How to Write a Research Proposal

Being assigned a research proposal for the first time is when you finally realize, ‘I’m at college!’ While it might be invigorating and exciting at first, a lot of students spiral into dread very soon after. Luckily for you, you have our guide to help you navigate this seemingly convoluted process.

Writing research proposals is usually a task assigned to second or third-year students. So, it should be safe to assume that you already have several academic papers under your belt and are aware of the basic principles of college writing. Still, a research proposal is a large and complicated project, which is why we are here to guide you. 

Over the course of obtaining your bachelor’s degree, you’ll write at least a couple of research proposal papers. The exact number depends on your specific program and major. The point of this guide is to prepare you for this assignment and equip you with all the necessary tools.

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What’s the Purpose of a Research Proposal?

Usually, the main goal of a research proposal is to map out and present the idea for a future research. This gives the author, as well as the evaluators a roadmap which the inquiry will follow. With a well-crafted research proposal, the author might be trying to secure funding or other resources necessary for conducting a full-scale research. 

Research proposals are written to give the reader a glimpse of what the final paper will look like. Still, regardless of the goals a writer is trying to achieve, the structure looks the same for a paper like that.

The goal of a research proposal is to present an investigation and to prove its value to the field. Here is how you do that:

• Thoroughly research the matter, get acquainted with all the relevant material
• Find and present a gap in knowledge
• Show how your particular paper will fill that gap in research

For a research proposal to be valuable and credible, it must be thorough. With your paper, you need to demonstrate that you are well acquainted with other data available on the things to write a research paper on and can contribute to the existing body of research. You might have guessed by now that research is the backbone of a research proposal.

Still, for your research proposal to be approved, you must do more than discover gaps in knowledge. The research proposal draft you submit to your prof must also include the following:

• The methodology you plan to use (qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, etc.)
• Methods you will use for data collection
• Data analysis plan
• Approximate budget, how you plan to obtain it

A literature review is another essential part of a research proposal. You may think that a research proposal is similar to a literature review, and you would be right. It’s sort of like a mini-research proposal inside the bigger paper where you present the sources you’re using. You need to cover why you’re using these particular readings and prove their relevance to the study.

How Long Should a Research Proposal Be?

The exact length of your research proposal depends on your course, academic level, and other specifics like your advisor’s opinion. Generally, though, research proposals are quite long and come with a demanding list of instructions.

For undergrad students, research proposals are usually between 1 and 5 pages. For the master’s level, you should produce a paper that is 10-15 pages long. The further you are into your studies, the longer your proposal will be.

Research Proposal Structure

Research proposals usually look approximately the same, with a similar set of chapters. For your research proposal to follow the rules, you should ensure the structure looks something like this:

Introduction

What you should aim for with your intro:

• Introduce the topic
• Pose the research question or identify the problem
• Address the research gap

In a research proposal, the introduction is often brief and concise. You want to cover the basics without boring the reader or extending the paper length. Ensure the points from the list above are covered and move on to the next sections.

Before the introduction, some research proposal authors include an abstract and/or a table of contents. Ask your professor if you are expected to do that, too.

Background Significance

No research proposal stands alone. It must neatly fit into the existing body of research, and for that, you need to explain the background. In this section, you will explain how your paper interacts with the existing research. It’s up to you whether to support, update or challenge the existing notions, but you must mention and justify the stance you plan on taking. 

Define the problems your paper intends to solve. In this way, you are justifying your research and proving the necessity of your work. When writing this section, ask yourself, ‘So what?’ and answer that question.

In this section, you will also briefly address the way you’ll conduct your research. You may need to also mention potential limitations, i.e. topics you won’t be covering and why.

Literature Review

A Literature review section is more than just a list of sources - that’s what an annotated bibliography is for. In a literature review, you present the references you’ll be relying on and explain why these particular sources are important and relevant.

Make sure to use credible sources, like books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and other studies. Ideally, these sources should be published within the last five years. Older references are permissible in specific cases, but it’s best to check in with your advisor.

Research Design, Methods, and Timeline

This is a section where you lay out your research plan. Here’s what you need to cover here:

• Type of research design you will adopt. Is it qualitative or quantitative? Will your paper benefit from mixed methods? 
• Will you be doing experimental, correlational, or descriptive research? Are you looking for causes and relationships, or are you drawing conclusions from observation? Answering these questions is paramount for your research’s clarity and flow.
• What type of data will you be working with? Are you going to base your paper on readings, or will you be interviewing participants? How will you find people to interview? 
• What methods will you use for data collection? Will you need any specific software? 
• How are you going to obtain funding for your research?

