HowToWriteAResearchProposalforaBAthesis

AdaptedfromHolgerHopp(2007)andBonnieD.Schwartz(2013)
Thestartingpointforeverypaper,beitatermpaperoryourBAthesis,shouldbeathoroughlyworkedout
researchproposal.Investingsufficienttimeandthoughtintowritingaresearchproposalwillyieldagoodreturn
andcansaveyoualotoftime,confusionanddisappointmentwhenactuallywritingyourpaper.
Aresearchproposalservesseveralpurposes:

Itgivesanoverviewoftherelevanceandobjectiveofaresearchproject.
Itgivesanoverviewofthecontent,theprocedureandthetimingofaresearchproject.
Itshowswhetheraresearchprojectismanageableinscopeandtiming.

Aresearchproposalhassixkeycomponents:

Atitlepage
Anabstractwhichsummarizestheproject
Adetaileddescriptionoftheproject
Atimeschedulefortheproject
Anoverviewofthestructureofthepaper/poster
References

Thefollowingsectionsgiveanoverviewofeachcomponent.Althougheachresearchproposalshouldfollow
thisguideline,youwillfindthatnotallsectionsare(equally)applicableforeachproject,sinceeveryresearch
projectisdifferent.Forinstance,athesisthatfocusesonaliteraturerevieworatheoreticalanalysisrequiresa
somewhatdifferentresearchproposalthanathesisthatreportsanempiricalstudy.Identifytheaspectsineach
sectionthatarerelevanttoyourproject.Intotal,theresearchproposalshouldnotexceed45pages.Useful
resourcesarelistedattheendofthisguideline.
I.

TITLEPAGE

Givethe(proposed)titleofyourthesis,yourname,yourstudentnumber,yourcourseofstudy,thesemesteryou
arein,yourcontactdetails,andthecoursedetailsforwhichyouaresubmittingtheproposal.
II. ABSTRACT
Thepurposeoftheabstractistogivethereaderabriefintroductorysummaryofthethesis.Theabstractshould
notbelongerthan100150words.Itshouldaddressthefollowingquestions:

Whatisthetopicofresearch?
Whatistheresearchquestion?
Whyisthisrelevant?
HowwillIstudythetopic?
WhatkindoffindingsdoIanticipate?
HowwillIinterpretthefindings?
Whataretheimplicationsofmythesis?

Eventhoughtheabstractcomesfirstinaresearchproposal,itisadvisabletowriteitlast,i.e.onceyouhave

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spelledoutallinformationindetailinthelatersections.

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III. PROJECTDESCRIPTION
Inthissection,yougiveadetailedaccountofwhatyouaregoingtowriteaboutandwhy.Writethissectionina
goaldirectedmanner.Donotattempttogiveanexhaustiveoverviewoftheliteratureyouhavereadanddonot
trytolookateveryangleofaproblem.Rather,everythinginthissectionshouldrelateclearlytoyourresearch
questionaswellasmotivateyourhypothesis.
(1) Whatistheresearchquestion?
Intheresearchquestion,yousuccinctlyexpresstheobjectiveofyourthesis.Ifyoufeelyourthesiscannot
beformulatedinaresearchquestion,thereissomethingwrongwithit.Everysuitablethesisaddressesa
clearresearchquestion!
(2) Whyisthisrelevant?
Inthissection,youbrieflyexplainwhyyouconsidertheresearchquestiontoberelevant.Whatdoesyour
thesisaddtopreviousresearchinthefield?
(3) Whatdoyouwanttostudy/writeabout?
Here,youzoominontheparticulartopic/phenomenon/problemyourthesisaddressestoanswerthe
researchquestion.Makeclearwhyyourtopic(etc.)issuitableforansweringtheresearchquestion.
(4) Whathaspreviousresearchfound?
Inthissection,youprovideabriefoverviewoftherelevantliterature.Typically,yououtlinethedifferent
positions/approaches/theoriesinthefield,identifyflawsorlacunaeinpreviousresearch,pinpointopen
questionsandshowhowyourstudyfollowsuponorrelatestopreviousresearch.Itisimportanttokeep
thissectiongoalorientedandbrief.Typically,foraBAthesis,youdonotneedtocitemorethan57
sourcesinthissection.Thissectionshouldmotivateyourspecifichypothesis.
(5) Whatisyourhypothesis?
Formulateaclearandtestablehypothesis.Unliketheresearchquestion,whichisopen,ahypothesisisa
testablestatement.Themotivationforthishypothesisshouldbeclearfromthematerialthatprecedesit.
(6) Howdoyouwanttotestthehypothesis?
Inthissection,yououtlinethesetupofyourstudy.
Ifyourthesisisbasedexclusivelyonpreviousliterature,thissectionshouldincludeinformationabout:
(a) Sources:Whichtexts/approaches/analysesareyougoingtouse?
(b) MethodandAnalysis:Howareyougoingtoanalyzethetexts/approaches/analyses?Whatdoyoulook
for?Whichcriteriawillyouapply?Howareyougoingtocompareseveraltexts/approaches/analyses?
(c) Procedure:Inwhichorder(ofresearchsubquestions)willyoutacklethetexts/approaches?
Ifyouarecarryingoutanempiricalstudy,thissectionshouldincludeinformationabout:
(a) Participants:Howmany?Whataretheircharacteristicsortheselectioncriteria?Whereandhoware
yougoingtorecruitthem?
(b) Materials:Whatareyourexperimentalitemslike?
(c) Designofstudy:Howareyougoingtoconstructyouritems?Whataretheconditions?Whatis/arethe
independentvariable/s?Whatis/arethedependentvariable/s?
(d) Method:Namethemethodandexplainwhyyouoptedforit.Whattask(s)areyougoingtouse?

