Show that you understand the current state of research on your topic.
The length of a research proposal can vary quite a bit. A bachelor’s or master’s thesis proposal can be just a few pages, while proposals for PhD dissertations or research funding are usually much longer and more detailed. Your supervisor can help you determine the best length for your work.
One trick to get started is to think of your proposal’s structure as a shorter version of your thesis or dissertation , only without the results , conclusion and discussion sections.
Download our research proposal template
Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We’ve included a few for you below.
Like your dissertation or thesis, the proposal will usually have a title page that includes:
The first part of your proposal is the initial pitch for your project. Make sure it succinctly explains what you want to do and why.
Your introduction should:
To guide your introduction , include information about:
As you get started, it’s important to demonstrate that you’re familiar with the most important research on your topic. A strong literature review shows your reader that your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge or theory. It also shows that you’re not simply repeating what other people have already done or said, but rather using existing research as a jumping-off point for your own.
In this section, share exactly how your project will contribute to ongoing conversations in the field by:
Following the literature review, restate your main objectives . This brings the focus back to your own project. Next, your research design or methodology section will describe your overall approach, and the practical steps you will take to answer your research questions.
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To finish your proposal on a strong note, explore the potential implications of your research for your field. Emphasise again what you aim to contribute and why it matters.
For example, your results might have implications for:
Last but not least, your research proposal must include correct citations for every source you have used, compiled in a reference list . To create citations quickly and easily, you can use our free APA citation generator .
Some institutions or funders require a detailed timeline of the project, asking you to forecast what you will do at each stage and how long it may take. While not always required, be sure to check the requirements of your project.
Here’s an example schedule to help you get started. You can also download a template at the button below.
Download our research schedule template
Research phase | Objectives | Deadline |
---|---|---|
1. Background research and literature review | 20th January | |
2. Research design planning | and data analysis methods | 13th February |
3. Data collection and preparation | with selected participants and code interviews | 24th March |
4. Data analysis | of interview transcripts | 22nd April |
5. Writing | 17th June | |
6. Revision | final work | 28th July |
If you are applying for research funding, chances are you will have to include a detailed budget. This shows your estimates of how much each part of your project will cost.
Make sure to check what type of costs the funding body will agree to cover. For each item, include:
To determine your budget, think about:
Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement.
Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.
I will compare …
A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.
Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.
A PhD, which is short for philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy in Latin), is the highest university degree that can be obtained. In a PhD, students spend 3–5 years writing a dissertation , which aims to make a significant, original contribution to current knowledge.
A PhD is intended to prepare students for a career as a researcher, whether that be in academia, the public sector, or the private sector.
A master’s is a 1- or 2-year graduate degree that can prepare you for a variety of careers.
All master’s involve graduate-level coursework. Some are research-intensive and intend to prepare students for further study in a PhD; these usually require their students to write a master’s thesis . Others focus on professional training for a specific career.
Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.
Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.
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McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, June 13). How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/the-research-process/research-proposal-explained/
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What is the purpose of a research proposal , how long should a research proposal be, what should be included in a research proposal, 1. the title page, 2. introduction, 3. literature review, 4. research design, 5. implications, 6. reference list, frequently asked questions about writing a research proposal, related articles.
If you’re in higher education, the term “research proposal” is something you’re likely to be familiar with. But what is it, exactly? You’ll normally come across the need to prepare a research proposal when you’re looking to secure Ph.D. funding.
When you’re trying to find someone to fund your Ph.D. research, a research proposal is essentially your “pitch.”
A research proposal is a concise and coherent summary of your proposed research.
You’ll need to set out the issues that are central to the topic area and how you intend to address them with your research. To do this, you’ll need to give the following:
➡️ What is a literature review? Learn more in our guide.
Essentially, you are trying to persuade your institution that you and your project are worth investing their time and money into.
It is the opportunity for you to demonstrate that you have the aptitude for this level of research by showing that you can articulate complex ideas:
It also helps you to find the right supervisor to oversee your research. When you’re writing your research proposal, you should always have this in the back of your mind.
This is the document that potential supervisors will use in determining the legitimacy of your research and, consequently, whether they will invest in you or not. It is therefore incredibly important that you spend some time on getting it right.
Tip: While there may not always be length requirements for research proposals, you should strive to cover everything you need to in a concise way.
If your research proposal is for a bachelor’s or master’s degree, it may only be a few pages long. For a Ph.D., a proposal could be a pretty long document that spans a few dozen pages.
➡️ Research proposals are similar to grant proposals. Learn how to write a grant proposal in our guide.
When you’re writing your proposal, keep in mind its purpose and why you’re writing it. It, therefore, needs to clearly explain the relevance of your research and its context with other discussions on the topic. You need to then explain what approach you will take and why it is feasible.
Generally, your structure should look something like this:
If you follow this structure, you’ll have a comprehensive and coherent proposal that looks and feels professional, without missing out on anything important. We’ll take a deep dive into each of these areas one by one next.
The title page might vary slightly per your area of study but, as a general point, your title page should contain the following:
Tip: Keep in mind any departmental or institutional guidelines for a research proposal title page. Also, your supervisor may ask for specific details to be added to the page.
The introduction is crucial to your research proposal as it is your first opportunity to hook the reader in. A good introduction section will introduce your project and its relevance to the field of study.
You’ll want to use this space to demonstrate that you have carefully thought about how to present your project as interesting, original, and important research. A good place to start is by introducing the context of your research problem.
Think about answering these questions:
Your introduction aims to set yourself off on a great footing and illustrate to the reader that you are an expert in your field and that your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge and theory.
The literature review section answers the question who else is talking about your proposed research topic.
You want to demonstrate that your research will contribute to conversations around the topic and that it will sit happily amongst experts in the field.
➡️ Read more about how to write a literature review .
There are lots of ways you can find relevant information for your literature review, including:
This is where you get down to the real meat of your research proposal. It should be a discussion about the overall approach you plan on taking, and the practical steps you’ll follow in answering the research questions you’ve posed.
So what should you discuss here? Some of the key things you will need to discuss at this point are:
Your research design should also discuss the potential implications of your research. For example, are you looking to confirm an existing theory or develop a new one?
If you intend to create a basis for further research, you should describe this here.
It is important to explain fully what you want the outcome of your research to look like and what you want to achieve by it. This will help those reading your research proposal to decide if it’s something the field needs and wants, and ultimately whether they will support you with it.
When you reach the end of your research proposal, you’ll have to compile a list of references for everything you’ve cited above. Ideally, you should keep track of everything from the beginning. Otherwise, this could be a mammoth and pretty laborious task to do.
Consider using a reference manager like Paperpile to format and organize your citations. Paperpile allows you to organize and save your citations for later use and cite them in thousands of citation styles directly in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or LaTeX.
Your project may also require you to have a timeline, depending on the budget you are requesting. If you need one, you should include it here and explain both the timeline and the budget you need, documenting what should be done at each stage of the research and how much of the budget this will use.
This is the final step, but not one to be missed. You should make sure that you edit and proofread your document so that you can be sure there are no mistakes.
A good idea is to have another person proofread the document for you so that you get a fresh pair of eyes on it. You can even have a professional proofreader do this for you.
This is an important document and you don’t want spelling or grammatical mistakes to get in the way of you and your reader.
➡️ Working on a research proposal for a thesis? Take a look at our guide on how to come up with a topic for your thesis .
A research proposal is a concise and coherent summary of your proposed research. Generally, your research proposal will have a title page, introduction, literature review section, a section about research design and explaining the implications of your research, and a reference list.
A good research proposal is concise and coherent. It has a clear purpose, clearly explains the relevance of your research and its context with other discussions on the topic. A good research proposal explains what approach you will take and why it is feasible.
You need a research proposal to persuade your institution that you and your project are worth investing their time and money into. It is your opportunity to demonstrate your aptitude for this level or research by showing that you can articulate complex ideas clearly, concisely, and critically.
A research proposal is essentially your "pitch" when you're trying to find someone to fund your PhD. It is a clear and concise summary of your proposed research. It gives an outline of the general area of study within which your research falls, it elaborates how much is currently known about the topic, and it highlights any recent debate or conversation around the topic by other academics.
The general answer is: as long as it needs to be to cover everything. The length of your research proposal depends on the requirements from the institution that you are applying to. Make sure to carefully read all the instructions given, and if this specific information is not provided, you can always ask.
The research proposal is your opportunity to show that you—and only you!—are the perfect person to take on your specific project. After reading your research proposal, readers should be confident that…
Don’t be afraid to also include relevant information about your background and advocate for yourself! Do you have skills developed in a different research experience (or leadership position, job, coursework, etc.) that you could apply to the project in question? Have you already learned about and experimented with a specific method of analysis in class and are now ready to apply it to a different situation? If you already have experience with this professor/lab, please be sure to include those details in your proposal! That will show the selection committee that you are ready to hit the ground running!
Lastly, be sure to know who your readers are so that you can tailor the field-specific language of your proposal accordingly. If the selection committee are specialists in your field, you can feel free to use the jargon of that field; but if your proposal will be evaluated by an interdisciplinary committee (this is common), you might take a bit longer explaining the state of the field, specific concepts, and certainly spelling out any acronyms.
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Published on August 7, 2022 by Courtney Gahan . Revised on August 15, 2023.
A research paper outline is a useful tool to aid in the writing process , providing a structure to follow with all information to be included in the paper clearly organized.
A quality outline can make writing your research paper more efficient by helping to:
A research paper outline can also give your teacher an early idea of the final product.
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Follow these steps to start your research paper outline:
There are three different kinds of research paper outline: alphanumeric, full-sentence and decimal outlines. The differences relate to formatting and style of writing.
An alphanumeric outline is most commonly used. It uses Roman numerals, capitalized letters, arabic numerals, lowercase letters to organize the flow of information. Text is written with short notes rather than full sentences.
Essentially the same as the alphanumeric outline, but with the text written in full sentences rather than short points.
A decimal outline is similar in format to the alphanumeric outline, but with a different numbering system: 1, 1.1, 1.2, etc. Text is written as short notes rather than full sentences.
