How do I write a Research Proposal?
A successful research proposal needs to include information about both the nature of your research project – the Thesis Statement – as well as how you will go about exploring those key ideas – the Methodology.
A proposal for a research degree should be around 2 - 3 pages. The following headings are provided to help you organise your information. We suggest you prepare a proposal and submit it to a prospective supervisor who will suggest amendments. The proposal can then be re-drafted and resubmitted, perhaps several times. The process may take a while, but the clearer and stronger a proposal is, the likelier it is that the project proper will proceed smoothly.
See also the ARGS Guidelines to preparing a Research Proposal.
Research question
It’s quite good to formulate your topic as a question, as it implicates a process of investigation – i.e. what are you trying to find out? If not a question, a topic will do.Background to Research Idea
You should be able to set out some of the contexts of your investigation, of where your work will fit into the field, and even better, what holes in the field your work will fill. Some personal/ intellectual history may be useful here – e.g. what led you here?Aims of Research
You should be able to specify the aims of your investigation, i.e. what you hope to find out and /or show.Method of doing research
You should specify your methodology/ies: e.g. close textual analysis, archival research, fieldwork, interviews, performance analyses, practical experiments, and so on. You can include a practical component that informs/ enriches /illustrates/ complements the other aspects of the research.Relevant comparative research/ literature/ examples
You should show that you are (at least a bit) familiar with the field. Listing say 6 relevant books or articles is a beginning. Of course a literature review is one of the first tasks of the research proper.A structure
If you have an idea of the chapter breakdown, you should include it: e.g. chapter titles and a couple of sentences on the argument/ content of each one. Of course it will change - the first three ‘chapters’ may become the Intro or one of the subsequent ones become three chapters, but it’s a start.