 3.11 Discussion
 Describe what will be the potential impact of your
research and highlight the reasons of choosing the
respective topic. Don’t exaggerate the merits of your
research just to enhance the significance in the eyes of
the readers.
 Also, mention the limitations of your study in terms of
lack of time, resources and budget; mention its scope
for future study.

29. 3.12 Citation
 Don’t forget the citation section.
 You don’t want to get blamed for plagiarism. Always
give references to the authors and the literature
you have studied for your research.
 There are two ways to cite your sources.
 Reference – List the literature that you have used in your
proposal.
 Bibliography – List everything that you have studied,
cited or not, while doing your study or while writing.

30. Why Research Proposals Get Rejected?
 An analysis of 500 rejected proposals allowed us to identify
the common blunders made in them.
 These blunders caused the rejection of otherwise promising
research.
 The proposal stated a flawed hypothesis.
 The professor doubts the research will not bring new or
useful results.
 The plan mentioned in the proposal lacks details and is
unrealistic.

31.  It lacks coherence.
 The results obtained, or the hypothesis, from the
chosen method will be inaccurate.
 The review of literature is not done correctly.
 Sufficient time was not devoted to writing the
proposal.
 The proposal is copied or has been used by many
other students in the past.

32. 3.13 Proofreading
 Many students prefer not to proofread the proposal
after completion, which is a grave mistake. If you
proofread the paper on your own, you may fail to
identify the mistakes. Use online tools or have a
helping hand from your friend to give it a good read.
 In the end, edit the document as per the needs.