To write an effective research paper outline, it is important to pay attention to language. This is especially important if it is one you will show to your teacher or be assessed on.
There are four main considerations: parallelism, coordination, subordination and division.
Parallel structure or parallelism is the repetition of a particular grammatical form within a sentence, or in this case, between points and sub-points. This simply means that if the first point is a verb , the sub-point should also be a verb.
Your chosen subheadings should hold the same significance as each other, as should all first sub-points, secondary sub-points, and so on.
Subordination refers to the separation of general points from specific. Your main headings should be quite general, and each level of sub-point should become more specific.
Division: break information into sub-points.
Your headings should be divided into two or more subsections. There is no limit to how many subsections you can include under each heading, but keep in mind that the information will be structured into a paragraph during the writing stage, so you should not go overboard with the number of sub-points.
Ready to start writing or looking for guidance on a different step in the process? Read our step-by-step guide on how to write a research paper .
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Reference books.
When applying for a research grant or scholarship, or, just before you start a major research project, you may be asked to write a preliminary document that includes basic information about your future research. This is the information that is usually needed in your proposal:
Most agencies that offer scholarships or grants provide information about the required format of the proposal. It may include filling out templates, types of information they need, suggested/maximum length of the proposal, etc.
Research proposal formats vary depending on the size of the planned research, the number of participants, the discipline, the characteristics of the research, etc. The following outline assumes an individual researcher. This is just a SAMPLE; several other ways are equally good and can be successful. If possible, discuss your research proposal with an expert in writing, a professor, your colleague, another student who already wrote successful proposals, etc.
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Blog Business How to Write a Research Proposal: A Step-by-Step
Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Nov 29, 2023
A research proposal is a structured outline for a planned study on a specific topic. It serves as a roadmap, guiding researchers through the process of converting their research idea into a feasible project.
The aim of a research proposal is multifold: it articulates the research problem, establishes a theoretical framework, outlines the research methodology and highlights the potential significance of the study. Importantly, it’s a critical tool for scholars seeking grant funding or approval for their research projects.
Crafting a good research proposal requires not only understanding your research topic and methodological approaches but also the ability to present your ideas clearly and persuasively. Explore Venngage’s Proposal Maker and Research Proposals Templates to begin your journey in writing a compelling research proposal.
In a research proposal, include a clear statement of your research question or problem, along with an explanation of its significance. This should be followed by a literature review that situates your proposed study within the context of existing research.
Your proposal should also outline the research methodology, detailing how you plan to conduct your study, including data collection and analysis methods.
Additionally, include a theoretical framework that guides your research approach, a timeline or research schedule, and a budget if applicable. It’s important to also address the anticipated outcomes and potential implications of your study. A well-structured research proposal will clearly communicate your research objectives, methods and significance to the readers.
Formatting a research proposal involves adhering to a structured outline to ensure clarity and coherence. While specific requirements may vary, a standard research proposal typically includes the following elements:
Writing a research proposal template in structured steps ensures a comprehensive and coherent presentation of your research project. Let’s look at the explanation for each of the steps here:
Step 1: title and abstract.
Select a concise, descriptive title and write an abstract summarizing your research question, objectives, methodology and expected outcomes. The abstract should include your research question, the objectives you aim to achieve, the methodology you plan to employ and the anticipated outcomes.
In this section, introduce the topic of your research, emphasizing its significance and relevance to the field. Articulate the research problem or question in clear terms and provide background context, which should include an overview of previous research in the field.
Here, you’ll need to outline specific, clear and achievable objectives that align with your research problem. These objectives should be well-defined, focused and measurable, serving as the guiding pillars for your study. They help in establishing what you intend to accomplish through your research and provide a clear direction for your investigation.
In this part, conduct a thorough review of existing literature related to your research topic. This involves a detailed summary of key findings and major contributions from previous research. Identify existing gaps in the literature and articulate how your research aims to fill these gaps. The literature review not only shows your grasp of the subject matter but also how your research will contribute new insights or perspectives to the field.
Describe the design of your research and the methodologies you will employ. This should include detailed information on data collection methods, instruments to be used and analysis techniques. Justify the appropriateness of these methods for your research.
Construct a detailed timeline that maps out the major milestones and activities of your research project. Break the entire research process into smaller, manageable tasks and assign realistic time frames to each. This timeline should cover everything from the initial research phase to the final submission, including periods for data collection, analysis and report writing.
It helps in ensuring your project stays on track and demonstrates to reviewers that you have a well-thought-out plan for completing your research efficiently.
Identify all the resources that will be required for your research, such as specific databases, laboratory equipment, software or funding. Provide details on how these resources will be accessed or acquired.
If your research requires funding, explain how it will be utilized effectively to support various aspects of the project.
Address any ethical issues that may arise during your research. This is particularly important for research involving human subjects. Describe the measures you will take to ensure ethical standards are maintained, such as obtaining informed consent, ensuring participant privacy, and adhering to data protection regulations.
Here, in this section you should reassure reviewers that you are committed to conducting your research responsibly and ethically.
Articulate the expected outcomes or results of your research. Explain the potential impact and significance of these outcomes, whether in advancing academic knowledge, influencing policy or addressing specific societal or practical issues.
Compile a comprehensive list of all the references cited in your proposal. Adhere to a consistent citation style (like APA or MLA) throughout your document. The reference section not only gives credit to the original authors of your sourced information but also strengthens the credibility of your proposal.
Include additional supporting materials that are pertinent to your research proposal. This can be survey questionnaires, interview guides, detailed data analysis plans or any supplementary information that supports the main text.
Appendices provide further depth to your proposal, showcasing the thoroughness of your preparation.
1. how long should a research proposal be.
The length of a research proposal can vary depending on the requirements of the academic institution, funding body or specific guidelines provided. Generally, research proposals range from 500 to 1500 words or about one to a few pages long. It’s important to provide enough detail to clearly convey your research idea, objectives and methodology, while being concise. Always check
The research plan is pivotal to a research project because it acts as a blueprint, guiding every phase of the study. It outlines the objectives, methodology, timeline and expected outcomes, providing a structured approach and ensuring that the research is systematically conducted.
A well-crafted plan helps in identifying potential challenges, allocating resources efficiently and maintaining focus on the research goals. It is also essential for communicating the project’s feasibility and importance to stakeholders, such as funding bodies or academic supervisors.
Mastering how to write a research proposal is an essential skill for any scholar, whether in social and behavioral sciences, academic writing or any field requiring scholarly research. From this article, you have learned key components, from the literature review to the research design, helping you develop a persuasive and well-structured proposal.
Remember, a good research proposal not only highlights your proposed research and methodology but also demonstrates its relevance and potential impact.
For additional support, consider utilizing Venngage’s Proposal Maker and Research Proposals Templates , valuable tools in crafting a compelling proposal that stands out.
Whether it’s for grant funding, a research paper or a dissertation proposal, these resources can assist in transforming your research idea into a successful submission.
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LYNN SANTELMANN Assistant Professor, Applied Linguistics Portland State University [email protected] Outline for Research Project Proposal (adapted from Course Materials for Psycholinguistics) When writing, please use section headings to indicate where the information can be found. Subheadings need not be used, though in long sections they may facilitate organization. 1. Introduction Explain the issue you are examining and why it is significant. Describe the general area to be studied Explain why this area is important to the general area under study (e.g., psychology of language, second language acquisition, teaching methods )
Summarize what is already known about the field. Include a summary of the basic background information on the topic gleaned from your literature review (you can include information from the book and class, but the bulk should be outside sources) Discuss several critical studies that have already been done in this area(cite according to APA style). Point out why these background studies are insufficient. In other words, what question(s) do they leave unresolved that you would like to study? Choose (at least) one of these questions you might like to pursue yourself. (Make sure you do not choose too many questions)
Describe the general methodology you choose for your study, in order to test your hypothesis(es). Explain why this method is the best for your purposes. Participants: Who would you test and why? Describe the sample you would test and explain why you have chosen this sample. Include age, and language background and socio-economic information, if relevant to the design. Are there any participants you would exclude? Why, why not?
Describe what kinds of manipulations/variations you would make or test for in order to test your hypothesis(es). Describe the factors you would vary if you were presenting a person with stimulus sentences. Explain how varying these factors would allow you to confirm or disconfirm your hypotheses. Explain what significant differences you would need to find to confirm or disconfirm your hypothesis(es). In particular, how could your hypothesis(es) be disconfirmed by your data? Controls: What kinds of factors would you need to control for in your study? Describe what types of effects would be likely to occur which would make your results appear to confirm, or to disconfirm your hypothesis(es). Describe how you can by your design rule out or control for apparent effects.
How are you going to present the stimuli? What is the participant in the experiment going to do?
How will you analyze the results? What kind of results would confirm your hypothesis? What kind of results would disconfirm your hypothesis
The goal of a research proposal is to present and justify the need to study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting the research are governed by standards within the predominant discipline in which the problem resides, so guidelines for research proposals are more exacting and less formal than a general project proposal. Research proposals contain extensive literature reviews. They must provide persuasive evidence that a need exists for the proposed study. In addition to providing a rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the research consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and a statement on anticipated outcomes and/or benefits derived from the study's completion.
Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005.
Your professor may assign the task of writing a research proposal for the following reasons:
A proposal should contain all the key elements involved in designing a completed research study, with sufficient information that allows readers to assess the validity and usefulness of your proposed study. The only elements missing from a research proposal are the findings of the study and your analysis of those results. Finally, an effective proposal is judged on the quality of your writing and, therefore, it is important that your writing is coherent, clear, and compelling.
Regardless of the research problem you are investigating and the methodology you choose, all research proposals must address the following questions:
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Sanford, Keith. Information for Students: Writing a Research Proposal . Baylor University; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal . International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal . University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Beginning the Proposal Process
As with writing a regular academic paper, research proposals are generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines. Proposals vary between ten and twenty-five pages in length. However, before you begin, read the assignment carefully and, if anything seems unclear, ask your professor whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and writing the proposal.
