What are the common steps of writing a research proposal?

It is a common question that is being asked by question when their finals are near.  A research proposal is a road map for a student to follow for completing his research thesis. The main purpose of a research proposal is to ensure the following steps:

• The applicants have done enough preliminary research or investigation in their specified area.
• Did they overview the concerned issue and whether able to provide an accurate description of the selected topic, they are planning to investigate?

Besides the purpose, some steps should be followed while writing a research proposal. In this guide, we will discuss all the steps in detail.

Title Page:

• Well to produce a vivid research proposal, a writer needs to be clear about the area of research.
• Additionally, the title of the research should be accurate and to the point. Don’t make the title of the research too long.
• Mention the time of submission of your research proposal on the title page.
• Moreover, the title page includes personal information like
• Name
• Academic Title
• Nationality
• Date of Birth
• Contact information
• Institutional contact

Abstract or brief introduction of the research problem:

• In the abstract, make sure to provide a summary of the research topic whether the topic is new or did anyone already worked on that.
• What sort of challenges and aspects, you are going to identify while doing research?
• It should not be more than 200 words.

Objectives of the research:

• The writer should have some objectives for his research project. Therefore, make sure to concisely outline the academic, non-academic, social and political objectives that you want to get through your research.
• The intentions and importance of your research should be mentioned clearly in your research proposal.
• You have to mention the steps you will take to complete your research projects and how will they help you in achieving your objectives.

Outline of the research project:

This is an essential step of every research proposal. Make sure to mention the following points while writing the research proposal under the outline step.

• Mention your research process within the available time.
• List up all the resources and quality of confirmation you will confer, the methodical procedure and the timetable you will pursue.
• Also mention the process of data gathering, and the types of data analysis to be followed in your research proposal.
• Make sure to follow a flexible plan for your research and do a revision of your proposal according to the requirements. Moreover, modify your research if it is acquired.

Methodology for research:

• Another common and important step in writing a research proposal is to mention the methodology you will use. There are two types of research methodologies.
• Quantitative methodology
• Qualitative methodology

Timetable, another step:

• Mentioned exactly what your plan is with each step of your research project.
• Add a timeline to it so that if a researcher wants to guess when your project will be completed he can easily draw the time.
• This will help your supervisor to know how much time you will take to complete this research project.

Research Bibliography:

• Scientific documents always need proof of how you have gathered this information.
• Whenever you add something or get an idea from somewhere you are supposed to add its reference.
• The style of adding references will be mentioned in the documents that you have received from your department.
• This is the second last step of writing a research proposal.

Attachments and Editing:

• The last step of writing a research proposal is to list up all the document details, you have used in your research.
• It includes different websites, references CV etc.
• Last but not least, before completing the research proposal make sure to check it once, in case, you need to do any editing before submission.

Quick Steps for Writing a Research Proposal

• A research proposal is usually written as an initial requirement for the degree which requires a thesis in addition to course work. E.g. MS and PhD degrees
• A research proposal can be written very easily by following steps.

1) Read a few (6-10) papers randomly from top-class journals/conferences related to a research domain of no more than 3 years old.

2) Select a specific topic of your interest.

3) Read papers specific to that sub-area of research of that research domain (approx. 10). E.g. Image Processing is a research domain and feature selection for image processing is an area of research.

4) Identify the problem in existing work and justify why it is important to handle.

5) Propose a solution providing several steps to solve that problem. To write about a solution see how people usually set steps.

6) Write Experimental settings to evaluate the proposed solution.

Conclusion:

A  research proposal is a road map of how you will conduct your research in a proper scientific way. If you follow the above guide, your paper will never get rejected and it will help you achieve good grades.