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10 Tips for Writing your Research Proposal

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Students intending to pursue higher education, in particular, Master’s or PhD’s, are often required to draft a research proposal. A research proposal is a prerequisite for securing admission to a higher degree. It is an essential part of a postgraduate degree. However, a lot of students find it difficult to come up with a research topic and writing a research proposal.

This post aims to explore what is a research proposal, the purpose of a research proposal, and ten tips for writing an effective research proposal. Also, the post highlights the dos and don’ts of a research proposal.

 

What is a Research Proposal?

A research proposal in a single word can be described as an “outline”. Before doing a task, it is often considered mandatory to make a sketch or outline of how the task will be executed efficiently. Similarly, a research proposal is a layout of the research that you are planning to conduct. A research proposal is a blueprint or a roadmap that is meant to define your mode of action regarding your research.

 

Why Write a Research Proposal?

In academia, the research proposal is a basic requirement for postgraduate degrees. On the basis of a research proposal, the students’ research is either approved or disapproved. Also, when pursuing higher education internationally, a major pre-requisite for application is to write a research proposal. Students send their research proposals to various professors to be eligible for supervision and for admission to the university. Hence, a research proposal is a sort of a benchmark for acquiring admission to a higher degree.

Similarly, Master’s students who have completed their coursework are then required to submit a research proposal for initiation of their research. Thus, it is very important to learn the art of writing a research proposal. Many students find it difficult to write a research proposal for the first time. However, several online essay writing service platforms can assist students in drafting their research proposals.

 

Tips for Writing a Research Proposal

Writing a good research proposal is crucial for every student in academia. Therefore, it is essential to know the basic tips that can help you draft a good-quality research proposal.

A good research proposal is synonymous with a good marriage proposal!

1.      Be Clear

Just like you are very clear while sending a marriage proposal about the person you want to marry. In a similar manner, it is very important to be clear about the topic you want to base your research on. You ought to have a clear viewpoint and understanding about the topic you want to conduct your research. In order to help you with searching for a research topic, English essay help services are available online.

After you have selected the topic, form it into a title. The title of the research proposal has to be very concise and complete.

2.      Search the Background

A good marriage proposal is sent or accepted after rigorous background research. Similarly, a good-quality research proposal has to be very well-researched. You need to have a comprehensive understanding about the topic you have selected.

3.      Review the Literature

In continuation of the second tip about searching the background, it is important to do an extensive literature review about your research topic. The literature review provides a strong evidence base for your proposed research topic. Various online databases, such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, etc. can be use to generate literature related to your topic.

4.      Have a Clear Objective

In a marriage proposal, you are very much clear about the objective. In a similar way, it is very important to be clear about the objective of the research proposal. Define your research question objective in a very clear and comprehensive way. Try answering these questions: What has been done previously on the topic? What do you intend to do? And what do you aim to achieve from the research?

5.      Define Your Approach

You don’t randomly send a marriage proposal instead, you define a plan of action. Similarly, a very basic and crucial element for writing a research proposal is to identify and describe your approach. Or in a more scientific way, it is imperative to describe the research methodology. You have to provide a brief and comprehensive account of how you are going to conduct the study, what will be the criteria for participants’ selection, what will be the inclusion or exclusion criteria, what would be the target population, and what would be the study design.

6.      Study Design-the Backbone

While defining the research methodology, the most important element is to formulate a study design. A good study design must be clear and must meet the objectives of your research proposal (Zondi, 2018)

7.      Expected Outcomes

Like with any marriage proposal, you anticipate the outcome. In a research proposal, you state the expected outcomes of your research. You have to define in a research proposal, what do you expect will be the outcomes of your study.

8.      Statistical Analysis

Just like a marriage proposal is evaluate. In a similar manner, you have to describe the statistics that you will apply to analyze the results of your research. It is important to describe what are the associations or correlations that you aim to derive from the data collected and what will be statistical tools you will apply on the data. SPSS is a statistical software use to carry out the analysis.

9.      To the Point

A research proposal must be to the point like a marriage proposal. Do not exaggerate and be very specific in your research proposal. A research proposal is suppose to be a brief overview of the research. It is, therefore, only about 2 to 3 pages long. Some research proposals are even 1 page in length.

10.  The 5 Cs

A research proposal must be written complying with the 5Cs of writing. These are Clear, Complete, Concise, Compelling, and Consistent.

Do’s

  • Must be clear and concise
  • Not more than 2 to 3 pages in length
  • Must have a clear objective
  • Must be a novel idea

Don’ts

  • Grammatical Errors
  • Too Lengthy
  • Improper references and citations
  • Plagiarized

Conclusion

Writing a research proposal is an essential element of a higher degree. It is of immense importance to be aware of the tips for writing a good quality research proposal.

 

References

PES. 2021. How To Write A Dissertation Proposal. Online Available at

https://www.professionalessayservice.co.uk/how-to-write-a-dissertation-proposal/

Zondi, W.B., 2018. A guide to writing a sound research proposal. Opción: Revista de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, (14), pp.497-519.

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