How to Write a Research Thesis Proposal

A research thesis proposal is written as a partial requirement to earn a doctorate degree. The proposal you write will be submitted to a research committee, and for a doctorate thesis, this committee would be an Institutional Review Board (IRB). The proposal will explain and clarify your research. Once these preliminary considerations are addressed, initially through your thought processes, you can begin the grueling task of writing the research thesis proposal.

Things You'll Need

  • Style guide for your institution (e.g., APA, MLA)
  • A thesis topic
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Instructions

    • 1

      Identify a thesis topic you wish to research. Confirm this topic addresses a scholarly research problem you intend to study. This topic definition will ultimately lead to a research question(s), which will be the focus of your study. Master the writing style required by your institution.

    • 2

      Investigate who the experts are in the domain of your research, as you will need to know which experts are the most respected leaders on the topic you intend to study.

    • 3

      Examine the previous research that has been done on the topic. Select as many articles as you can gather around your topic, including related aspects so you can be assured you are not considering research which has already been done.

    • 4

      Decide what methods you will use to find subjects, what sectors in society they will come from and how you will collect and analyze data. Consider whether you will do a quantitative study consisting of numeric data and statistical analysis, or a qualitative study which is unstructured and may consist of interviews or observations.

    • 5

      Decide on a medium of delivery for the outcome and results. Consider the options, such as a written report, or a video. Create an outline for your thesis with a table of contents which includes the chapters and section headings, such as in this example:

      Introduction

      Thesis statement

      Methodology

      Initial Findings

      Plan and Time Frame

      Implications

      References

    • 6

      Create a bibliography, which is a list of references of all the literature you reviewed. Follow the table of contents to write the pieces of the proposal, focusing attention on one piece at a time.

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