Writing a Research Proposal

What is a research proposal?

A research proposal is a formal document that describes the plans for a research study. Research proposals generally contain the following elements: introduction, review of literature, methodology, list of references, and time line. Think of the research proposal as an early draft of your thesis or APP.

Submit your proposal to your thesis or APP director.

Elements of a Research Proposal

A research proposal generally has the following components: introduction, research question, brief literature review, methodology, list of references, and time line for completing the project.

Introduction: What are you studying?

(1-2 pages, single spaced)

Introductions set the stage for the entire report. The introduction is read first but should be written last. After all, you cannot write a thorough, comprehensive introduction until you know what you are introducing in the first place!

Begin by specifying whether you will write a thesis or an alternate plan paper (APP). Next, identify the general area in which you are working. Explain the problem and its significance for the field of study concerned. To what extent does this build upon or add to existing research? Why is the topic worth studying? How is it relevant to technical communication? Gradually shift your focus to the specific issue you will study: your research question. Remember to include a forecast of the main sections of your paper and the content of each section.

Basic introductions generally consist of four elements:

  1. Context. What background information does the reader need to know in order to understand the report? Why was the document created? What inspired the research study?
  2. Purpose. What are you trying to discover, learn, or prove?
  3. Thesis or research question. What is the main topic, question, or problem that unites the document?
  4. Main topics in the body of the report. Help readers understand the structure and organization of your report by forecasting what lies ahead. Use your outline or the headings of your document to construct the forecast. Remember that the information in the forecast must mirror the order of appearance in the document.

Academic introductions, like those found in journal articles or theses/APPs, follow a slightly different format.

Move 1: Establishing a Territory

Step 1: Claiming centrality

AND/OR

Step 2: Making topic generalizations

AND/OR

Step 3: Reviewing items of previous research

Move 2: Establishing a niche

Step 2A: Counterclaiming

OR

Step 2B: Indicating a gap

OR

Step 2C: Question-raising

OR

Step 2D: Continuing a tradition

Move 3: Occupying the niche

Step 3A: Outlining purposes

OR

Step 3B: Announcing present research

AND

Step 2: Announcing principle findings

AND

Step 3: Indicating research article structure

Swales, John. 1990. Research Articles in English. In Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Research question: What are you trying to understand or discover?

(included within the introduction)

Formulate one or two questions that will guide your study. Use the literature review you have completed so far to identify an area or topic that has not yet received much study.

Think of research as a conversation with people who are curious about something or who are trying to solve a problem. Your goal is to join the conversation with something new and interesting.

Brief literature review: What is already known? What remains to be studied?

(3-5 pages, single spaced)

In a nutshell, the literature review summarizes the existing conversation, or state of research, on a topic, distinguishes important or interesting threads of that conversation, and then identifies a “gap” in the conversation that you plan to fill with your own study. After all, there's little point in doing a research project if we already know the answer to your question.

By “literature” we don’t mean great works by Shakespeare or Austen. The term merely means previously published research on a given topic such as books, journal articles, or similar scholarly works. The purpose of a literature review is to summarize and synthesize what is already known about a topic, problem, or procedure. The review is guided by a research question or hypothesis. It is not necessary--nor recommended--to include everything in your literature review. Instead you should focus your efforts on similar research or theories that inform or guide your own work.

The goal of the literature review is to make support your argument that the topic is worth studying. Focus on the findings, not the researcher or the methodology used. Are there areas in which research seems to agree or confirm one another? Are there areas in which the research contradicts one another? If your topic is completely new then you may have to use peripheral research—studies on the same topic in other disciplines or related topics in your own discipline—in order to develop your review. Remember to show relationships between the items in your review using transitions.

Like the introduction to the paper, the introduction of the lit review should forecast the organization of the section: What are the main topics? How do they relate to one another and to your study?

Methodology: What will you do?

(Thesis: 1-2 pages, single spaced, plus examples of instruments or procedures)

(APP: about 1 page, single spaced)

For a thesis, explain and justify your choice of research methodology, methods, sample, and data analysis. Will you use a quantitative or a qualitative methodology? Why? What method(s) will you use to collect your data (e.g. questionnaire, interview, observation, textual analysis, observation)? What will be your data collection instrument? (Remember to include it as an appendix to your thesis or APP.) What is your population? How will you select your sample from that population? What are their characteristics? If you will use human participants, how will you obtain their consent? How will you store, code, and analyze the data? You should provide enough information so that the study could be replicated by others. At this point you are describing what you plan to do so use the future tense. In the final report you will describe what you actually did so you will need to switch to the past tense.

If you will be working with people to collect data, such as interviews or questionnaires, you will also need permission from the Institutional Research Board as well. Write a proposal to conduct research with human participants. Once your adviser has approved the application, you will then submit it using the online proposal form.

For an APP, describe the scope of your topic, keywords you plan to use, and journals or other sources you plan to search. If you haven't done so already, schedule an appointment with Paul Wyss, the Distance Librarian at MSU Mankato, for an individual conference about your topic. He's a great resource.

References

Include a list of references for the literature review. Use either the APA or Chicago documentation styles. (I recommend that you purchase a copy of the style guide for use now and in future courses, but you can also find abbreviated versions of most common citation situations at www.dianahacker.com/resdoc.)

Schedule of Work

Create a schedule, timeline, or chart that identifies major milestones in your progress. Include deadlines for submitting GSR forms and tentative plans for submitting drafts of your thesis/APP to your adviser and second reader. We understand that the actual dates may change but the inclusion of the schedule demonstrates that you are aware of the work that needs to be done and the deadlines that need to be met. Your committee will use your schedule to plan their availability to review your drafts. Begin by viewing my sample timelines.

Links to additional information