Research Proposal Writing: Introduction

• The Present Simple tense is utilized in science writing to state acknowledged facts and truths — yet what qualifies as an acknowledged certainty or truth is regularly, shockingly, your choice.
• Past Simple/Present Perfect


  One of the contrasts between Past Simple and Present Perfect is the 'time' of the action word, for example at the point when it occurred.
• Tense changes are consistently significant, and they generally signal an adjustment in the capacity of the data — so don't change tense haphazardly and ensure you make sure to change tense when you should.
• Signaling language


  • One of the most widely recognized errors in writing is neglecting to associate one sentence or thought to the following
  • One approach to interface sentences is to overlap, which means to repeat something from the previous sentence
  • Another way is to utilize a pronoun (it, they) or pro-form (this method, these systems) to stick the sentences together
  • The third way isn't to complete the sentence at all, however to join the following sentence with a semicolon or a relative provision (a 'which' statement)
  • The fourth way is to utilize a signaling sentence connector to show the connection between one sentence and the following, or one piece of a sentence and the following
• You know how helpful sentence connectors are from your reading; when you see a word like therefore or however, you can process the following snippet of data in the sentence effectively regardless of whether you don't see each word. This is on the grounds that the sentence connector signals the function of the information in the sentence.
• Passive/Active


  • In the Introduction you generally state what you will do or presenting in the research article
  • You can utilize we to indicate your research group or team, however don't utilize it to refer to individuals or mankind in general
  • If you are referring to individuals in general, it's better to utilize a construction with It (It is known/believed that…) as opposed to We know/imagine that…
  • It is likewise normal to utilize the passive rather than we, particularly in the central 'report' area (was estimated, was included, and so forth)
• Passive/Active


  Since you can't compose your paper utilizing I, you will most likely write in the passive. Use words like here and in this investigation to tell your reader when you are alluding to your own work. You can likewise utilize a 'dummy' subject to replace I or we, for example, this article or the current paper.
• Literature Review/Search


  The term used to describe a comprehensive overview of research that highlights both what the scholarly community knows about a topic and what it has yet to discover
• According to Rau (2004), literature search is an effective and logical way of searching from the published data to determine the coverage of high standard references on a particular topic.
• Crunin et al. (2008) added that there are several motives behind conducting a literature search that contains making evidence-based guidelines through drawing information, searching research method procedures, and as part of academic evaluation
• Formulating the research question


  • Type of evidence you need, like quantitative or qualitative, case studies, randomized and controlled trials
  • Type of question you need to ask. To avoid drowning in search results, it is necessary to start with a more particular question to have an easier search by narrowing down the area to focus.
• How to do Literature Review

  1. Identify the Research topic

  2. Review the sources to get an overview of the research topic

  3. Develop a search Strategy

  4. Conduct the search and select specific articles to review

  5. Obtain titles or full text references of journal articles or book

  6. Read the articles and prepare bibliographic information and notes on each

  7. Analyze the research findings and synthesize the results

  8. Use the literature review to gain a conceptual framework and to develop questions, hypotheses, or both
• Sources for literature search

  • JOURNAL ARTICLES
  • BOOKS
  • Technical Reports
  • Websites
  • Conference Proceedings
  • Theses & Dissertations
  • Standards
  • Patents
• Journal Articles


  • Journal articles are written about very particular topics and usually shorter than books, while a journal is a published collection of articles the same as magazines throughout the year
  • Journal articles contain the most current and researchers and are written by experts
• Conference Proceedings


  • Conference proceedings are the collection of scholarly papers contributed by researchers and published after an academic group conducted a gathering such as convention or conference
  • To ensure that the scholarly papers meet the quality standard, the organizers employ a group of experts to review the article before they are accepted
  • Editors have the right to decide about the proceeding's composition and order of papers. In some cases, some changes in the article are based on the deliberation between authors and editors
• Technical Reports


  • Technical reports are written documents submitted by the researchers to the funding agency that sponsored the project, and this includes the details of the research project from the implementation and the results
  • Technical reports are not peer-reviewed unless the proponents decided to submit and publish it in a peer-reviewed journal
• Theses and Dissertation


  Theses and dissertations are scholarly work made by a graduate or post-graduate scholar as part of their requirements for obtaining a degree
• Standards


  • Standards are a collective effort by the pool of experts in a specific field where the rule was created. It is an agreed, consistent, and documented way of something for a particular purpose
  • Standards consist of technical specifications that have been used and accepted as guidelines, rules, and definitions
• Patents


