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The structure and content of a research proposal can vary depending upon the discipline, purpose, and target audience. For example, a graduate thesis proposal and a Tri-Council grant proposal will have different guidelines for length and required sections.
Before you begin writing, be sure to talk with your supervisor to gain a clear understanding of their specific expectations, and continually check in with them throughout the writing process.
This template can be used in conjunction with the sections below.
What are some keywords for your research?
Writing Tip: When constructing your title, think about the search terms you would use to find this research online.
Important: Write this section last, after you have completed drafting the proposal. Or if you are required to draft a preliminary abstract, then remember to rewrite the abstract after you have completed drafting the entire proposal because some information may need to be revised.
The abstract should provide a brief overview of the entire proposal. Briefly state the research question (or hypothesis, thesis statement, aim), the problem and rationale, the proposed methods, and the proposed analyses or expected results.
The purpose of the introduction is to communicate the information that is essential for the reader to understand the overall area of concern. Be explicit. Outline why this research must be conducted and try to do so without unnecessary jargon or overwhelming detail.
Start with a short statement that establishes the overall area of concern. Avoid too much detail. Get to the point. Communicate only information essential for the reader’s comprehension. Avoid unnecessary technical language and jargon. Answer the question, "What is this study about?"
Questions to consider:
The following sections - listed as part of the introduction - are intended as a guide for drafting a research proposal.
Most introductions include these following components. However, be sure to clarify with your advisor or carefully review the grant guidelines to be sure to comply with the proposal genre expectations of your specific discipline.
The research question is the question you are hoping to answer in your research project. It is important to know how you should write your research question into your proposal. Some proposals include
Foreshadow the outcomes of your research. Are you trying to improve something? Understand something? Advocate for a social responsibility?
What is the question you are hoping to answer?
Your hypothesis should provide one (of many) possible answers to your research question.
Usually a hypothesis is written to show the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
Your hypothesis must be
Your thesis statement is a clear, concise statement of what you are arguing and why it is important. For more support on writing thesis statements, check out these following resources:
Aims are typically broader statements of what you are trying to accomplish and may or may not be measurable. Objectives are operational statements indicating specifically how you will accomplish the aims of your project.
Be specific and make sure your aims or objectives are realistic. You want to convey that it is feasible to answer this question with the objectives you have proposed.
Make it clear that you know what you are going to do, how you are going to do it, and why it will work by relating your methodology to previous research. If there isn’t much literature on the topic, you can relate your methodology to your own preliminary research or point out how your methodology tackles something that may have been overlooked in previous studies.
Explain how you will conduct this research. Specify scope and parameters (e.g., geographic locations, demographics). Limit your inclusion of literature to only essential articles and studies.
Questions to consider:
This section should include the following components that are relevant to your study and research methodologies:
Provide detail about your objects of study (e.g., literary texts, swine, government policies, children, health care systems).
What exactly will you do? Include variables selected or manipulated, randomization, controls, the definition of coding categories, etc.
What are the expected outcomes from your methods? Describe your expected results in relation to your hypothesis. Support these results using existing literature.
This section may be the most important part of your proposal. Make sure to emphasize how this research is significant to the related field, and how it will impact the broader community, now and in the future.
Convince your reader why this project should be funded above the other potential projects. Why is this research useful and relevant? Why is it useful to others? Answer the question “so what?”
Provide a list of some of the most important sources that you will need to use for the introduction and background sections, plus your literature review and theoretical framework.
What are some of the most important sources that you will need to use for the intro/background/lit review/theoretical framework?
Attach this list to your proposal as a separate page unless otherwise specified.
This section should include only visuals that help illustrate the preliminary results, methods, or expected results.
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