A good place to begin is to ask yourself a series of questions:
In general, a compelling research proposal should document your knowledge of the topic and demonstrate your enthusiasm for conducting the study. Approach it with the intention of leaving your readers feeling like--"Wow, that's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!"
In general your proposal should include the following sections:
I. Introduction
In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course assignment, treat your introduction as the initial pitch of an idea or a thorough examination of the significance of a research problem. After reading the introduction, your readers should not only have an understanding of what you want to do, but they should also be able to gain a sense of your passion for the topic and be excited about the study's possible outcomes. Note that most proposals do not include an abstract [summary] before the introduction.
Think about your introduction as a narrative written in one to three paragraphs that succinctly answers the following four questions :
II. Background and Significance
This section can be melded into your introduction or you can create a separate section to help with the organization and narrative flow of your proposal. This is where you explain the context of your proposal and describe in detail why it's important. Approach writing this section with the thought that you can’t assume your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do. Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the topic; instead, you must choose what is relevant to help explain the goals for your study.
To that end, while there are no hard and fast rules, you should attempt to address some or all of the following key points:
III. Literature Review
Connected to the background and significance of your study is a section of your proposal devoted to a more deliberate review and synthesis of prior studies related to the research problem under investigation . The purpose here is to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being explored, while demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Think about what questions other researchers have asked, what methods they have used, and what is your understanding of their findings and, where stated, their recommendations. Do not be afraid to challenge the conclusions of prior research. Assess what you believe is missing and state how previous research has failed to adequately examine the issue that your study addresses. For more information on writing literature reviews, GO HERE .
Since a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is intelligently structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments underpinning your study in relation to that of other researchers. A good strategy is to break the literature into "conceptual categories" [themes] rather than systematically describing groups of materials one at a time. Note that conceptual categories generally reveal themselves after you have read most of the pertinent literature on your topic so adding new categories is an on-going process of discovery as you read more studies. How do you know you've covered the key conceptual categories underlying the research literature? Generally, you can have confidence that all of the significant conceptual categories have been identified if you start to see repetition in the conclusions or recommendations that are being made.
To help frame your proposal's literature review, here are the "five C’s" of writing a literature review:
IV. Research Design and Methods
This section must be well-written and logically organized because you are not actually doing the research, yet, your reader must have confidence that it is worth pursuing . The reader will never have a study outcome from which to evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. Thus, the objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and methods of analysis will correctly address the problem and that the methods will provide the means to effectively interpret the potential results. Your design and methods should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.
Describe the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples from your review of the literature. Consider not only methods that other researchers have used but methods of data gathering that have not been used but perhaps could be. Be specific about the methodological approaches you plan to undertake to obtain information, the techniques you would use to analyze the data, and the tests of external validity to which you commit yourself [i.e., the trustworthiness by which you can generalize from your study to other people, places, events, and/or periods of time].
When describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover the following:
Develop a Research Proposal: Writing the Proposal . Office of Library Information Services. Baltimore County Public Schools; Heath, M. Teresa Pereira and Caroline Tynan. “Crafting a Research Proposal.” The Marketing Review 10 (Summer 2010): 147-168; Jones, Mark. “Writing a Research Proposal.” In MasterClass in Geography Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning . Graham Butt, editor. (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), pp. 113-127; Juni, Muhamad Hanafiah. “Writing a Research Proposal.” International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences 1 (September/October 2014): 229-240; Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005; Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Punch, Keith and Wayne McGowan. "Developing and Writing a Research Proposal." In From Postgraduate to Social Scientist: A Guide to Key Skills . Nigel Gilbert, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 59-81; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal . International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal . University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Advice and guidance on writing a proposal for a student research project.
A research proposal should describe what you will investigate, why it is important to the discipline and how you will conduct your research.
Simply put, it is your plan for the research you intend to conduct. All research proposals are designed to persuade someone about how and why your intended project is worthwhile.
In your proposal you will need to explain and defend your choices. Always think about the exact reasons why you are making specific choices and why they are the best options available to you and your project.
Your research proposal aims should be centred on:
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Our Research Writing workshop will look at some of the main writing challenges associated with writing a large-scale research project and look at strategies to manage your writing on a day-to-day basis. It will identify ways to plan, organise and map out the structure of your writing to allow you to develop an effective writing schedule and make continuous progress on your dissertation project.
The format of a research proposal varies between fields and levels of study but most proposals should contain at least these elements: introduction, literature review, research design and reference list.
Generally, research proposals can range from 500-1500 words or one to a few pages long. Typically, proposals for larger projects such as a PhD dissertation or funding requests, are longer and much more detailed.
Remember, the goal of your research proposal is to outline clearly and concisely exactly what your research will entail and accomplish, how it will do so and why it is important. If you are writing to a strictly enforced word count, a research proposal can be a great test of your ability to express yourself concisely!
The first part of your proposal is the initial pitch for your project, so make sure it succinctly explains what you want to do and why. In other words, this is where you answer the reader’s “so what?” It should typically include: introducing the topic , outlining your problem statement and research question(s) and giving background and context. Some important questions to shape your introduction include:
If your proposal is very long, you might include separate sections with more detailed information on the background and context, problem statement, aims and objectives, and importance of the research.
It’s important to show that you’re familiar with the most important research on your topic. A strong literature review convinces the reader that your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge or theory (i.e. how it relates to established research in the field).
Your literature review will also show that you’re not simply repeating what other people have already done or said. This is also where you explain why your research is necessary. You might want to consider some of the following prompts:
Following the literature review, it is a good idea to restate your main objectives, bringing the focus back to your own project. The research design/ methodology section should describe the overall approach and practical steps you will take to answer your research questions. You also need to demonstrate the feasibility of the project keeping in mind time and other constraints.
You should definitely include:
Make sure you are not simply compiling a list of methods. Instead, aim to make an argument for why this is the most appropriate, valid and reliable way to approach answering your question. Remember you should always be defending your choices!
To ensure you finish your proposal on a strong note, it is a good idea to explore and/or emphasise the potential implications of the research. This means: what do you intend to contribute to existing knowledge on the topic?
Although you cannot know the results of your research until you have actually done the work, you should be going into the project with a clear idea of how your work will contribute to your field. This section might even be considered the most critical to your research proposal’s argument because it expresses exactly why your research is necessary.
You should consider covering at least some of the following topics:
This part is not about stating the specific results that you expect to obtain but rather, this is the section where you explicitly state how your findings will be valuable.
This section is where you want to wrap it all up in a nice pretty bow. It is just like the concluding paragraph that you would structure and craft for a typical essay, see our essay planning template for guidance. You should briefly summarise your research proposal and reinforce your research purpose.
Your research proposal MUST include proper citations for every source you have used and full references. Please consult your departmental referencing styles to ensure you are citing and referencing in an appropriate way.
Try and avoid these common pitfalls when you are writing your research proposal:
You might also need to include a schedule and/or a budget depending on your requirements. Some tools to help include:
For guidance regarding specific research proposals (including templates), please check with your specific departments.
Dissertation planning
Writing a literature review
Research methods
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Department of Anaesthesiology, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Writing the proposal of a research work in the present era is a challenging task due to the constantly evolving trends in the qualitative research design and the need to incorporate medical advances into the methodology. The proposal is a detailed plan or ‘blueprint’ for the intended study, and once it is completed, the research project should flow smoothly. Even today, many of the proposals at post-graduate evaluation committees and application proposals for funding are substandard. A search was conducted with keywords such as research proposal, writing proposal and qualitative using search engines, namely, PubMed and Google Scholar, and an attempt has been made to provide broad guidelines for writing a scientifically appropriate research proposal.
A clean, well-thought-out proposal forms the backbone for the research itself and hence becomes the most important step in the process of conduct of research.[ 1 ] The objective of preparing a research proposal would be to obtain approvals from various committees including ethics committee [details under ‘Research methodology II’ section [ Table 1 ] in this issue of IJA) and to request for grants. However, there are very few universally accepted guidelines for preparation of a good quality research proposal. A search was performed with keywords such as research proposal, funding, qualitative and writing proposals using search engines, namely, PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus.
Five ‘C’s while writing a literature review
A proposal needs to show how your work fits into what is already known about the topic and what new paradigm will it add to the literature, while specifying the question that the research will answer, establishing its significance, and the implications of the answer.[ 2 ] The proposal must be capable of convincing the evaluation committee about the credibility, achievability, practicality and reproducibility (repeatability) of the research design.[ 3 ] Four categories of audience with different expectations may be present in the evaluation committees, namely academic colleagues, policy-makers, practitioners and lay audiences who evaluate the research proposal. Tips for preparation of a good research proposal include; ‘be practical, be persuasive, make broader links, aim for crystal clarity and plan before you write’. A researcher must be balanced, with a realistic understanding of what can be achieved. Being persuasive implies that researcher must be able to convince other researchers, research funding agencies, educational institutions and supervisors that the research is worth getting approval. The aim of the researcher should be clearly stated in simple language that describes the research in a way that non-specialists can comprehend, without use of jargons. The proposal must not only demonstrate that it is based on an intelligent understanding of the existing literature but also show that the writer has thought about the time needed to conduct each stage of the research.[ 4 , 5 ]
The contents or formats of a research proposal vary depending on the requirements of evaluation committee and are generally provided by the evaluation committee or the institution.
In general, a cover page should contain the (i) title of the proposal, (ii) name and affiliation of the researcher (principal investigator) and co-investigators, (iii) institutional affiliation (degree of the investigator and the name of institution where the study will be performed), details of contact such as phone numbers, E-mail id's and lines for signatures of investigators.
