THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL?

A research proposal is a document that lays out a plan for investigation of a specific topic.
Unlike what you might think of as a “traditional” essay, the research proposal is comprised of
distinct sections with different purposes. There are differing approaches to the research
proposal in differing disciplines, but generally, the proposal introduces your research topic,
outlines the approach you plan to take, and situates your project within other work that has
been done in the field. For larger research projects, the proposal may be very detailed and
long; for projects of a smaller scope, it may only run a couple of pages. Be sure you know
what level of detail your instructor is looking for before you begin drafting.

The research proposal:

PARTS OF THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

The research proposal is broken up into separate sections with clearly delineated
section headings that are easy to identify. Required sections may differ based on
discipline. Although you may be asked for a proposal with slightly different
sections (or with some sections combined), these are fairly standard section
inclusions in a typical research proposal:
TITLE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND & SIGNIFICANCE
LITERATURE REVIEW
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
METHODOLOGY
PRELIMINARY SUPPOSITIONS
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
TITLE: Your research proposal should have a descriptive title that gives the reader a sense of
the project in a concise manner. Be careful about trying to be too clever with your title, as it
may come off as frivolous or unscholarly.

INTRODUCTION: The introduction is, as the name suggests, where you introduce your
proposed topic. It should describe your main research problem, describe how your study
relates to that problem, give a very brief idea about your proposed methodology to examine
the problem, and inform the reader of what you expect to discover about that problem. The
introduction should end with a working thesis statement—although this thesis may (and
often does) change as you conduct your research, it is an important organizing idea in the
proposal.

BACKGROUND & SIGNIFICANCE: This section is sometimes part of the introduction, but if
you are asked to separate it, the background & significance section should provide the
 THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

reader with a brief history of your topic and explain why the study you are proposing has
significance (this is the answer to the “so what?” question that explains and justifies why
you are conducting this study and what you hope will be gained from it).

LITERATURE REVIEW: This section catalogues and evaluates significant research from the
field that relates to your topic. Your field and topic will dictate how recent sources need to
be, but the idea is that the lit review demonstrates your familiarity with the pertinent
literature about or relating to your research question so that you may identify and either
confirm, refute, or expand on extant knowledge. (See the literature review handout for
detailed information.)

RESEARCH QUESTIONS: These may be covered in the introduction, but if this section is
required, you should clearly state the questions that you are trying to answer by
undertaking this research project.

METHODOLOGY: This section outlines how you propose to undertake your research. It needs
to be organized logically so that the reader can clearly understand how you will collect,
analyze, and interpret your data. Methods may be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed—this
section describes how you have designed the means of information collection, what kinds of
instruments you will use to collect this data, how long it will take to do so, and who else
might be involved. If you anticipate any difficulties in your collection, mention them and
what your plan to overcome them might be. Are there interviews you will conduct? Surveys
to distribute? How do you plan to code your data? This section describes these approaches.
You may need to include a timeline in this section where applicable, and if your study
requires any IRB approval, describe it here.

PRELIMINARY SUPPOSITIONS: Although you have not yet conducted the research you are
proposing, you most likely have a hypothesis and an expected outcome before you begin. In
this section, lay out what you expect to discover and how this will build off of or fill an
existing gap in current research. You should also consider how your potential findings might
influence the body of scholarship, the state of the field, or the community.

CONCLUSION: The conclusion should briefly reiterate your main research question(s) and
the purpose of the study, as well as indicate the potential impact of your research.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: This section should list sources that you reference in your proposal
(particularly the literature review section), but it should also include a list of references that
you intend to consult or that are fundamental to the field in which you are researching. The
bibliography should conform to the current style standards that apply to your field (APA,
Chicago, MLA, etc.).

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UPDATED SUMMER 2018