Once you are done with the methods, you should elaborate on the following:

• Timeline for your research (often in a Gantt chart format)
• Estimated costs and their justification
• Potential limitations and how you plan on handling them

Suppositions and Implications

This is basically a section where you speculate on the results of your research. Obviously, you can’t know exactly what your research proposal will help you discover. Still, the purpose of an academic paper is to add to the body of knowledge on the topic, and in this section, you’ll explain how your paper will contribute to the existing research and why it’s necessary. 

What you need to cover in Suppositions and Implications:

• What are you assuming to be true for your research to be successful (e.g., ‘All participants will answer the survey questions.’)
• How does your work fit within the existing research?
• What are the notions your paper may challenge?
• Have you found gaps in knowledge and are you able to fill them?
• Does it provide avenues for further research? 
• What problems can your paper solve?
• What are the real-world applications of your research? Does your paper provide value to practitioners, scholars and educators? Can it potentially influence policies or practices?

In short, this section should mention what results you expect to achieve and what makes these results valuable.

Conclusion

Any academic paper finishes with a conclusion. This is where you neatly wrap up your research, summarize your paper and restate the purpose and significance of your research proposal once more.

Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is not to be confused with a literature review. Here, you need to list your sources alphabetically, just like you would in a reference list. Briefly summarize the content of each source, mention the methods used and how a source is relevant to your study.

The formatting style you need to use depends on the paper itself and your advisor's instructions. Ensure that the bibliography is formatted in the same style as the rest of the paper and that all the instructions from the guide are followed. You will most likely use APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago, so make sure you are well acquainted with the guide.

An annotated bibliography is not always required. Clarify this with your professor if you’re not certain. If you’re only to provide a reference list, make sure you format it according to the guide’s requirements. Be very attentive at this point because every type of source (article, book, survey, YouTube video) is to be cited differently.

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How to Write a Research Proposal?

Research proposals typically follow the same format with small variations. Remember that you have to be concise, objective and write in a formal tone. Academic language is a must - that means no contractions and no slang or colloquial expressions, and using the third person.

When writing your research proposal, stick to the structure and your professor’s instructions and notes. The reader will have certain expectations about your paper, and you need to meet them. Write concisely and clearly. Make sure that by the end of your research proposal, every question a reader might have had has been answered.

How to Proofread a Research Proposal

When writing a research proposal, you cannot forget editing and proofreading. These are the basic steps to writing any academic paper, and your proposal is no exception.

If you have the time, it’s best to let the paper rest for a bit after you’re done writing. Then, you can look at it from a fresh perspective and identify mistakes or gaps more efficiently.

Common Mistakes Students Make When Writing a Research Proposal

Here are some of the mistakes students most commonly make when writing a research proposal. Take note and avoid them in your writing.

Wordiness, Redundancy

Academic writing may feel somewhat limiting. Yet, this is a great exercise for students and beginner writers. Aim to write clearly, concisely and avoid being vague. If you can use fewer words to explain a point, you should.

Inconsistency in References and Citations

Students often make mistakes in references and citations. To avoid that in your research proposal, make sure you are formatting citations and references in the correct formatting guide and that each citation has a corresponding reference. You also need to ensure that all the readings you use are relevant and appropriate, i.e., credible and recent. 

Lack of Flow and Organization

Even if you follow the research proposal structure presented in this article, your writing might still end up inconsistent. This can be easily fixed during the editing stage. Ensure that your arguments flow logically. If you read your research proposal and discover that a topic ends abruptly, you may need to add a transition sentence to connect paragraphs. Your research paper must flow and guide the reader through your findings.

Poor Justification of Your Research

To add credibility to your research proposal, you need to justify the necessity for it. That means finding gaps in research, highlighting them, and explaining how you intend to fill them with your paper. You need to be assertive and persuasive to make sure your proposal gets accepted, and you can move on to writing your thesis or research paper.

These mistakes can be detrimental to your paper, yet it’s in your power to fix them before submitting the paper. Being aware of these errors is going to make avoiding them so much easier. 

Elevate Your Proposal to Perfection with Us

A research proposal is a significant piece of work, especially if you aim to obtain funding and make real change in the world. You don’t want to gamble with an assignment like that. Small inconsistencies in formatting, lack of logical flow, and mistakes in spelling or grammar can be detrimental to your work.

Teaming up with a research proposal writer from research proposal writing services, PaperWriter, can help you ensure that none of those pesky mistakes end up in your paper. You can get the paper written from scratch, or you can have your writing edited, proofread or rewritten by a professional.