A Complete PhD Proposal Writing Guide

When writing a dissertation, it's essential that you start by writing your PhD proposal. On a basic level, your research proposal will outline all of your chapters, offering an initial perspective on the literature available. As well as describe your methodology, research methods, and your expected data.

This article provides a complete guide to help students like you, with your PhD proposal writing. This will help you better prepare your work and write more effectively. The best tips and proposal writing help include the following:

• Discuss your research with your supervisor
• Create a plan for your research
• Choose credible sources for your data
• Select appropriate research methods
• Create a schedule for your research proposal

Let's dive in!

What is a PhD research proposal, and why is it important?

A research proposal is a concise summary of your research project and an initial draft of your research paper. The goal of your proposal is to demonstrate your research plan and should contain the following:

• A research problem
• Your research aims
• Your research objectives
• Brief literature review
• Description of your methodology
• Your expectations from research

First, you need to include a research problem in a proposal. When choosing your topic, you likely came across a certain, under-explored phenomenon that is linked to real-world problems. Second, you need to write about your aims and objectives. Your research aim is more global, and there should only be one, while there are a few objectives that relate to certain aspects of your research. Third, your proposal should have a brief literature review where you mention the most important papers for your review. Fourth, you need to briefly describe your data and research methodology. In addition, your proposal should mention your expectations and possible contribution to the literature. While also including the limitations of your research.

 

Expert Tips for PhD Proposal Writing

A research proposal should provide an overview of your research project. You need to include the most important parts of your proposal, but make it as short as possible. Here are some top tips from our expert writers for PhD students.

Be concise when writing your proposal

When you write a research proposal, you should focus on key details of your research. That is, you need to be concise and include your major research ideas. You need to understand that your tutors read many proposals every year. Hence, there is no need to put a lot of unchained information into your proposal. Therefore, you must be concise and stay focused on the key ideas.

Choose the right title

You need to give the right name for your research proposal. This means that the title must directly link to your research problem. The title of your research should explain your research direction so that the reader understands what you are about to do just from the title of your paper. This is important because your tutor does not have a lot of time to read your proposal. That is, you need to ensure that your title tells your research story.

Clearly state your research objectives and articulate the research problem

When writing your dissertation proposal, you need to clearly articulate your research problem and research objectives. That is, you need to write that your aim is to investigate a specific relationship or the impact of one variable on another. In addition, you need to list your research objectives so that your tutor has a clear indication of your goals.

Define the structure of your dissertation in the proposal

You need to describe the structure of your dissertation or thesis in the proposal. A PhD proposal is essentially an outline for you to follow when writing your dissertation. Therefore, you first need to define your paper’s structure in a proposal.

• Introduction to your proposal

The introduction is the first part of your proposal. You need to write about your project and its objectives and clearly articulate the reasoning behind your research. In your introduction, you need to explain the following:

• Your research
• The audience for your research
• How your research will contribute to the literature or practice
• Some new insights from your research
• Limitations of your research.

In this first chapter, you need to include all the relevant information about your research project. You should formulate a research problem and research question(s). Thereby, you will introduce the reader to your research paper. In addition, you need to fulfil the requirements of your institution.

• Background and rationale

Your proposal should include a background and rationale for your research. In this section, you need the rationale for your research problem, highlighting the key ideas and pillars of your research. If your research is about reporting quality and its characteristics, you need to describe the problem associated with lower reporting quality. In addition, you need to mention the key characteristics that can help solve the issue. This background will provide a base for your research. In addition, it is important to link your background or rationale to your research aims and objectives.

• Literature review chapter

When writing a research proposal, you need to show that you are familiar with the previous research on your topic. This means that you need to briefly review the key research papers that you will refer to in your dissertation. This is important because it demonstrates that your research has a good background. A strong literature review means that you compare and debate the key ideas in the literature on your topic.

In your literature review section, you also need to show how your research will contribute to the literature. Your contribution must be consistent with the aim of your research and the research problem that you plan to address.

