Proposing a Research Project

(Writing a Research Proposal)

Eric Sunu Doe, PhD || Department of Music || 29.01.2025

Today’s Class
• Introduce strategies to beginning [research] project
• Understand the symbolic situation of a project proposal
and common elements of such proposals
• Introduce practical symbolic and grammatical principles
of developing proposals
• Provide tips for drafting and revising your sections of
your proposal
What is a Proposal [Research]?
The research proposal genre
• Proposals are a unique genre and are unlike most
other writing. It possesses a unique form and voice –
like cookbooks, detective fiction, or a classic research
• Proposals are written across the Natural Sciences,
Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts
• And as a genre, proposal share common
components…
Describes:
• What the proposed project [research] is about
• What it is trying to achieve and how it will go about
doing that
• What will we learn from that
• Why it is worth learning
Writing a Research Proposal
The Big Picture
Describes your proposed plan of work:
• What you intend to study (scope and research
questions)
• How you intend to study your topic (methodology)
• Why this topic needs to be studied (significance)
• When you will complete this work (timeline)
• [occasionally] Where you will conduct this work
Writing Research Proposals
• Purpose:
• Justify, plan and review a research project
• Show how your project contributes to existing
research and serves as a guide throughout the study
• Demonstrate that you understand how to conduct
discipline-specific research in an acceptable time-
frame
• Audience:
• Your academic advisor and committee
Proposal Writing & Anxiety
General Advice
• Establish a writing schedule
• Begin by free-writing
• Keep a small notebook with you to write down
relevant thoughts
• Compose different parts in different computer files
or on different index cards
• Start with more “clear cut” sections first
• Understand that the proposal will be negotiated--be
prepared to revise!
• Think of the proposal as an introduction to your
thesis or project
•Remember that the proposal is not a compulsory
contract
•Remember that your proposal is not intended to limit
ideas, but to help you think practically.
•Ask classmates to form a writing group
•Talk to your Supervisor/Academic advisor!
Components of a Research Proposal
• Disciplinary Context
• Your Specific Question or Endeavor
• Your Objectives
• Approach/Method
• Timeline
• Outcomes
• Larger Significance/Impact
Context
•What is known. Do you demonstrate knowledge of
existing scholarship related to your topic? Is your project
timely and/or responding to a new trend?
•If a proposal reader sees your awareness of existing
scholarship, they are more likely to believe you are
prepared to achieve your desired outcomes within a
specific timeframe
Your Project
•What is unknown or timely. Your idea.
Sometimes called the needs or problem statement.
What makes your inquiry unique? How will your
inquiry contribute new knowledge to the field? What
will your creative endeavor produce?
Objectives
•Approach to fill gap of knowledge. How will you
answer this question? What does your research or
creative work look like? What are the parameters of
the question or endeavor?
•Outcomes. What will be learned, made, developed,
created? A paper? A sculpture? A theatre production?
•Timeline. What is the length of this study? How much
time will be devoted per week? Are your goals realistic
for the timeframe?
Significance/Impact

•Larger picture. How does this research impact the

society, the disciplinary field, the university, the
environment, your personal learning or goals?
Qualities of Proposals
Clarity
•Is your language free of jargon? If you need to use a
term specific to your discipline, have you defined it? Is
your proposal organized in a way that makes sense?
For instance, have you clearly articulated your inquiry
or plans in one or two sentences? Finally, will someone
outside of your discipline be able to understand your
proposal?
Originality

•An obvious way to make your proposal feel unique is

through the use of language. Does your opening
paragraph engage the reader, and does your final
paragraph leave the reader with a memorable
impression?
Who is your audience?
Who is reading this, anyway?

•Proposals are often reviewed by a committee of

interdisciplinary academics and staff
•Read your proposal as if you were someone outside of
your discipline. Watch out for jargon and explain your
acronyms
Writing for an audience

