Before students write a thesis or graduate dissertation, they need to write an academic proposal. This pitches a major project to a supervisor or academic committee for approval. The proposal is a written document outlining the details of a proposed research project. Based on how convincing the proposal is, an academic committee or supervisor will approve or deny the student to proceed with research.
An academic proposal is centered around a research question. The question is something the student wants to know but must conduct research to figure out. The proposal describes why the student should conduct research to figure out this conclusion. It will describe why the student’s topic needs to be addressed, show the details of how research will be conducted and declare how a valid conclusion will be drawn.
Besides the research question, a successful academic proposal consists of a few sections: a rationale, review and outline. The rationale describes why the student chose the topic and why a conclusion to the research question will be useful to know. In the rationale, the student will describe how the topic ties into his discipline or course and will describe any limitations of the project.
The review describes all the literature written about the topic. Any books with relevant or similar information will be listed here. The student will say how her research builds upon current knowledge but will describe how she’s also taking a new approach and charting new territory on the subject. The outline lays out the plan of action — the student’s intended approach, what forms of data collection and analysis will be used, what resources are needed, any costs involved and a time frame for completion.
Much of the academic proposal should address the “why” and “how” of the project: Why is this subject worth learning about? Why should people care? How will academics know the conclusion is valid? How will the conclusion be tested?
Students must be careful and pay close attention to details, grammar and readability what writing an academic proposal. The proposal should be concisely written using an active voice. Students should begin by writing a rough draft then going through and proofreading it while editing for clarity. All proposals need a hook that captivates the reader and makes them curious and eager to know the conclusions to the student’s research question. Some writing centers at colleges offer help writing academic proposals.