• Research methodology section

You need to include research methodology in your proposal. This is another critical part of a research proposal. In the methodology section, you need to briefly describe the methods that you will use in your research. In addition, you need to mention your data. The type of data and sources that you will use should be in your methodology. In addition, you need to briefly discuss the advantages and limitations of your research methods. The research methods you choose to employ will depend on the type of research you are conducting. That is, they can be either quantitative or qualitative. In your research methodology section, you need to include the following:

• Your type of research design
• Your sampling method to describe your data for research
• Describe your research methods
• Describe procedures for your research

• Include a bibliography in your proposal

The bibliography is another part of your research proposal. In this section, you need to include references that you will use in writing a research paper. In addition, you need to further elaborate on appropriate sources for your PhD thesis or dissertation writing. The bibliography should cite any sources that you have used in your research proposal. In addition, you should write more about your sources. That is, it is important to elaborate on the authors’ contribution to your topic. Each important source for your research must be included in the bibliography.

• Contributions and limitations

The contribution section can be a concluding one of your research proposal. It may include the following:

• New research methods for your topic
• New theory for your topic
• Practical contribution in your field
• Improved research for a new country or region.

• Include a research schedule for your project

In addition, it is typical for institutions to require a research schedule as part of your proposal. This is part of your planning process for your thesis or dissertation writing. In a schedule, you need to have a detailed timeline of your activities on the research project. That is, you need to schedule your writing by the research phase, objectives, and deadline. Your schedule may include the following phases:

• Consultation with your supervisor. At this stage, you need to meet your supervisor and discuss your research project. You will get more detailed guidance on your research structure, purpose, and research objectives.
• Theoretical framework development. At this stage, you will build the foundation for your research by developing a theoretical framework.
• Research design. At this phase, you will prepare your sampling methods and research methods. Thereby, you will develop your research methodology.
• Data collection. At this phase, you will collect the data for your project. In addition, you will clean the data that you have gathered.
• Data analysis. At the stage of data analysis, you will analyse the data using statistical methods.
• Draft preparation. At this phase, you will write the first draft and discuss it with your supervisor.
• After receiving feedback from your supervisor on your draft, you will revise your research paper.

Most Common Mistakes of PhD Research Proposal Writing

Now that we've explored some expert tips and PhD proposal writing help, it's also important to consider the most common mistakes to avoid.

Lack of a clear research problem

The first mistake is the lack of a research problem. This is your main goal for research. You need to articulate the research problem that you plan to address. The lack of a research purpose can be a significant hurdle for your research.

The lack of a narrow focus

Another common mistake of many research proposals is the lack of focus on a specific research topic. A broad research question could be a major issue, not a minor one. In addition, this results in research that is not original or PhD level. A lack of focus can lead to poor writing and confusing data. Unfortunately, the result of your thesis can be disappointing.

Lack of relevant sources in your citations

In addition, you should not forget about citing your most relevant sources. You need to add the existing research to consider your research problem. Furthermore, your research needs to enrich the existing body of knowledge. Often, institutions also require sources to be within the past 10 - 15 years; therefore, you must ensure your research is highly relevant.

Lack of background and rationale

Another common mistake in research proposals is the lack of a rationale for your research. You need to explain in your proposal the need for your research project. In addition, you need to provide some background on your research. However, it is important to remember that your proposal has certain limits, so your background should not take up more than half of your proposal.

Lack of research methodology in a proposal

Another common mistake relates to the methodology section. You should not forget to include the section on research methodology in your proposal. In this section, you need to write about your data, sampling and research methods for your project. If you haven't decided on how you'd like to collect your data, you may need to go back to your research topic. Is it specific and focused? How have other researchers collected and analysed their data? This is an essential part of PhD proposal and is needed to get your tutor's approval.

Need PhD proposal writing help?

We have a selection of PhD-qualified expert writers on our team. Specialising in topics from business and management to cybersecurity and economics. If you need help writing your PhD proposal or dissertation from scratch or would like editing help, you can contact us today!