The main contents of the proposal may be presented under the following headings: (i) introduction, (ii) review of literature, (iii) aims and objectives, (iv) research design and methods, (v) ethical considerations, (vi) budget, (vii) appendices and (viii) citations.[ 4 ]
It is also sometimes termed as ‘need for study’ or ‘abstract’. Introduction is an initial pitch of an idea; it sets the scene and puts the research in context.[ 6 ] The introduction should be designed to create interest in the reader about the topic and proposal. It should convey to the reader, what you want to do, what necessitates the study and your passion for the topic.[ 7 ] Some questions that can be used to assess the significance of the study are: (i) Who has an interest in the domain of inquiry? (ii) What do we already know about the topic? (iii) What has not been answered adequately in previous research and practice? (iv) How will this research add to knowledge, practice and policy in this area? Some of the evaluation committees, expect the last two questions, elaborated under a separate heading of ‘background and significance’.[ 8 ] Introduction should also contain the hypothesis behind the research design. If hypothesis cannot be constructed, the line of inquiry to be used in the research must be indicated.
It refers to all sources of scientific evidence pertaining to the topic in interest. In the present era of digitalisation and easy accessibility, there is an enormous amount of relevant data available, making it a challenge for the researcher to include all of it in his/her review.[ 9 ] It is crucial to structure this section intelligently so that the reader can grasp the argument related to your study in relation to that of other researchers, while still demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. It is preferable to summarise each article in a paragraph, highlighting the details pertinent to the topic of interest. The progression of review can move from the more general to the more focused studies, or a historical progression can be used to develop the story, without making it exhaustive.[ 1 ] Literature should include supporting data, disagreements and controversies. Five ‘C's may be kept in mind while writing a literature review[ 10 ] [ Table 1 ].
The research purpose (or goal or aim) gives a broad indication of what the researcher wishes to achieve in the research. The hypothesis to be tested can be the aim of the study. The objectives related to parameters or tools used to achieve the aim are generally categorised as primary and secondary objectives.
The objective here is to convince the reader that the overall research design and methods of analysis will correctly address the research problem and to impress upon the reader that the methodology/sources chosen are appropriate for the specific topic. It should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.
In this section, the methods and sources used to conduct the research must be discussed, including specific references to sites, databases, key texts or authors that will be indispensable to the project. There should be specific mention about the methodological approaches to be undertaken to gather information, about the techniques to be used to analyse it and about the tests of external validity to which researcher is committed.[ 10 , 11 ]
The components of this section include the following:[ 4 ]
Population refers to all the elements (individuals, objects or substances) that meet certain criteria for inclusion in a given universe,[ 12 ] and sample refers to subset of population which meets the inclusion criteria for enrolment into the study. The inclusion and exclusion criteria should be clearly defined. The details pertaining to sample size are discussed in the article “Sample size calculation: Basic priniciples” published in this issue of IJA.
The researcher is expected to give a detailed account of the methodology adopted for collection of data, which include the time frame required for the research. The methodology should be tested for its validity and ensure that, in pursuit of achieving the results, the participant's life is not jeopardised. The author should anticipate and acknowledge any potential barrier and pitfall in carrying out the research design and explain plans to address them, thereby avoiding lacunae due to incomplete data collection. If the researcher is planning to acquire data through interviews or questionnaires, copy of the questions used for the same should be attached as an annexure with the proposal.
This addresses the strength of the research with respect to its neutrality, consistency and applicability. Rigor must be reflected throughout the proposal.
It refers to the robustness of a research method against bias. The author should convey the measures taken to avoid bias, viz. blinding and randomisation, in an elaborate way, thus ensuring that the result obtained from the adopted method is purely as chance and not influenced by other confounding variables.
Consistency considers whether the findings will be consistent if the inquiry was replicated with the same participants and in a similar context. This can be achieved by adopting standard and universally accepted methods and scales.
Applicability refers to the degree to which the findings can be applied to different contexts and groups.[ 13 ]
This section deals with the reduction and reconstruction of data and its analysis including sample size calculation. The researcher is expected to explain the steps adopted for coding and sorting the data obtained. Various tests to be used to analyse the data for its robustness, significance should be clearly stated. Author should also mention the names of statistician and suitable software which will be used in due course of data analysis and their contribution to data analysis and sample calculation.[ 9 ]
Medical research introduces special moral and ethical problems that are not usually encountered by other researchers during data collection, and hence, the researcher should take special care in ensuring that ethical standards are met. Ethical considerations refer to the protection of the participants' rights (right to self-determination, right to privacy, right to autonomy and confidentiality, right to fair treatment and right to protection from discomfort and harm), obtaining informed consent and the institutional review process (ethical approval). The researcher needs to provide adequate information on each of these aspects.
Informed consent needs to be obtained from the participants (details discussed in further chapters), as well as the research site and the relevant authorities.
When the researcher prepares a research budget, he/she should predict and cost all aspects of the research and then add an additional allowance for unpredictable disasters, delays and rising costs. All items in the budget should be justified.
Appendices are documents that support the proposal and application. The appendices will be specific for each proposal but documents that are usually required include informed consent form, supporting documents, questionnaires, measurement tools and patient information of the study in layman's language.
As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used in composing your proposal. Although the words ‘references and bibliography’ are different, they are used interchangeably. It refers to all references cited in the research proposal.
Successful, qualitative research proposals should communicate the researcher's knowledge of the field and method and convey the emergent nature of the qualitative design. The proposal should follow a discernible logic from the introduction to presentation of the appendices.
Conflicts of interest.
There are no conflicts of interest.
by Antony W
March 10, 2023
The key to writing a great research proposal for your upcoming research project is to make sure the document has the right structure.
Your paper must include all the components that your professor expects to see. So in this guide, we’ll outline all the elements of a good research proposal and explain why they’re important.
The elements of a good research proposal are the title, the introduction, literature review, aims and objectives, methodology, scope of the research, outline and timetable, and bibliography.
It’s important to include these elements in your research proposal exactly in the order in which they appear in the list above.
The basic elements of a research proposal are important because they communicate your thought process, present the originality of your ideas, and demonstrate that you’re passionate about the subject in question.
If you structure and write your research proposal well, your paper can convince your professor that your project is feasible and you have what it takes to take your research project to the next level.
Have no time to read this guide and would rather get quick writing help? Let us write your research proposal for you!
While developing a detailed and comprehensive research proposal requires a lot of planning, attention to details, and academic writing skills , understanding the core elements of the paper is the first step to getting your proposal accepted.
So here are the elements that you should include in your research proposal.
It sounds somewhat obvious when we say that your research proposal with a title. To say the least, you already know you should.
But perhaps the most common mistake that many students make is to write general titles that lack focus.
Instead of writing a long title that’s hard to read or a short title that fails to highlight the theme of your research, write a clear and concise headline that tells your reader what your research proposal is about at a first glance.
The starting paragraph to a research project is one of the elements of a good research proposal because it introduces the subject you wish to address or a research problem you wish to analyze.
Because the introduction of a research proposal is what sets the tone for the rest of the paper, it’s important to start with a hook and then organize your thoughts in a logical and organized manner.
The introduction to your research proposal should give background information and explain why you believe a research question is worth exploring. While not mandatory, you can briefly describe your methodologies in the introduction and then expand them later on.
Your introduction should be clear and concise. Make sure you include only the most relevant information in this section so you don’t make it unnecessarily too long.
Although a research proposal doesn’t include a full literature review , it’s important to include an overview of the most significant studies in your field.
The section should feature evidence and statistical data to demonstrate the significance of your research.
Through the literature review, you can easily draw your reader’s attention to existing research, identify gaps in existing studies, and make your reader understand how your proposal will contribute to the already existing research.
Aims and objectives are what you wish your research proposal to accomplish. Your aims will be your overall outcome or what you want the research to achieve.
Objectives tend to be narrower and more focused. More often than not, you need to provide an explanation for each of your objectives to show how they will help to meet the aims of your study.
Unless required, you don’t really have to include a hypothesis that your research proposal looks forward to test.
Methodologies are simply the research methods you will use to conduct your study and they must appear in your research proposal whether or not you’re conducting an experimental research.
The methodologies include analysis and sampling techniques equipment, research approaches, and ethical concerns.
Make sure your explanation for each methodology is clear and precise. It helps to justify why you’ve chosen to use a certain methodology over an alternative. This will go a long way to show that you took your time to think about your methodologies before picking them.
It’s important to explain how you will collect data, the sample size you plan to consider for your research investigation, and the techniques you consider the most appropriate to analyze the data.
Because you’ll be working with limited time and resource, it’s reasonable to include a section on the scope of the research in your proposal. In other words, you have to show your reader that you can start and complete your research within the constraints of these two resources.
Remember, your research will more than likely have limits, and addressing them in this section not only shows that you have given them a thought but also makes your research proposal strong and authentic.
Don’t just focus on the challenges that you’re likely to come across during your studies. You should also propose alternative solutions that you can use and why they might help.
Your professor expects to see an outline and a timetable in your research proposal so it’s important that you include them in your research proposal.
The purpose of the outline is to show how you plan to structure your dissertation . Briefly note what each section will cover and explain how it all fits into the argument of your research project.
The purpose of the timetable is to show how much time you’ll need to complete your research. In particular, you need to make sure you mention exactly how long you expect each stage of your study to take.
Don’t just mention how long the research process will take. Make sure you also indicate how long you’ll take to compile your research.
Knowing the elements of a good research proposal is one thing. Writing the proposal is where there’s a lot of work. If you don’t have the time to complete the work yourself, feel free to take advantage of our research proposal writing and get the paper done on time.
About the author
Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.
In order to assess your application, it is helpful to see an outline of the research area in which you would like to do your doctoral study. This information helps your application in two ways:
We do not expect a fully comprehensive and detailed research proposal at this stage. The main information that we are looking for is the:
The most suitable format for your outline will depend partly on the area of the study, but the following considerations are likely to apply to most topics.
At this stage, you need only give some thought to a brief title that communicates an overview of the project you have in mind.
What is the project about? The problem should be focused enough that it is able to be researched in a single PhD study. It should not be over-ambitious. Remember that you will be working largely on your own with limited financial resources. Where will it be located? Who or what will you be investigating? Where possible, try and identify one or two research questions. In addition, try and define the major concepts embodied in your project.
Why do you think this issue needs to be investigated? What will we learn? What will we gain? Why is it important? What are the implications? It would be helpful if this section can mention previous research and other academic literature related to the topic area.
