Essentials of Thesis Proposal

A Thesis Proposal is written to provide an idea about the work that the student wants to undertake as part of the Thesis. This is a document where in the details about the project are briefly mentioned. The details include the intention about the project, the details of the background research and a project plan.

The general body of a Thesis Proposal may contain the following points: Title, Abstract, Table of Content, Introduction, Main Body, References and Appendices.

A good Title: A good Title for the Thesis and the Proposal is required because it will demonstrate the clarity of the project and the intension of the student about the project. The result that the student aims at achieving in the project.

Abstract: An Abstract is a small summary of what is the student is intended to do in the project given the broad subject area.

Table of Contents: The Table of Contents will include the list or the page numbers of the sections from the Introduction to the appendices page. Page number accuracy is important.

The Introduction: Set the scene for the project and provide the motivation. Give the background of the area you intend to study and convince the reader about the study. One important thing that we must remember is that the introduction part appears first but, it must be written last. The introduction should include the motivation, the problem to be solved and a summary of the methodology and a hint of the solution.

Researching the background: The student is expected to research and discuss the broad context where the project is grounded. The context depends upon the nature of the proposal and the area of the application.

The Main Body: The Main Body should include the context, the goals and objectives and the methodology and evaluation. The context of the project, i.e., the where the project is placed. What are the similar publications and implementations of the project. The main body must also include goals and objectives. The tasks and deliverables that need to be done to achieve the goal and the activities those are to be undertaken to meet the deliverables. Methodology should include the research methods and the project methods that the student intends to use in order to complete the project.

Project Plan: The student needs to include a Project Plan in the Proposal which will include a work breakdown structure, a Gantt chart with critical path, milestones and slack time. This plan must be specific to the project and must have a good level of detailing.

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This article is in continuation with our previous articles on Dissertation, Thesis, Dissertation Proposal, Choosing a Dissertation subject

Essential Components of a Thesis Proposal

Essential Components of a Thesis Proposal
A Thesis proposal is a document that a student needs to prepare in order get the permission to write his or her thesis. A thesis is usually the last document that a student will prepare in order to graduate. The thesis is a huge undertaking that takes many students months to complete. Therefore, the Thesis proposal is the first step in beginning the thesis.

The proposal is first verified by the student’s mentor. He is suggested of any changes that have to be done and given a feedback on the topic being chosen and actually beginning with the work of the thesis. If there are any changes to be made in the Thesis Proposal, the student has to re-submit the Proposal. So, the student must pay careful attention for making the best Thesis Proposal in the first time. It is a “trump card”, but has to be taken out at the right time and not in the eleventh hour.

The Thesis proposal must include the subject or the topic being chosen for the purpose of research. This section must include the background of the subject. The reasons for choosing the subject and the expected result from the research must be included in the thesis proposal shall follow in the next section.

The next section should contain the pre-research or the background research done by the student and the facts that were uncovered during the study. For ex: if a Paleontology student finds some evidence of a prehistoric creature in sample fossils, then he or she shall formally take the permission to investigate further about that creature.

Then, finally it’s about concluding the Thesis Proposal. This is the part where the student shall write about the importance of the research and the potential benefits of the research.

A Thesis proposal is similar to many other academic writings. But, it is much more intensive as it involves a deeper insight into the subject and this will lead to a research so, the student must pay attention to little details. That is true for the bibliography as well because some of the technical aspects relating to the subject will be scrutinized by the Committee. The bibliography shall be clear and concise and shall follow proper formatting styles for that purpose.

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Secret to writing a Good Dissertation Proposal

How to Write a Thesis/Dissertation Proposal

1. Know the area

• Read, read, read, …
  
• Average 10-15 papers per week
  
• Current Journals: at least read/scan abstracts
  
• Use reference management software! (e.g. ProCite and EndNote)
  
• Use search engines (MedLine, Ergo Abstracts, Psych Info, Compendex, ACM Digital Library, etc.)
• Go to the source literature (don’t expect textbooks and other secondary sources to be either accurate or complete)

2. Go outside your area

• Good source of new/different ideas
  
• Avoids embarrassing overlap (already done by others in another field)
  

3. Pay attention to methods, analyses, motivations, applications

• We did this because....
  
• This work can be applied to …
  

4. Tree-in; tree-out

• Look at paper citations, and who cited particular papers (ISI Citation Index)
  
• Note how others interpreted (or how cited) papers you’ve already read; they may have a different interpretation

5. Don’t get ‘paper-locked’

• Easy to get overwhelmed and biased by what has already been done
  
• Once familiar with an area, what has and hasn’t been done, start working on what you could do

6. Look at proposals and documents generated by your predecessors

At this point, generate some initial ideas. Be creative, flexible, novel. Good idea to test them, if

possible. 