  • The patent is a right reserved exclusively for the invention, a process, a product, or an improvement of both process and product for a limited period, wherein the owner can prohibit the others from selling, using, and making the patented invention
  • To get a patent, the invention must be novel, inventive, and has an industrial application. In addition, the inventor must disclose the technical information to the public in a very detailed manner about the invention
• Websites


  • The Web is a huge network that anyone can put anything with reviewing the content. We must evaluate and validate information on the Web before using and citing it
  • Looking for the author or organization's information on the links "About the company," "About Us," "Who are we," etc
  • Try to find if the webmaster gives a contact info an e-mail address for some inquiry or validations
  • Check for hints in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
  • Domains in the top-level will inform you what type of institution is the source of information
• Searching Strategies


  1. Systematic - Literature search wherein you are required to establish and tackle the process in an organized and preplanned means. Careful consideration of databases, search methods, search terms is highly necessary that also needs to validate results obtained along the process

  2. Find the Search terms - Search terms of keywords are vital for determining the closest or relevant literature; therefore, spending considerable time working on them is also worthy
• Truncation, masking, phrase search, and proximity operators

  • Truncation denotes the use of wildcard symbols such as an asterisk (*) or question mark (?) to replace one or more letters in a word
  • Masking is another form of truncation wherein a symbol replaces a single letter in a keyword
  • Phrase search is done if you want to search the exact text you have entered
  • Proximity operators help provide a more flexible control when searching; it specifies the distance in the number of words that could exist between the search terms
• Boolean operators


  • AND is used to narrow down the search result and denotes intersection, since there are both keywords
  • OR is used to expand the scope, and it signifies the union-only one (or both) of the keywords must be present here
  • NOT used to limit the scope and denote the difference in the group
• Types of literature search

  1. Retrospective - type of literature search that can be done by looking the most recent articles and moving backward after

  2. Citation - Citation scanning is a way to locate applicable work in a field or topic by looking at what has been cited in an article and who has since used it as a guide

  3. Targeted - A targeted search is performed on a specific (focused) field of the literature
• There is no fixed formula for planning the research design, but when it comes to communicating and presenting the Research Proposal, there is a structure that must be followed in terms of the chapters that compose the document
• Chapters of the Research Proposal

  • Introduction
  • Review of Related Literature
  • Materials and Methods
  • Bibliography
• Introduction


  Gives a "map" of what is coming and makes the reader want to discover more about the research
• Sections of the Introduction

  • Background of the Study
  • Statement of the Problem
  • Significance of the Study
  • Scope and Limitations of the Study
• Background of the Study


  Explains why the project is being undertaken and defines the identified real life problem
• Statement of the Problem

  Describes what the researchers are attempting to do (project task) in order to solve the real life problem
• Major Objective


  Addresses the real life problem and states what the researchers plan to do (the project task) in order to address it
• Minor Objectives


  State expected measurable and/or observable outcomes of the research that would indicate the success of the project
• Significance of the Study

  Includes a statement of the project's relevance to felt societal or human needs, and its potential contribution to new knowledge and policy implications
• Scope and Limitations


  Identifies the specific samples, treatments, existing theories/methodologies/technologies to be used, and acknowledges limitations in the nature and amount of samples, procedures and tests to be conducted
• Identification of the Research Problem

  1. Survey how the subject can be limited to potential sub-points for more intensive thought

  2. Use a set of general and specific questions to guide the thinking process
• General questions about the research topic

  • Is there current interest for this topic?
  • Is there a gap in the information that could be filled?
  • Can the topic be narrowed down to a manageable research project?
  • Can the information collection approach be adequate?
  • Is there an available review of related literature?
  • Are there major issues to be overcome?
  • Does the topic relate to others in the area of expertise?
  • Would financial support be required and available?
  • Are the required data easily available?
• Analyzing feasibility and suitability of a research problem

  1. Consider sources of information

  2. Consider time and resources

  3. Consider skills and knowledge

  4. Consider hazards/risks involved

  5. Consider originality/novelty

  6. Consider significance

  7. Consider testable hypotheses

  8. Consider use of quantitative measurements

  9. Consider definite, specific, and well-defined scope
• Analyzing feasibility and suitability is important to avoid problems later in the research project
• Topics to avoid for research projects

  • Those that will take too long to complete
  • Those that call for people recalling things in the past
  • Those that involve extensive travel
  • Those that require measurements that are difficult to obtain or repeat
  • Those that involve the use of hard to find or expensive materials and equipment
  • Those that require the use of dangerous and/or illegal materials, or endangered species
  • Those in which access to particular people, organizations, or documents would be hard to obtain
• Structure of an Introduction section

  • Starts broad and gradually narrows focus
  • Connects to the central report section
  • Connects to the Discussion/Conclusion section at the end