Describe how you think you could investigate your topic. How can you answer the research question? In this section you should pay particular attention to formulating a plan of action that you can pursue, bearing in mind the time available and costs involved. You may also need to consider whether your plan is feasible. The content of this section will range widely. For example, it might include the following:
Think about how you will collect data to answer your research question? Will your approach be qualitative, quantitative or mixed? What kind of sample would you need? You are not expected to be too prescriptive here as you would receive guidance from a supervisor once you embarked on the study. At this stage you should be able to identify a relevant sample and to appreciate any problems of sample size or accessibility your research might generate. Where possible, think about the ways in which you would analyse the data that you produce.
We would expect you to have done some initial reading around your topic area. Here you should list those sources to which you have referred and that have informed your thinking. In addition, list sources that you feel would be key texts in embarking on the study.
The above notes are only intended to assist planning of a research proposal. However, you will find that thought given to these points at the beginning of the research can save a considerable amount of confusion and wasted effort later.
Points to think about when writing a research outline:
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To obtain any higher degree of education, you will be required to write a research paper as a part of your final project. A research proposal is written before you write your research paper. It is a description of your research topic and the details of your paper. There is a particular format for writing a research proposal. To learn more about what a research proposal is, go through this article.
What is the purpose of a research proposal, abstract and table of contents, introduction, aims and objectives, background significance, literature review, research design and methodology, research questions, suppositions and implications, bibliography, tips to write a research proposal, frequently asked questions on writing a research proposal.
The purpose of writing a research proposal is to present the plan for the research. It can also be written as a proposal for the research project’s funding. First, a research proposal is sent to the guide or mentor for approval. Only after their approval can you proceed with the research.
No matter what your reasons are for drafting a research proposal, the format remains the same. The researcher portrays how and why the research topic is relevant to the field. They explain the research gap and the ways to fill up the research gap. A research proposal also proves that the author can conduct the research and make a significant contribution to the field’s current status. To do this, your research proposal must detail your academic history and credentials and also establish the academic worth of your proposed ideas.
Listed below are the important things to be covered in a research proposal.
A research proposal must include the following.
An abstract and table of contents are added at the beginning of the research proposal, just before the introduction. An abstract talks about the research in brief. It can also include keywords used in the proposal towards the end.
Like in any other academic writing, the introduction of a research proposal introduces your research idea. It covers the research problem and the questions it raises. The introduction provides the context for your research. It must be precise and must cover all the relevant information. Be careful not to make it look like all the information is crammed into one paragraph.
This is an important section of a research proposal. This is where you explain your objectives for conducting the research and what you intend to achieve through it. This will help the reader understand your point of view more clearly. Mention the objectives in bullet points.
This is the section where you explain why the research is essential and how it is related to the field. You have to also explain the research problems and why you have to work on them here.
The literature review plays a vital role in a research proposal. In this section, you will explain information related to the study from books, articles and other sources. The main objective here is to establish the research gap.
After the literature review, the important thing to discuss in the research proposal is the research methodology and the design of your research. In this section, you will mention about,
After looking at your research and the type of research, you can also add information regarding the budget, time frame, and obstacles.
Research questions direct you to stick to the research and not deviate from it at any point. It can be two to four or five questions that you seek to find answers to with your research.
Although you will not know the findings of your research until you’ve completed it, you should have a clear sense of how your work will benefit your field before you begin. This section of your research proposal is likely the most important because it expresses why your research is vital. You can explain the below-given points in this section.
Primarily this section talks about the value that your research can add. Rather than talking about the exact result or exact answer, you can discuss the expected outcomes.
The conclusion contains the overall summary of the proposal. Make sure you do not end it abruptly.
A bibliography plays a crucial role in a research paper as well as a research proposal. It is the list of sources you have referred to and cited to avoid plagiarism and copyright issues. At times, the full list of the bibliography is not needed. In such a case, we can just add the reference list. You can seek help from your guide or supervisor for the correct format.
The essential components of a research proposal are the introduction, literature review, research questions, aims and objectives, and the research methodology.
A research proposal is written to seek approval from the research guide, to get financial support, or to prepare a representation of your research plan and strategies.
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Have you ever felt the sting of presenting a project proposal only to watch it fall flat? Despite pouring your heart and soul into it, all you get back are crickets and cleared throats. The reality is that crafting a proposal that captivates and convinces isn't a matter of effort alone—it's about strategy. And that strategy starts with a well-structured outline.
In this article, we'll unlock the secrets of an effective proposal outline and explore the elements that make a proposal not just good but remarkable. This first step will help you to align your ideas with your client's needs.
A proposal outline is a framework that organizes your ideas and pitches into a coherent structure, ensuring every crucial element of your proposal is considered and clearly presented. It’s the backbone of your proposal, guiding you from the introduction to the conclusion, ensuring a logical flow and that no key points are missed.
A well-crafted proposal outline consists of several parts, each serving a specific purpose:
By using a proposal outline, you ensure your proposal is not only complete but also tailored to directly address the needs and concerns of your clients. There is also a good selection of proposal software (and even proposal templates ) to help you futher speed up and scale the process here. In fact, we might know a few people ourselves…
Why spend extra time on a proposal outline? Well, outlining isn't just about organizing your thoughts—it's about setting a strategic foundation for your proposal. Here’s why it’s absolutely crucial:
In short, an outline isn’t just a planning tool—it’s a critical element that elevates the quality and effectiveness of your proposal. By taking the time to outline, you're paving the way for a smoother, more impactful presentation that aligns perfectly with your client's expectations.
Crafting a project proposal is like telling a story where you're the hero who can solve the client's problem. To tell this story effectively, you need several key elements, communicating your understanding, plan, and commitment to the project's success. These elements are:
Kick off your proposal by grabbing attention. Introduce the problem and hint at the solution, making sure to connect emotionally (and logically) with your potential client.
Dive deep into the problem. Demonstrate your understanding of the client's needs and challenges. Show empathy and expertise, making it clear why this issue needs resolution.
This is where you shine. Outline your proposed solution and the unique benefits it offers. Be clear and concise , using simple terms that convey value and feasibility.
Define what success looks like. Detail the objectives your solution aims to achieve, aligning them closely with the client’s requirements.
Explain how you plan to achieve the outlined objectives. This section should reassure the client of your method's effectiveness and your team's capability.
Specify what you will deliver, including tangible products, reports, and results. This sets clear expectations and helps avoid scope creep.
Map out the project timeline. Include key milestones and deadlines to demonstrate your project management skills and realistic approach.
Provide a detailed breakdown of the project cost. Transparency here builds trust and helps the client understand the value they are getting.
Wrap up with a strong conclusion that reiterates the benefits of your proposal. Encourage the client to take action, and make it easy for them to say Yes.
By including these elements, your proposal will not only be comprehensive but also tailored to clearly communicate how you are the best choice for the project.
Creating the perfect proposal outline is like preparing a recipe that’s tailored to taste—it needs the right ingredients, a pinch of creativity, and a good understanding of who's going to enjoy it! Here’s a simple, effective way to put it all together:
Begin by thoroughly researching your client’s industry, challenges, and specific needs. The more you know, the better you can tailor your proposal to speak directly to them. Dive into their company reports, read relevant industry news, and analyze their competitors. This groundwork enables you to address their unique pain points with precision.
Clearly define what the proposal will cover and- importantly- what it won’t. Setting these boundaries early prevents misunderstandings and keeps your proposal laser-focused.
Collect all the necessary information, data, and resources that will support your solution. This could include case studies, testimonials, or relevant statistics that reinforce your points. Solid data not only backs up your claims but also builds credibility, showing that your solution is grounded in proven results and sound research.
Using the key elements outlined above, start drafting your proposal. Arrange the sections in a logical order that tells a compelling story, from problem to solution. Each section should naturally lead into the next, creating a seamless narrative that keeps the reader engaged and makes your argument compelling.
Fill in each section with detailed information. Ensure your writing is clear, persuasive, and directly addresses how you will solve the client’s problem. Use active language, avoid jargon, and be specific about the benefits of your solution. Remember, the goal here is to make it easy for the client to understand and see the value in your proposal.
Step back and review your proposal as a whole. Does it flow logically? Is it persuasive? Ask a colleague to proofread it for clarity and coherence. A fresh set of eyes can catch errors you might have missed and provide valuable feedback to improve the overall quality of the proposal.
Tailor the final document to the client’s preferences. Consider their company culture and the decision-maker’s personal style when finalizing the format and tone. Customization shows you’ve taken the time to understand their business and care about their unique context, making your proposal stand out from more generic submissions.
End with a clear, compelling call to action. What do you want the client to do next? Make it easy for them to take the next step, whether it’s scheduling a meeting, signing a contract, or simply getting in touch. A strong CTA helps to turn interest into action, guiding the client towards a positive decision.
By following these steps, you’ll create a proposal outline that not only meets the client’s needs but also highlights your capabilities and understanding of their challenges.
Here are some top tips to ensure your proposal outlines set you up for success:
Capture your reader's attention from the outset. Use a compelling fact, question, or statement that speaks directly to the reader's interests or pain points.
Always tailor your proposal outline with the client in mind. Every section should reflect an understanding of their needs, goals, and preferences.
Avoid jargon and complex language. Your proposal should be easy to understand, making the client feel confident about what you’re offering. Simple language helps to ensure your message is clear.
Before writing detailed content, visualize how each section flows into the next. A logical, intuitive flow keeps the reader engaged and makes your arguments more persuasive.
While detailing the features of your solution is important, focusing on the benefits for the client can be even more persuasive. Make it clear how your proposal will solve their problems or improve their situation.
Set realistic expectations about what you can deliver and when. Honesty builds trust and reduces the chance of client dissatisfaction down the line.
By implementing these tips, your outlines will lay the foundations for a proposal that is hard to resist.
Propel your business forward with our SaaS Proposal Template – present a persuasive case for adopting your solution to prospects.
We've delved into the nitty-gritty of creating a persuasive proposal outline, focusing on clarity , structure , and a client-centered approach. Your proposal's true power lies in how effectively it addresses your client's needs and highlights your unique solution.
