Do you want to receive a research grant or be admitted to a doctoral program? To achieve your goal, you need to submit a research proposal. First of all, you need to have a clear picture of a research proposal and why you need to write it. A research proposal can be defined as a paper that tells about your study, its significance, novelty, and research methods you are going to apply. Let’s have a closer look at the essential elements your research proposal should consist of. Follow the tips below to create a high-quality paper.
Why Do You Need to Write a Research Proposal?
The research proposal helps the competition committee as well as your potential paper supervisor to have a clear picture of the following points:
- You have conducted research on the topic based on reliable literature and studies that have already been published on the chosen topic;
- The scientific issues considered in the paper are of interest to the paper supervisor;
- You have got the necessary skills on how to plan your research project.
If you aren’t sure that you can meet the committee’s expectations, ask a professional research proposal writer to help you. Your academic success depends on how well-written and structured the research proposal is, and expert help will be of great use to you.
What Sections Should You Include in Your Research Proposal?
The research proposal format may vary a bit, but in general, each research proposal should contain the following elements:
1. Title page
- Provide your personal information: fill in your full name, date of birth, and contact details.
- Create a title that tells about the key idea of your scientific project. You need to formulate it, taking into account keywords using which it’s possible to classify your study.
- Set a timeframe within which you plan to conduct research and complete the project.
- Write the name of your supervisor and the department where you plan to work on your research proposal. Also, you should mention the names of other professors who you are going to work with (it is up to you to decide whether to collaborate with someone or not).
- Add a list of research projects that have previously received funding from the department or science foundation you are applying to. It is done to show that your project aligns with their research interests.
2. Include a brief summary of the proposed project
A brief review should fit on one page and focus on the study’s topic and its current aspects. The presentation should be as clear as possible, and an effort should be made to define the study’s boundaries clearly.
3. Literature review
This is a succinct summary of the state of art in the area of proposed research that is of direct relevance to your research.
Follow the recommendations below:
- Refer to the most important scientific works of other researchers for your project;
- Mention the framework in which you are going to conduct the study;
- Show that you are aware of current scientific problems in your field of study and methodological approaches to solving them;
- Tell about the scientific problem you want to deal with. You need to persuade that your research is urgent and relevant. It can add new valuable information to the already existing research.
4. The research has already been conducted and its findings
Here you can talk about what preliminary work you have already done to solve a scientific problem, if applicable to you. For example, you can attach copies of your publications on the research topic.
5. Research objectives
It is necessary to indicate the academic and possibly social, political and economic, and other goals you plan to achieve with your project. It should be obvious to the reader why your research is important and worth the effort and expense. Therefore, it is necessary to substantiate your research topic’s theoretical and practical significance.
6. Project Description
This is the central part of the study plan. The following information should be stated here:
- A description of the stages of the study for a period of time;
- Where you plan to get data for the study, how you will analyze the data, what time frame you set;
- What methods you will use to collect data, how you will control the validity of the data, what statistical methods you will use, how you will analyze documents or literature, etc.
7. Bibliography
This section lists the literature that was cited in the project description. Include all significant scientific research that is relevant to the chosen topic.
Conclusion
The research plan must convince those who read it that the candidate has identified a scientific problem, possesses a theoretical base, and has an idea of methodological approaches to solving this problem in a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost. Members of the committee should see that you can bring something new to the research in the chosen field.