WRITING THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND RESEARCH REPORT
WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL? All graduate students pursuing a programme requiring the submission a project paper, thesis or dissertation will have to write a research proposal. What is a research proposal? A research proposal is a short document (usually 10-15 pages) written to inform others (you supervisor or graduate committee) of a proposed piece of research. You should be aware that a research proposal can be rejected as “unsuitable” or “poorly designed”. So the proposal is obviously an important document. Therefore it is that you spending some time getting it right. A well planned proposal will save you a lot of time in the long run. If the proposal is well-designed, it will form the outline of your project paper, thesis of dissertation which you can follow. In other words, the proposal maps out the different parts of the final project paper, thesis or dissertation. The elements that are usually included in any research proposal is shown in the template below. a) I...