But why stop there? With Qwilr's innovative tools and templates , you can transform your outlines into visually stunning, interactive documents that captivate and convince. If you’re ready to gain a competitive edge and make your proposals irresistible, check out what Qwilr can do for you.
Marissa Taffer | Founder & President of M. Taffer Consulting
Marissa Taffer is the Founder & President of M. Taffer Consulting. She brings over 15 years of sales and marketing experience across various industries to a broad range of clients.
What's the ideal length for a proposal.
The length of your proposal should be determined by the complexity of the project and the client’s requirements. Generally, aim for clarity and concision.
Provide a detailed breakdown of costs, including all relevant expenses. Transparency here is crucial—clients appreciate knowing exactly what they are paying for and why.
While you can reuse generic sections like your company overview, always tailor the proposal to each client’s specific needs and circumstances to show that you’ve crafted a solution just for them. Proposal automation software can help speed up the more generic aspects.
Be open to feedback and willing to make adjustments. This flexibility can often strengthen the client relationship and lead to a more successful partnership.
Follow up within a week of submission to show your enthusiasm and commitment. If you haven’t received a response, a gentle reminder every few weeks can keep your proposal top of mind.
Background
Established in 1988, the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) has grown to be a premier capacity-building institution for advancing research and graduate training to inform African economic policies. The consortium’s mandate and strategic mission are built on the basis that sustained development in Sub-Saharan Africa requires well-trained, locally based professional economists. A highly integrated knowledge organization spanning research, training, and policy outreach, AERC is now a vast network of universities, policymakers, researchers, educators, and international resource persons.
The call for expression of interest
AERC is organizing a virtual technical workshop on research methods, proposal writing, and presentation skills. This workshop, scheduled for September 16 -27, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya , will span 10 working days and providing participants with a comprehensive understanding of the course content, including practical application using econometric software. We invite qualified instructors to express their interest in leading this vital course.
Terms of reference
The terms of reference for the instructor include the following tasks:
Selection Criteria
The instructor(s) will be selected based on the following criteria.
Additional information
More information on the training is as follows:
We invite you to express your interest in offering this course to AERC’s current and potential network researchers. To express your interest in providing the course, kindly send your CV by email to [email protected] and copy to [email protected] , outlining your experience in teaching the course (with RCT experience in Africa being an advantage) and proficiency in the use of econometric software (specifying the type of software). The AERC Procurement Unit will evaluate your expression of interest, and we will let you know the outcome in two weeks after the deadline.
The deadline for the submission of Expressions of Interest is August 16, 2024.
First Name *
Last Name *
Gender (Preferably women) *
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“archeology” on the iss helps identify what astronauts really need, regular photography shows a tool shed and more isolated toilet would be appreciated..
Jacek Krywko - Aug 9, 2024 5:10 pm UTC
“Archeology really is a perspective on material culture we use as evidence to understand how humans adapt to their environment, to the situations they are in, and to each other. There is no place, no time that is out of bounds,” says Justin Walsh, an archeologist at Chapman University who led the first off-world archeological study on board the ISS.
Walsh’s and his team wanted to understand, document, and preserve the heritage of the astronaut culture at one of the first permanent space habitats. “There is this notion about astronauts that they are high achievers, highly intelligent, and highly trained, that they are not like you and me. What we learned is that they are just people, and they want the comforts of home,” Walsh says.
“In 2008, my student in an archeology class raised her hand and said, ‘What about stuff in space, is that heritage?’ I said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never thought of this before, but yes,’” Walsh says. “Think of Tranquility base—it’s an archeological site. You could go back there, and you could reconstruct not only the specific activities of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, but you could understand the engineering culture, the political culture, etc. of the society that created that equipment, sent it to the Moon, and left it there.”
So he conceived the idea of an archeological study on the ISS, wrote a proposal, sent it to NASA, and got rejected. NASA said human sciences were not their priority and not part of their mission. But in 2021, NASA changed its mind.
“They said they had an experiment that could not be done at the scheduled time, so they had to delay it. Also, they changed the crew size from six to seven people,” says Walsh. These opened up some idle time in the astronauts' schedules, allowing NASA to find space in the schedule for less urgent projects on the station. The agency gave Walsh's team the go-ahead under the condition that their study could be done with the equipment already present on the ISS.
The outline of Walsh’s research was inspired by and loosely based on the Tucson Garbage Project and the Undocumented Migration Project, two contemporary archeology studies. The first drew conclusions about people’s lives by studying the garbage they threw away. The second documented the experiences of migrants on their way to the US from Mexico.
“Jason De León, who is the principal investigator of this project, gave people in Mexico disposable cameras, and he retrieved those cameras from them when they got to the US. He could observe things they experienced without being there himself. For me, that was a lightbulb moment,” says Walsh.
There were cameras on board the ISS and there was a crew to take pictures with them. To pull off an equivalent of digging a test pit in space, Walsh’s team chose six locations on the station, asked the crew to mark them with squares one meter across, and asked the astronauts to take a picture of each of those squares once a day for 60 days, from January to March 2022.
In the first paper discussing the study's results, Walsh’s team covered two out of six chosen locations, dubbed squares 03 and 05. The 03 square was in a maintenance area near the four crew berths where the US crew sleeps. It’s near docking ports for spacecraft coming to the ISS. The square was drawn around a blue board with Velcro patches meant to hold tools and equipment in place.
“All historic photographs of this location published by NASA show somebody working in there—fixing a piece of equipment, doing a science experiment,” says Walsh. But when his team analyzed day-by-day photos of the same spot, the items velcroed to the wall hardly changed in those 60 days. “It was the same set of items over and over again. If there was an activity, it was a scientific experiment. It was supposed to be the maintenance area. So where was the maintenance? And even if it was a science area, where’s the science? It was only happening on 10 percent of days,” Walsh says.
Channel ars technica.
Home » Proposal – Types, Examples, and Writing Guide
Table of Contents
Definition:
Proposal is a formal document or presentation that outlines a plan, idea, or project and seeks to persuade others to support or adopt it. Proposals are commonly used in business, academia, and various other fields to propose new initiatives, solutions to problems, research studies, or business ventures.
While the specific layout of a proposal may vary depending on the requirements or guidelines provided by the recipient, there are some common sections that are typically included in a standard proposal. Here’s a typical layout for a proposal:
When it comes to proposals, there are various types depending on the context and purpose. Here are some common types of proposals:
This type of proposal is used in the business world to present a plan, idea, or project to potential clients, investors, or partners. It typically includes an executive summary, problem statement, proposed solution, timeline, budget, and anticipated outcomes.
A project proposal is a detailed document that outlines the objectives, scope, methodology, deliverables, and budget of a specific project. It is used to seek approval and funding from stakeholders or clients.
Research proposals are commonly used in academic or scientific settings. They outline the research objectives, methodology, timeline, expected outcomes, and potential significance of a research study. These proposals are submitted to funding agencies, universities, or research institutions.
Non-profit organizations, researchers, or individuals seeking funding for a project or program often write grant proposals. These proposals provide a detailed plan of the project, including goals, methods, budget, and expected outcomes, to convince grant-making bodies to provide financial support.
Sales proposals are used by businesses to pitch their products or services to potential customers. They typically include information about the product/service, pricing, features, benefits, and a persuasive argument to encourage the recipient to make a purchase.
When seeking sponsorship for an event, sports team, or individual, a sponsorship proposal is created. It outlines the benefits for the sponsor, the exposure they will receive, and the financial or in-kind support required.
A marketing proposal is developed by marketing agencies or professionals to present their strategies and tactics to potential clients. It includes an analysis of the target market, proposed marketing activities, budget, and expected results.
In the realm of government or public policy, individuals or organizations may create policy proposals to suggest new laws, regulations, or changes to existing policies. These proposals typically provide an overview of the issue, the proposed solution, supporting evidence, and potential impacts.
Organizations often create training proposals to propose a training program for their employees. These proposals outline the training objectives, topics to be covered, training methods, resources required, and anticipated outcomes.
When two or more organizations or individuals wish to collaborate or form a partnership, a partnership proposal is used to present the benefits, shared goals, responsibilities, and terms of the proposed partnership.
Event planners or individuals organizing an event, such as a conference, concert, or wedding, may create an event proposal. It includes details about the event concept, venue, logistics, budget, marketing plan, and anticipated attendee experience.
Technology proposals are used to present new technological solutions, system upgrades, or IT projects to stakeholders or decision-makers. These proposals outline the technology requirements, implementation plan, costs, and anticipated benefits.
Contractors or construction companies create construction proposals to bid on construction projects. These proposals include project specifications, cost estimates, timelines, materials, and construction methodologies.
Authors or aspiring authors create book proposals to pitch their book ideas to literary agents or publishers. These proposals include a synopsis of the book, target audience, marketing plan, author’s credentials, and sample chapters.
Social media professionals or agencies create social media proposals to present their strategies for managing social media accounts, creating content, and growing online presence. These proposals include an analysis of the current social media presence, proposed tactics, metrics for success, and pricing.
Similar to training proposals, these proposals focus on the overall development and growth of employees within an organization. They may include plans for leadership development, skill enhancement, or professional certification programs.
Consultants create consulting proposals to present their services and expertise to potential clients. These proposals outline the problem statement, proposed approach, scope of work, timeline, deliverables, and fees.
Organizations or individuals seeking to influence public policy or advocate for a particular cause create policy advocacy proposals. These proposals present research, evidence, and arguments to support a specific policy change or reform.
Web designers or agencies create website design proposals to pitch their services to clients. These proposals outline the project scope, design concepts, development process, timeline, and pricing.
Environmental proposals are created to address environmental issues or propose conservation initiatives. These proposals may include strategies for renewable energy, waste management, biodiversity preservation, or sustainable practices.
Proposals related to health and wellness can cover a range of topics, such as wellness programs, community health initiatives, healthcare system improvements, or health education campaigns.
HR professionals may create HR proposals to introduce new policies, employee benefits programs, performance evaluation systems, or employee training initiatives within an organization.
