WiserCourse

Published 13th December 2019

If you want to get funding or the approval of your supervisor for your research ideas, then you need to convince your reader why your ideas are competent and valuable within your field. 

Many students I have come across seem to miss out on just how important a research proposal is. In fact, it’s the most important part of the application process that will make it clear to the reader whether you have a plan for your work and the project will be successful. 

Basically, your research cannot be another useless piece of writing but needs to establish something new and worthwhile. What are you bringing to the table that hasn’t already been thought of? 

Here’s a simple-to follow guide on how to write a winning proposal:

Choose your dissertation topic

Identify a subject area that you want to investigate, and capitalize on it. It’s not hard to choose a topic of research since it’s going to be related to the course you are studying anyway.

Perform a literature review

What does that mean? Some (or most) of you are bewildered at what on Earth a lit-review is. Don’t worry, it’s a fancy academic way of demonstrating that you have looked into your identified topic of research, made notes, and are able to communicate the background of the topic to your reader.

Have you noticed a gap in the literature review?

Did you think writing about the background of your topic was enough and I wasn’t going to challenge you a lil’ bit? Don’t dig your own hole in your research by failing to identify the hole in your literature review. In other words, find the gaps, which will open new opportunities for you to add to the existing knowledge of the subject.

What's the problem?

Once you have found the gaps in your research, you can confidently outline the problem you are going to solve in your dissertation. You have to explain why you are investigating this topic, what you propose to do, and why others should be interested in your research.

Summarise the above with an introduction

That’s right, ladies and gents. Your intro should state the problem, a brief summary of the literature, a concise description of the gap you have identified in the literature, and the purpose of your research.

Inspire curiosity with a hypothesis

It helps to clearly define what you are investigating in your research through a question or statement of hypothesis. Giving your reader a nudge on what you are expecting to find in your research makes them want to know more.

Write a clear methodology

You should describe the procedures you will follow to complete the research you propose. This includes the research design, the sample size and characteristics of your sample, and how you will collect and analyse data. It’s also worth mentioning how you will report your findings. 

Overall, there is no right or wrong way of producing a good research proposal. However, if you generally keep in mind these points you will produce a compelling research proposal that you can start your project.