PhD Proposal Format: An Important Part Of Your Thesis Journey

What is a Research/Thesis Proposal?

A research or a thesis proposal aims to outline the idea of your entire research/thesis paper. It tends to answer the why and what of your research purpose, research questions, statement of problem, research methodology, expected findings/outcomes, conclusion, the time required for research, references etc. 

It is like defining the plan of action before you begin writing your thesis paper. It sets a base for your successful final paper and it helps you avoid any confusion while you are working hard on your actual research, hence following a proper PhD proposal format is important.

First reason to work on a good research proposal is that you will get a clear picture of your research work and second significant reason is that you will be able to submit a convincing proposal to the universities you want to apply into.

The Basic PhD Thesis Proposal Format-

  1. Title of the Project/Research/Thesis-
  • An eye catchy, relevant, to the point, engaging title is all what you need to select. The title should be crisp enough yet you should make sure that it explains what your research is going to be all about.
  1. Introduction-
  • Introduction includes the statement of your research in a few words that comprises of the research idea you are working on. 
  1. Research Objectives/ Purpose of Research-
  • This part includes all the research objectives you want to showcase, you can explain three to four research objectives related to the scope of your study and the objective of your study.
  • The objectives would define the purpose of your research, as in what is the aim or goal of your research, what do you want to achieve at the end of your research.
  1. Review of Literature-
  • This part is really important as it contains previously published work of research experts who have done somewhat similar research which can help you further in your work. 
  • Taking help of previously published research papers is crucial as you get a base for how do you have to move ahead in your research.
  • Going through similar topics will enhance your knowledge even more and you will have a broader perspective towards the topic your are researching on.
  1. Research methodology-
  • This section will define the methods, techniques, tools, framework, theories that you are going to use for carrying out your research study.
  • Selecting a particular method and the reason to select the same is what you will explain in this section.
  • For example, you are going to use qualitative method or quantitative method or may be a mix of both methods depending on what is the topic of your research.
  1. Data collection-
  • In this section you have to mention about the data collection tools and techniques that you are going to use.
  • For example, using the questionnaire method with the implementation of semantic likert scale.

Which method is right and why that you are supposed to explain here.

  1. Expected Outcomes/Findings-
  • This section contains the expected or possible outcomes of your research study. 
  1. Conclusion-
  • This part includes the conclusion that you can possibly generate out of the overall research and findings.

  1. Bibliography or References-
  • This will contain the references that you have used.

Following proper PhD proposal format is very crucial, if you find any issues in doing so you can always reach us at: https://www.phdthesis.in/contact-us/ or +91-80-4675-9500