Nonprofit organizations seeking funding or support for a specific program or project create nonprofit program proposals. These proposals outline the program’s objectives, activities, target beneficiaries, budget, and expected outcomes.
When bidding for government contracts, businesses or contractors create government contract proposals. These proposals include details about the project, compliance with regulations, cost estimates, and qualifications.
Businesses or individuals seeking to develop and launch a new product present product development proposals. These proposals outline the product concept, market analysis, development process, production costs, and marketing strategies.
Feasibility study proposals are used to assess the viability and potential success of a project or business idea. These proposals include market research, financial analysis, risk assessment, and recommendations for implementation.
Educational institutions or organizations create educational program proposals to introduce new courses, curricula, or educational initiatives. These proposals outline the program objectives, learning outcomes, curriculum design, and resource requirements.
Organizations involved in social services, such as healthcare, community development, or social welfare, create social service proposals to seek funding, support, or partnerships. These proposals outline the social issue, proposed interventions, anticipated impacts, and sustainability plans.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you with proposal writing:
The purpose of a proposal is to present a plan, idea, project, or solution to a specific audience in a persuasive and compelling manner. Proposals are typically written documents that aim to:
Proposals are typically written in various situations when you need to present a plan, idea, or project to a specific audience. Here are some common scenarios when you may need to write a proposal:
Proposals play a significant role in numerous areas and have several important benefits. Here are some key reasons why proposals are important:
Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer
Looking at how to write a budget proposal? There are several elements that need to be considered and objectives that have to be outlined. A marketing budget proposal will define how your team and business will conduct its journey to get new clients, make more sales, and spread brand awareness.
To get you started, we’ve outlined the steps you need to get your marketing budget off the ground. We’ve also included free templates for you to work with and get you started on your journey. Once completed, your marketing budget proposal will enable you to communicate your marketing vision with clarity and confidence. You got this!
Let’s examine the fundamental elements of your marketing proposal . This budget aims to outline the financial requirements for implementing your marketing strategy. It will serve as a blueprint for your stakeholders to secure the necessary funding and approval.
The key components that will be outlined in your marketing budget plan include:
Your summary will include your key objectives and the expected outcomes you will want to achieve. This section should be concise and engaging. Create a snapshot of your proposal’s main points. Often, this section is left last once you understand the proposal as a whole.
Include your company’s background information in the introduction. Explain the need for your marketing campaign by including:
The actual strategy part of your marketing proposal will focus on all the activities and campaigns you’ll use. It will explain how these activities will achieve all your campaign objectives. Marketing activities that you can include in this section are:
Explain each budget item. Include the rationale for the expenses. Demonstrate a clear understanding of all the costs and benefits it will bring. Provide a cost-benefit analysis demonstrating the expected return on investment (ROI) .
You can also include quotations here from vendors and suppliers to substantiate the proposed costs. Getting third-party input can give credibility to your budget estimates. For example, if you are looking to hire a digital marketing agency , attach their proposal outline for services.
We are getting to the end now. The budget summary clearly and transparently shows the total estimated cost of the campaign. Take your time in this section. You are almost done.
The conclusion will summarize all the key points of your marketing budget proposal and include a call to action for the next steps. Reinforce the proposed budget’s importance and the marketing campaign’s potential impact.
The last section will include any supporting documents that you want to include in your marketing budget proposal. If you made any references to quotes, market research data, or letters of support, you can include them here. It should also include any relevant information that will strengthen your proposal.
You’ll need to thoroughly prepare your proposal. This is where we will start with your steps. From there, we’ll walk through each one. Take your time and be thorough.
Understanding the main reason behind your budget proposal will be your first step. Define what the purpose will be. The direction will guide you with your focus during the process.
Identify the stakeholders. These will include any stakeholders who are affected by or have an interest in the budget proposal. Understanding their expectations and perspectives will give you insight into how to craft a proposal that addresses these concerns.
Lastly, ensure it aligns with the company’s business goals. The proposal will show how your marketing efforts contribute to the organization’s broader strategic priorities.
You will have to collect all your data and research to analyze current trends and your competitors’ activities before you create a budget proposal. This insight will also give you an understanding of your audience and their behaviors and current interactions with your brand.
Define your target audience based on demographics, psychographics, and buying behavior.
Break down the costs associated with each marketing activity. You can include expenses for various items such as advertising and software tools. If there are any other relevant items, include them. Be sure to detail each item, and be careful not to underestimate costs.
One way to avoid underestimating is to obtain vendor quotes and get accurate cost estimates. The third-party information will also give credibility to your budget proposal.
Calculate the total cost for each category. You can organize your expenses into categories, such as content creation or social media . The categorization will help stakeholders understand the allocations of the funds.
Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure the success of your marketing efforts. They should be aligned to your objectives. Then, describe how you will monitor and evaluate the performance of each activity. If need be, make adjustments based on performance.
You are now ready to proceed with writing each section, you can create a budget proposal for your marketing team. Download our free budget proposal template as a starting point. While you must customize it according to your company’s objectives, it will contain all the foundational points.
Now that you have mastered how to write a budget proposal for your marketing strategy, consider bringing us on board.
We have 25+ years of experience with online marketing and know how to prepare a marketing strategy tailored to your specific company needs. A custom strategy helps you get more with your marketing budget, so you can maximize revenue and ROI.
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Trump has distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation document.
This is a KFF Health News story.
From his perch in the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Roger Severino made a controversial name for himself, working to shield health workers who declined to perform medical procedures including abortion on religious grounds.
After President Donald Trump left office, Severino helped the conservative Heritage Foundation develop a plan to expand that conservative stamp to the broader department, recasting HHS with a focus on traditional marriage and family.
The vision is outlined in the Project 2025 " Mandate for Leadership ," a blueprint by the foundation and allied groups intended to guide the next presidential administration. It has emerged as a political flash point, as Democrats portray the 900-page document as promoting an authoritarian power grab by extreme conservatives.
Severino, the lead architect of the project's section on HHS, has won praise from conservatives and criticism from LGBTQ+ and other liberal advocacy groups who say he poses a threat to reproductive rights and gender-affirming care.
His proposals smack of some of the most heated culture war conflicts shaping the election, from gay rights to gender identity to contraception. They would likely find support under a conservative administration.
Under Severino's vision for HHS, federal approval of one commonly used abortion drug, mifepristone, could be revisited and potentially withdrawn. Health agencies would promote "fertility awareness" as an "unsurpassed" method of contraception. Medicaid, the public health insurance program that covers more than 75 million low-income and disabled people, could be converted into block grants that Democrats say would result in far lower funding and enrollment.
HHS itself would be known as the Department of Life, underscoring a new focus on opposing abortion.
Severino declined to comment extensively on Project 2025, but he pushed back in an interview on assertions that it would ban access to medication abortion.
"When the Biden-Harris administration says [the document] would ban all chemical abortion nationally, it's a lie, plain and simple," he said.
Trump, again the GOP's presidential nominee, has taken increasingly aggressive steps to distance himself from Project 2025 as it has become central to his opponents' attacks. Heritage on July 30 said that Paul Dans, who directed the initiative, would step down from his role. The same day, Trump's campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, denounced the document .
"Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way," Wiles and LaCivita said in a statement.
But the campaign's message is undermined by the document's authorship; its contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump's first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro; Christopher Miller, whose positions included acting secretary of defense; and Trump's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson.
Project 2025's passages on abortion, in particular, depart significantly from what Trump has said about the issue on the campaign trail. He has said he wants abortion policy made in states, not at the federal level, and that he wouldn't support a national ban or taking mifepristone off the market. He refashioned the official GOP platform to make scant mention of abortion, recognizing the political peril the issue posed for his campaign.
Support for abortion access is growing. Sixty-one percent of adults want their state to allow legal abortion for any reason, according to a poll conducted in June by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago's NORC, which conducts social research.
The Heritage Foundation's policy proposals, published roughly every four years since the 1980s, have had considerable sway on GOP presidents. Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Trump each adopted about 60% or more of the recommendations produced in earlier Heritage guides, the group says.
Severino was a trial attorney for seven years in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He joined Heritage in 2015 and garnered acclaim from conservatives in part because of articles he published while he was there.
In one, for example, he said a proposal by Obama to include gender identity in Affordable Care Act provisions prohibiting discrimination would penalize medical professionals and health care organizations that, as a matter of faith, believe "maleness and femaleness are biological realities" to be "affirmed" rather than "treated as diseases."
He was tapped to run the HHS Office for Civil Rights in 2017.
There, he created a new Division of Conscience and Religious Freedom because, he said, protections for people with deeply held religious beliefs had been underenforced.
The proposals for HHS laid out in Project 2025 have alarmed LGBTQ+ advocacy groups as well as some researchers.
"It could promote stigma and discrimination," said Lindsey Dawson, director of LGBTQ Health Policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party's new presumptive presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, have repeatedly urged voters to read the document themselves.
In one of her first speeches after taking over the top spot on the Democratic ticket, Harris said Project 2025 would "treat health care as only a privilege for the wealthy instead of what we all know it should be, which is a right for every American."
Conservatives say Democrats are lying about what Project 2025's proposals would do and are incorrectly attributing the ideas to Trump for political gain.
Spokespeople for the Trump and Harris campaigns didn't respond to requests for comment.
The blueprint's foreword espouses what it calls an anti-"woke" mentality, proposing to delete from every federal regulation words such as diversity, equity, inclusion, "and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights."
HHS would revisit a rule that prohibits discrimination in health programs and extends those protections to people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The document says that definition "created special privileges for new classes of people, defined in ways that are highly ideological and unscientific," and should be reversed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would cease collecting data on gender identity because, the Project 2025 report says, it "legitimizes the unscientific notion that men can become women (and vice versa)," and health agencies would study the "negative effects of cross-sex interventions" such as puberty blockers.
"Families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society," according to the document.
The road map would roll back years of hard-fought gains for people who are LGBTQ+, their advocates say.
