A research proposal is vital in the process of researching because it is the proposal that will determine how good the research will be and if the topic will be worth researching. That is why supervisors and researchers place great emphasis on writing a good research proposal even though it might take a lot of time to complete. It can also be used to seek research funding, cooperation, and partnership. Writing a good proposal is not just a piece of cake because a proposal should contain all the important elements involved in designing a complete research study, garnished with sufficient and efficient information which enables readers to access the effectiveness and rationality of your proposed research.

Before we produce the guides on how to write a research proposal, let’s take a look at what a research proposal really is.

A research proposal is a statement designed to justify and present a detailed methodology for researching line with the requirements of the academic or professional field and the practical way in which the proposed study will be conducted. The proposal demonstrates that you have a thorough understanding of the topic and research ideas to make the audience know that you are capable of completing the work.

What are the steps in writing a research proposal?

1. Come up with a clear title or topic for your proposal. The first step to take when writing an academic research proposal is coming up with a title or a general topic or subject area to research. Though your title will vary based on the type of research you are doing, but you will want it to be descriptive and concise so that readers will know what to expect from the proposal and urge them to read on. Your proposal title should be short and informative and not long and vague, for instance, a short, informative title like “The impact of motivation in an organization” or “the effect of information technology on organizational performance” can be used while phrases like “A review of the environmental sanitation” or “An insight on information technology” should be avoided.
2. Move into your introduction. After choosing a topic, writing an introduction is the next step. However, you must have input your title page and table of contents as a prerequisite. The introduction of your research proposal should contain sections like “Background to the study” “Significance of the research study” “Statement of problem” “Research question” and “research hypothesis” all these sections should be detailed in a paragraph. i.e., in the introduction, include a quick note about the topic being discussed in the background to the study section. You should then move into the statement of the problem; this is where you will seek to answer questions about the research topic, you can then identify the goal of the study in precise terms under “the purpose of the study” section. In the “significance of research” section, you can emphasize why the area of the research is essential.
3. Determine the research question and hypothesis. The next step is to indicate and define your research question and hypothesis. This part has to be carefully crafted as it is what your research study will be based on. The research hypothesis should compare difference or relationships between independent and dependent variables while the research question should entail a relevant question relating to the research study.
4. Write a literature review. After completing the introduction section, the next step is to write your literature review to contextualize your research.  This section should show your readers that you are aware of the past and current research on your topic, thus demonstrating that your research will make a substantial and significant influence on the past study. This section should contain the theoretical and conceptual view of your research study.
5. Determine and write the method of investigation. The next step is to outline the procedures you will follow to complete your proposed study in the next section, and this sections should include details such as Research design, sample size, and characteristics of the proposed sample and data collection with data analysis procedures. In this section, you should describe how you propose to collect your data and also the sample size and characteristics of the sample size. This will make readers determine how many people you want to include in the study and what attributes they need to possess to make them qualify for the study. In this section, you also need to let readers know how you want to analyze your data, as you might run the data through SPSS or Excel or Atlas.
6. Input citations. After writing out all the component of the research proposal as listed above, you must input the sources you used while writing your proposal. Depending on the one preferred by your supervisor, a reference or bibliography can be employed using a format that follows the writing style such as APA. This is to make sure you don’t duplicate effort of other researchers.

Writing a research proposal is not a piece of cake as it needs to meet the standard required but with the step listed above, writing a research proposal within a time frame should be an easy task for you. You don’t have the time for writing this? You can visit research proposal writing service AdvancedWriters.com for expert writers that will give a touch of professionalism to your research proposal within a stipulated time frame.