•Read it out loud! Are your sentences strong? Are

you boring yourself?
•Ask a friend outside of the discipline to read your
proposal. Are there places they did not understand
your project? Where is your language weaker,
stronger?
•Is every word and sentence intentional?
• Title
• Introduction
• Problem statement
• Research questions & Objectives
• Literature Review
• Methodology
• Significance
• Plan of work
• Budget
• Bibliography
Creating a Working Title
• Orient your readers to your research topic
• Indicate the type of study you will conduct
• Have importance in the research literature
indexing process
• Should not be an afterthought, nor should it use
words or phrases which obscure rather than reveal
meaning
• Convey as much information as possible in as few
words as possible
Introduction/Background
• Establish the general subject area
• Describe the broad foundations of your study –
provide adequate background for readers
• Indicate the general scope of your project
• Provide an overview of the sections that will
appear in your proposal (optional)
• Engage the readers
Problem Statement
• Answer the question: “What is the gap that needs to
be filled?” and/or “What is the problem that needs to
be solved?”
• State the problem clearly early in a paragraph
• Limit the variables you address in stating your problem
• Consider bordering the problem as a question
Research Questions & Objectives
• Explain the goals and objectives of the study
• Show the original contributions of your study
(Optional)
• Provide a more detailed account of the points
summarised in the introduction
• Include a justification (rationale) for the study
• Be clear about what your study will not address
• In addition, this section may:
• Describe the research questions of the study
• Include a subsection defining important terms
• State limitations of the research
• Provide a justification for the particular subject of
the study
Review of Literature
•Writing the literature review allows you to
understand:
•How other scholars have written about your topic
•The range of theories used to analyse materials or
data
•How other scholars connect their specific
research topics to larger issues, questions, or
practices within the field
•The best methodologies and research techniques
for your particular topics
Symbolic function

• Situates the current study within a wider

disciplinary conversation
• Illustrates the uniqueness, importance of and need
for your particular project
• Justifies methodologies choices
• Demonstrates familiarity with the topic and
appropriate approaches to studying it.
An Effective Literature Review should

• Flesh out the background of your study

• Critically assess important research trends or
areas of interest
• Identify potential gaps in knowledge
• Establish a need for current and/or future research
projects
Methodology
•Introduce the overall methodology approach
•Indicate how the approach fits the overall research
design
•Describe the specific methods of data collection
•Explain how you intend to analyse and interpret your
data
•If necessary, provide background and justification for
unfamiliar methodologies
•Address possible limitations
Tips on Drafting Methodology
• Break down your methodology into subsections
• Remember that your methods section may also
require supporting literature
• Anticipate and prevent the audience’s methodological
concerns
• Acknowledge major problems
• Justify your approach by showing how benefits
balance potential problems
Significance/Implications
• Discuss the methodological, substantive, and/or
theoretical contribution
• State the practical and/or theoretical importance of
the problem and/or objectives of your study
• Explain the usefulness or benefits of the study to both
the outside world and the research community
Timeframe/Plan of Work
Some things to keep in mind
• Consult your supervisor
• Be aware of important dates for submitting
• Do not be overly ambitious
• Remember that your proposed timelines demonstrates
your awareness of the various elements of the study
(approval, design, drafting, redrafting etc.)
Budget
 Proposal Budget Form

Name (Last, First):

Stipend (if available and amount) $

Supplies (anticipated) Amount

TOTAL SUPPLIES: $

Travel (anticipated) Amount

TOTAL TRAVEL: $

Misc. Other Expenses (including conferences, publication, etc. - anticipated) Amount

TOTAL MISC: $

TOTAL REQUEST (Supplies, Travel, misc): $

Bibliography & Appendix
• Include a working bibliography of key text that inform
your study and methodology
• Your appendices may include pictures, scores etc.
• Both bibliographies and required appendices tend to
be discipline specific and know what the requirements
are
More on the Nuts & Bolts of Proposals
• Length
• Most are roughly 5 to 8 pages, but they can be
much longer
• Style Considerations
• Tone
• Coherence
• Voice
• Visual Aids
Style Considerations: Tone
• When conveying your attitude in your writing:
• Try to strike a consistently confident tone
• Avoid an apologetic or arrogant tone
Style Considerations: Coherence

•Move from “old” information to “new” information

•Put the most important information at the end of
the sentence
•Keep the subject and verb together
• Start sentences with short, easily understood
phrases
• Use “stock” transitional phrases
• Use pronouns and/or recycling
Voice and Visual Aids

• Voice
•Active: I will conduct the bulk of the research
during the six-month fieldwork period
•Passive: The bulk of the research will be conducted
during fieldwork
• Reasons to use Passive Voice
•Your field may prefer its use, especially in
describing research design
•You need to defend consistency from sentence
to sentence
Visual Aids

• Incorporate charts, maps, diagrams, illustrations,

pictures etc., wherever possible, permissible, or
practical
End
Reference
Saladin Sembiring, S.Si., (ND) Writing Thesis and
Project Proposals
Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and
Creative Activity, (2018) Craft of Undergraduate
Research Proposals. University of Pittsburgh