Jumping ahead, what does a faculty member look for in a proposal?

1. It should be well-written

• a. Organized, with a logical flow
  
• b. Concise, but also complete
  
• c. Good grammar
  
• d. It’s usually a good idea to have a colleague read it before giving it to the advisor, especially if they have already submitted their first draft or successfully defended their proposal. Often little errors or small changes will be identified and addressed. They can also be some the best sources of information for “why” or “how”.

2. General structure is typically followed, but there is flexibility in the details

• Introduction (Background, Motivations, Literature review)
  
• Objective/Purposes/Hypothesis (need not be a separate section, but often is)
• Methods
• Preliminary Results

3. Introduction

• Start broad (e.g. injuries, need for ergonomics, etc.), become increasingly specific
  
• End with a review, and broaden out to discuss potential applications (importance) of the proposed work
• Topics to be addressed: what’s been done; what hasn’t; what is needed and why; indicate your part or contribution (scoping your domain)
• d. Intro should contain some statements of objectives, purposes, and hypothesis. Placement is flexible, though, and these could be in a separate sections between Intro and Methods, or even part of the Methods. Depending on the specifics, not all of these (objective, purposes, and hypotheses) will always been relevant. More important that it be clear and readable.
• How long should it be? Long enough to satisfy the above goals. Typically 10-30 pages for an MS, longer for a PhD proposal.
• When summarizing existing literature, it is not enough just to describe what authors X, Y, and Z did. Results should be interpreted, in the context of the overall review and study objectives.
• g. In particular, discuss contrasting evidence, possible sources for discrepancies (experimental design, lack of controls, sensitivity of measures, etc.), and the importance of resolving the differences.

4. Objectives/Purposes

• Non-quantitative, but specific and clearly filling some hole/need addressed in the Introduction.
• The Intro should have motivated and ‘scoped’ the stated objectives and purposes.
  

5. Hypotheses

• Non-quantitative, but again specific and clear.
  
• There should be obvious connections to the objectives, and clear (though not stated here) indications of how statistical methods would be used to evaluate the hypotheses. In the methods, your statistical tests should make reference to these hypotheses.
• Not every statistical test should have an associate hypotheses (otherwise it would be unwieldy); instead, the hypotheses can be general (e.g. there will be an association among several variables; factors A and B will have effects on several measures of performance).
• Don’t use words like ‘significant’, save this for the description of statistical methods.

6. Methods

• What will be done, how, and why
  
• With respect to how and why, there is typically more than one way to do something, and you must explain (and sometimes justify) your choice.
• The methods should have clear connections to the hypotheses.
  
• The Methods tends to be a difficult and sometimes complicated section. In general, proceed from broad to specific, but also ensure that a context is provided before specific details are raised. For example, don’t describe specific experimental treatments before you’ve even explained the overall approach and the different independent and dependent variables.
• Note that ‘repeated measures’ refers to a study design, while within- and betweensubjects refers to specific independent measures (or treatments). Crossed and nested factors are synomymous.
• The reader should be able to understand what you’re talking about, given what was provided before (use of a colleague again helps here).
• Subsections are often used such as: Overview; Subjects; Procedures; Instrumentation; Experimental Design; Data Reduction; Analysis (stats)
• The specific ordering of the sections in g., should achieve the goals of d. and f.
• Somewhere (typically in Experimental Design), there should be an explicit statement of the independent and dependent variables (or factors, or measures)

So how do I get there? Unfortunately, this is as much an art as a science, but here are some things to consider:

1. Some General Tips:

• Each paragraph proceeds from general to specific.
  
• Some have suggested that reading the first sentence of every paragraph in the document should convey the essential meaning of the whole.
• Vary the structure of your sentences and paragraphs.
  
• Use transitions between paragraphs (either the last sentence of the proceeding one or the first sentence of the subsequent one, should tie the two together).
• Avoid one-sentence paragraphs (generally at least 3 sentences comprise a paragraph)
• Consider optional presentation methods (always using good HF knowledge and practice). Often the same thing can be conveyed by text, graphs, tables, diagrams, etc. Pick what is the most effective, but avoid duplication.

2. Some common mistakes to avoid:

• Repetitive sentence structure (The… The… The… or However, … Additionally, … Therefore, …)
• Avoid complex words and convoluted sentence constructions, where simpler ones will convey the information (like utilize vs. use; cognizant vs. aware; though personal style always has a role). Eschew obfuscation!
• There is no advantage to be gained by making something obscure. The scientific value is not enhanced by complicated words and prose, and to someone that knows the field, you don’t sound any more knowledgeable. If you look at some of the best journals, they are typically written in a very dry, boring, direct, and terse style. It tends to be the weaker journals where creative writing flourishes!