Creating an impressive dissertation proposal is the first step towards earning your PhD degree. You will be able to undertake the detailed research work only after the proposal gets accepted. It will also be a challenging task since you will need to decide several vital issues. Some tips that I share here will help you make a flawless proposal:
- Choose a good topic: don’t be in a hurry to start writing. First, ensure that the topic which you are studying is innovative and interesting. It must have scope for original research and must be related to your field of specialization.
- Explore literature and related theories: next step will be to find out all the literature resources that are related to the issue. However, you don’t need to read each book. Scan some references to find out the most relevant and recent ones. See how they connect to your hypothesis. Then you will prepare the theoretical framework on which your study will be based.
- Write problem statement: the proposal must clarify the question that you seek to answer, or the problem that your study tries to solve. It must be unambiguous, crisp and meaningful. The problem statement is included in the introduction of the proposal or given as a separate section.
- Prepare research design: decide the methodology that you will follow. Also, choose the methods that you will use for gathering and analyzing data. This section of proposal will show your game plan for research to the review committee. Any assumptions you make, variables used and special requirements must also be mentioned here.
- Draft as per guidelines: finally, when you have all the information that you need, and various pieces of your proposal in place, you can get down to writing it. Ask your guide about the formatting style that your college follows. Be sure to use academic language and stay within the stipulated word limit.
You will need to present the proposal and answer the committee’s questions about its various chapters. So, be very sure about what you include. Do not write about any references you haven’t read or methods that you are not familiar with.
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