Communication Skills-I

Writing Skills
Research Proposal
 A research proposal is a document in
which you outline the case for undertaking
the research project, your dissertation or
thesis, and present your plans for carrying
out the work.
 It is needed to persuade supervisors and
other stakeholders of the value of the
research and the likelihood that it will
successfully be able to answer the
research questions.
Writing a Research Proposal
 Your research proposal may be a part of
your dissertation, submitted in advance, or
submitted as a separate piece of work.
 Whether or not you are required to submit
a research proposal before your
dissertation, it is good practice to
summarize what you plan to do, and why,
before you start as it will help to keep your
research on track.
Research Proposal
A research proposal contains:
 A title
 An introduction outlining the topic and questions for
investigation, as well as a brief literature review and
theoretical framework.
 A detailed strategy explaining what the research
methods are, what data will be collected and how access
to data sources will be obtained.
 A realistic timetable for completion, showing key
milestones and when they will be accomplished.
 Limitations of the proposed research.
 A bibliography of references consulted to-date on the
topic.
Identifying your Topic

 The first step in any research is to identify

the topic of interest.
 Think about which areas have most
interested you in your studies to date.
 What you would most like to explore.
Defining your Research Questions
 Once you have identified your field of interest,
you can then start to identify one or more
research questions to answer. Again, a narrow
question that you can research in detail is better
than a broad one that you will not be able to
cover in full.
 Your research question(s) should be ones that
have not been fully answered in previous
research so that you are adding to the literature.
Choosing a Title
 Once you have a topic, and research
question(s), then you can decide on a title, which
should broadly cover your research question(s)
and summarize what you are going to do.
 Using your Supervisor
 You can and should use your dissertation supervisor
as a sounding board as you develop your thinking.
 It’s usually better to ask for a meeting to discuss your
ideas, rather than trying to have a discussion by email.
Outline Methodology
 The broad approach that you plan to take and
why, whether qualitative, quantitative, or a
mixture of both.
 Some idea of what exactly you plan to do within
that approach: your study population, the
experimental techniques that you’ll use, such as
questionnaires, interviews, or both, again with
good academic reasons for your choice;
 Any weaknesses in your planned approach, and
how you plan to overcome them;
 How you will analyze the results, with good
academic reasons for your selections.