How to Write a Research Proposal
How To Write A Research Proposal
The starting point for every paper, be it a term paper or a finals’ paper, should be a thoroughly worked-out research proposal. Investing sufficient time and thought into writing a research proposal will yield a good return and can save you a lot of time, confusion and disappointment when actually writing your paper. A research proposal serves several purposes: - It gives an overview of the relevance and objective of a research project. - It gives an overview of the content, the procedure and the timing of a research project. - It shows whether a research project is manageable in scope and timing. A research proposal has six key components: - A title page - An abstract which summarizes the project - A detailed description of the project - A time schedule for the project - An overview of the structure of the paper (Gliederung) - References The following sections give an overview of each component. Although each research proposal should follow this guideline, you will find that not all sections are (equally) applicable for each project, since every research project is different. For instance, a paper that focusses on literature review or a theoretical analysis requires a somewhat different research proposal than a paper that reports an empirical study. Identify the aspects in each section that are relevant to your paper. In total, the research proposal should not exceed 4-5 pages. Useful resources are listed at the end of this guideline. I. TITLE PAGE Give the title of your research paper, your name, your student ID, your course of study, the semester you are in, your contact details, and the course details for which you are submitting the proposal. II. ABSTRACT The purpose of the abstract is to give the reader a brief introductory summary of the project. The abstract should not be longer than 100-150 words. It should address the following questions: - What is the topic of research? - What is the research question? - Why is this
The starting point for every paper, be it a term paper or a finals’ paper, should be a thoroughly worked-out research proposal. Investing sufficient time and thought into writing a research proposal will yield a good return and can save you a lot of time, confusion and disappointment when actually writing your paper. A research proposal serves several purposes: - It gives an overview of the relevance and objective of a research project. - It gives an overview of the content, the procedure and the timing of a research project. - It shows whether a research project is manageable in scope and timing. A research proposal has six key components: - A title page - An abstract which summarizes the project - A detailed description of the project - A time schedule for the project - An overview of the structure of the paper (Gliederung) - References The following sections give an overview of each component. Although each research proposal should follow this guideline, you will find that not all sections are (equally) applicable for each project, since every research project is different. For instance, a paper that focusses on literature review or a theoretical analysis requires a somewhat different research proposal than a paper that reports an empirical study. Identify the aspects in each section that are relevant to your paper. In total, the research proposal should not exceed 4-5 pages. Useful resources are listed at the end of this guideline. I. TITLE PAGE Give the title of your research paper, your name, your student ID, your course of study, the semester you are in, your contact details, and the course details for which you are submitting the proposal. II. ABSTRACT The purpose of the abstract is to give the reader a brief introductory summary of the project. The abstract should not be longer than 100-150 words. It should address the following questions: - What is the topic of research? - What is the research question? - Why is this
References: on the theory by Shadish et al. (2002)) Marczyk, Geoffrey R., Dematteo, David & Festinger, David