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(e) Procedure:Howdoesthetaskwork?Howdotheitemsgetpresented?Whatdotheparticipantsdo?
(f) Predictions:Breakdownthehypothesisintoexperimentalpredictionsaccordingtothedesign,
materialsandmethodofyourstudy.
(g) Analysis:Statehowyouaregoingtoclassify,groupandanalyzetheresults.Whichcomparisonsare
yougoingtomake?Whichstatisticalanalyses,ifany,areyougoingtouse(e.g.frequencies,
comparisonofmeans,correlations,etc.)?
(7) Whataretheexpectedfindings?
Inthissection,youanticipatethefindingsyouthinkyouaregoingtoobtain.Typically,theseshouldbe
consistentwiththepredictionflowingfromyourhypothesis.Writethissectioninthefuturetense.
(8) Howdothefindingsspeaktothehypothesis?
Inthissection,youexplainhowyouinterpretthefindingsinrelationtothehypothesisandhowthey
confirmordisprovethehypothesis.Itisinterestingtothinkaboutunexpectedfindings:Whatifthe
findingsturnoutdifferently?Arethereanyalternativeinterpretations?
(9) Whatistheexpectedcontributionofyourstudytothefield/researchquestion?
Here,youbrieflysummarizetheimpactyouthinkyourthesiswillhave.
IV. TIMESCHEDULE
Manythesesdonotsucceedbecausetheycouldnotbecarriedoutwithinthesettimelimit.Hence,workingout
atimescheduleisessential.Inmostcases,youcanuseatableforthetimescheduleasintheexampletable
below.Yourtablemaycontainmoreorfewerpoints.Planbackwardsfromthedateyourpaperisdueand
allowforenoughtime.
TotalTimeAvailable
Activity
(a)Findingandreadingpreviousliterature
(b)Designingmaterials
(c)Learninghowtousethemethod(s)
(d)Designingquestionnaire
(e)Findingparticipants
(f)Runningtests
(g)Analyzingdata
...
...
(h)Writingup
(i)Rewriting(andrewriting)
(j)Thoroughproofreading
(k)Submittingit

Weeksuntildeadline

Dates(fromXtillY)

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V. STRUCTUREOFPAPER
Inthissection,youprovideapreliminaryTableofContentsofthatillustratesthestructureofthethesis.For
eachsection,indicatehowlongitwillapproximatelybeandwhatthemainpointsareinit.
VI. REFERENCES
Youshouldlistallreferencescitedintheproposal.Makesurethesereferencesareuptodateandconformto
APAformat.
Thefinalsteps
Readthroughyourproposalandusethisguidelineasachecklist.Makesureyouhaveaddressedallrelevant
points.Itisimportantthateverythingyouwriteisclearandstraightforwardlyrelatestoyourresearchquestion.

Selectedandannotatedreferencesongeneralandlinguisticresearchmethods
(compiledbyDieterThoma)
Bell,Judith.1999.Doingyourresearchproject.Buckingham:OpenUniversityPress.(practicaladvice,first
steps)
Clapham,Caroline&DavidCorson,eds.1997.Encyclopaediaoflanguageandeducation.Volume7:Language
testingandassessment.Dordrecht:Kluwer.(containsmanyconcisearticles)
Hatch,Evelyn&AnneLazaraton.1991.Theresearchmanual:Designandstatisticsforappliedlinguistics.
NewYork:NewburyHouse.(verycomprehensive,butlesslinguisticsthanonemightexpect)
http://4teachers.homestead.com/writing.html(tipsonacademicwriting,avoidingplagiarism)
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/(almostawholebookonline;similartoMarczyketal.(2005)and
basedonthetheorybyShadishetal.(2002)
Marczyk,GeoffreyR.,DavidDematteo&DavidFestinger.2005.Essentialsofresearchdesignand
methodology.Hoboken,NJ:Wiley.(highlyrecommended,comprehensiveandaccessible)
McDaniel,Dana,CecileMcKee&HelenSmithCairns,eds.1996.Methodsforassessingchildren'ssyntax.
Cambridge,MA:MITPress.(selectionofcarefullydescribedexperiments,etc.)
Rietveld,Toni&RoelandVanHout.1993.Statisticaltechniquesforthestudyoflanguageandlanguage
behaviour.Berlin:MoutondeGruyter.
Shadish,WilliamR.,ThomasD.Cook&DonaldT.Campbell.2002.Experimentalandquasiexperimental
designsforgeneralizedcasualinference.Boston:HoughtonMifflin.(standardworkonvalidity,butnot
easy)
Wray,Alison,KateTrott&AileenBloomer.1998.Projectsinlinguistics:Apracticalguidetoresearching
language.London:Arnold.(veryaccessible,butabitshallow)