"This is a fantasy reality, like watching 'Leave it to Beaver,'" said David Stacy, vice president of government affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
The concepts may appeal to many in Trump's conservative base, however. Nine in 10 U.S. adults say a husband and wife raising children together is completely acceptable, according to a 2023 poll by the Pew Research Center. Fewer than half say the same about a married gay or lesbian couple raising children together.
Nine in 10 Trump supporters and about four in 10 Biden supporters say sex at birth determines if someone is a man or a woman, according to an April Pew poll .
Project 2025 risks GOP voter support over its anti-abortion stance, according to some political analysts. Its foreword also calls for removing from grants, regulations, and legislation words such as abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term "used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights."
The proposal urges that the CDC fund research into abortion risks and complications and that HHS cut federal funding for states that don't provide data such as the number of abortions performed within their borders.
Project 2025 calls for revisiting approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. It could potentially lose FDA authorization and be subject to new dispensing requirements – such as barring distribution by mail, based on an 1873 law known as the Comstock Act - before that step.
The proposal's authors say misoprostol, a medication approved to treat ulcers but also used for abortion, would not be affected.
"If the FDA were to reconsider mifepristone because of legal or safety concerns, at most, it would put doctors back in the process without limiting their ability to prescribe other chemical abortion drugs off-label," Severino said.
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Communications Chairs 2024 2024 Conference
We welcome proposals for in-person tutorials on either core machine learning topics or topics of emerging importance for machine learning, broadly construed. We will consider any topic, so long as the proposal makes a strong argument that the tutorial is important for the NeurIPS community. Tutorials should be of interest to a substantial portion of the community and should represent a sufficiently mature area of research or practice. Tutorials are expected to be accessible to PhD candidates working in other areas of the NeurIPS community, i.e. some part of the tutorial may need to be spent on covering necessary background material.
A NeurIPS tutorial should not focus on the results or tools of the presenters or their organizations, and should be more reflective of the research within the wider community in that field. A tutorial should provide a balanced overview of an area of research. It should also provide a balance between known results and open problems.
We discourage tutorial topics that overlap heavily with tutorials presented at NeurIPS , ICML or highly related conferences in the past two years. We also aim to select tutorial presenters who have not presented a tutorial at NeurIPS or ICML in the past five years.
This year we will require a minimum of two presenters and an optional panel discussion. We also encourage submitters to think about how their tutorial could be useful to the community after the meeting, for example providing links to code, slides and exercises or audio-only presentations. We will send out audio recordings to tutorial presenters after the conference and presenters will be free to modify the recordings or send out additional information for conversion into a podcast format (depending on topic).
We will also set up informal practice groups between presenters before the main conference.
Each accepted tutorial will be 2h30m (150 minutes) long.
Tutorials will take place entirely in-person on a single day and avoid overlap with the rest of the program. All participants are required to participate live (for Q&A and the panel).
Each tutorial may include a discussion panel to broaden the discussion on the topic. The panel should include additional researchers from the field, and a moderator. If a panel is planned, it should be taking place in the last 30 minutes of the tutorial.
Main Tutorial:
Optional Panel/Debate:
Tutorial proposals should be no more than five pages in 12-point font submitted in PDF format. Each proposal should be clearly structured to provide the following information:
Please see the retrospective blog on the tutorial submissions from last year , and make an effort to embrace the positive features of accepted tutorials, and avoid the pitfalls outlined there. The best way to maximize the chances of your tutorial submission being accepted is to carefully follow instructions , and make a polished and organized submission . Are you missing parts of your submission? Is it over length? Does your proposal bring diverse perspectives? Did you research whether a closely related topic has recently been presented at NeurIPS or ICML? Are you submitting on time? Are your panellists confirmed at the time of submission? A carefully planned and crafted submission signals that care and organization will go into the presentation itself.
Submit your proposal in this form .
For other questions, please contact us .
Tutorial Chairs, NeurIPS 2024, Andrew M. Dai, Gal Chechik, Irene Y Chen
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Research proposal examples. Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We've included a few for you below. Example research proposal #1: "A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling Constraint Management" Example research proposal #2: "Medical Students as Mediators of ...
Here is an explanation of each step: 1. Title and Abstract. Choose a concise and descriptive title that reflects the essence of your research. Write an abstract summarizing your research question, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes. It should provide a brief overview of your proposal. 2.
Develop an Outline. Create a clear and logical structure: Divide your proposal into sections or headings that will guide your readers through the content. Consider the typical structure of a proposal: Introduction: Provide a concise overview of the problem, its significance, and the proposed solution. Background/Context: Offer relevant ...
Your proposal title should be concise and clear to indicate your research question. Your readers should know what to expect in the paper after reading the title. Avoid writing titles in a general perspective or phrases like "An investigation of …" or "A review of …" etc. Make it concise and well-defined. 2.
A research proposal outline's content typically varies in length, from 3 to 35 pages, with references (and appendices, if necessary). But like any academic activity, start the research proposal template writing process by first carefully reading the instructions. Make sure to clarify anything that needs clarification and only proceed once ...
What is a research proposal? Simply put, a research proposal is a structured, formal document that explains what you plan to research (your research topic), why it's worth researching (your justification), and how you plan to investigate it (your methodology).. The purpose of the research proposal (its job, so to speak) is to convince your research supervisor, committee or university that ...
Research proposal examples. Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We've included a few for you below. Example research proposal #1: 'A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling Constraint Management'.
A research proposal is a concise and coherent summary of your proposed research. You'll need to set out the issues that are central to the topic area and how you intend to address them with your research. To do this, you'll need to give the following: an outline of the general area of study within which your research falls.
Writing Research Proposals. The research proposal is your opportunity to show that you—and only you!—are the perfect person to take on your specific project. After reading your research proposal, readers should be confident that…. You have thoughtfully crafted and designed this project; You have the necessary background to complete this ...
A research paper outline is a useful tool to aid in the writing process, providing a structure to follow with all information to be included in the paper clearly organized. A quality outline can make writing your research paper more efficient by helping to: Organize your thoughts;
Research proposal formats vary depending on the size of the planned research, the number of participants, the discipline, the characteristics of the research, etc. The following outline assumes an individual researcher. This is just a SAMPLE; several other ways are equally good and can be successful. If possible, discuss your research proposal ...
A research proposal is a structured outline for a planned study on a specific topic. It serves as a roadmap, guiding researchers through the process of converting their research idea into a feasible project. The aim of a research proposal is multifold: it articulates the research problem, establishes a theoretical framework, outlines the ...
Research Proposal Outline. A research proposal typically follows a standard outline that helps structure the document and ensure all essential components are included. While the specific headings and subheadings may vary slightly depending on the requirements of your institution or funding agency, the following outline provides a general ...
Therefore, in a good research proposal you will need to demonstrate two main things: 1. that you are capable of independent critical thinking and analysis. 2. that you are capable of communicating your ideas clearly. Applying for a PhD is like applying for a job, you are not applying for a taught programme.
Outline for Research Project Proposal. (adapted from Course Materials for Psycholinguistics) When writing, please use section headings to indicate where the information can be found. Subheadings need not be used, though in long sections they may facilitate organization. 1. Introduction Explain the issue you are examining and why it is significant.
In general your proposal should include the following sections: I. Introduction. In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation.
The format of a research proposal varies between fields and levels of study but most proposals should contain at least these elements: introduction, literature review, research design and reference list. Generally, research proposals can range from 500-1500 words or one to a few pages long. Typically, proposals for larger projects such as a PhD ...
A proposal needs to show how your work fits into what is already known about the topic and what new paradigm will it add to the literature, while specifying the question that the research will answer, establishing its significance, and the implications of the answer. [ 2] The proposal must be capable of convincing the evaluation committee about ...
So in this guide, we'll outline all the elements of a good research proposal and explain why they're important. The elements of a good research proposal are the title, the introduction, literature review, aims and objectives, methodology, scope of the research, outline and timetable, and bibliography. It's important to include these ...
The above notes are only intended to assist planning of a research proposal. However, you will find that thought given to these points at the beginning of the research can save a considerable amount of confusion and wasted effort later. Summary. Points to think about when writing a research outline: What is your research question? Why does it ...
First, a research proposal is sent to the guide or mentor for approval. Only after their approval can you proceed with the research. No matter what your reasons are for drafting a research proposal, the format remains the same. The researcher portrays how and why the research topic is relevant to the field. They explain the research gap and the ...
A proposal outline is a framework that organizes your ideas and pitches into a coherent structure, ensuring every crucial element of your proposal is considered and clearly presented. ... showing that your solution is grounded in proven results and sound research. Step 4: Draft the structure. Using the key elements outlined above, start ...
AERC is organizing a virtual technical workshop on research methods, proposal writing, and presentation skills. This workshop, ... A brief outline of what will be covered in the course (for the econometrics methodology focusing on RCTs and quasi-experimental techniques e.g. DID, DIDID, academic writing, and presentation skills), ...
The outline of Walsh's research was inspired by and loosely based on the Tucson Garbage Project and the Undocumented Migration Project, two contemporary archeology studies.
Proposal. Definition: Proposal is a formal document or presentation that outlines a plan, idea, or project and seeks to persuade others to support or adopt it. Proposals are commonly used in business, academia, and various other fields to propose new initiatives, solutions to problems, research studies, or business ventures.
This strategic tool helped them outline their business ideas, identify key partners, resources, and customer segments, and define their value propositions. By the end of the camp, each team had a comprehensive BMC, providing a clear roadmap for their entrepreneurial ventures.
The proposal will show how your marketing efforts contribute to the organization's broader strategic priorities. Step 2. Conduct market research. You will have to collect all your data and research to analyze current trends and your competitors' activities before you create a budget proposal.
The proposal urges that the CDC fund research into abortion risks and complications and that HHS cut federal funding for states that don't provide data such as the number of abortions performed ...
Requirements for Proposal Document: Tutorial proposals should be no more than five pages in 12-point font submitted in PDF format. Each proposal should be clearly structured to provide the following information: Title; Abstract (up to 250 words) Description and outline: What material will the tutorial cover and in what depth?