Research Proposal

A research proposal usually acts as the first step in producing a thesis/dissertation or a major research project. Its intent is to convince a supervisor or academic committee that your topic and approach are sound, so that you can gain approval to proceed with the actual research and also often so you can gain funding for that research. As well as indicating your plan of action, a proposal should show your theoretical positioning and your relationship to past work in your research area. The research proposal is literally a "first impression" to your reader/audience, one that you want to make positively.

Your Research Proposal should begin with your research question and include
a rationale for the choice of topic, showing why it is important or useful. It is sensible also to indicate the limitations of your aims. In other words, don't promise what you can't possibly deliver. An outline of your intended approach, and a timeline of when you hope to get things done.
Other general tips in putting together a research proposal/prospectus include:
• Start with why your idea is worth doing and how you will address your idea. Give enough detail to establish the feasibility of your proposal, but not so much as to bore your reader.
• Show your ability to deal with possible problems or changes in focus (which will often happen in a longer research project or thesis/dissertation).
• Show confidence and eagerness by using the first person "I," as well as using active verbs, concise style and positive phrasing.
You will notice that this assignment asks you only for questions. You do not have to—in fact, you should not—propose any answers to these questions; it’s too early in the research process for you to be able to formulate a thesis. Here is a helpful rule of thumb: if you already know, or can already guess, the answers to your questions, you are not asking very good questions.

Criteria for Grading are as Follows:

Level of Research Questions: 25%
Plan of Action (Can you do what you're proposing?) 25%
Completeness: Your proposal should include your research question(s), rationale for the choice of topic exhibiting why it is important or useful, indication of aims, limitations of aims, outline of intended approach and feasible timeline. 50%

Your Research Proposal is 25 % of your Process Grade.