A research proposal is a detailed document that outlines the description of how an intended problem can be solved. Basically, there are two types of research proposal
Types of research proposals:
- Academic research proposals
- Non-academic research proposals
Before writing a grant proposal it is a pro tip to visualize what you intend to justify why you need funding. For this purpose, build a mind map, provide a visual representation of your idea and construct an overview of your business or research idea. It will help the applicant to see.
- Title of the Proposal (Good Title Vs Bad Title)
A good title is always concise and unambiguous and it must give direct sense to the evaluator of what you intend to propose or investigate in this document. While a bad title is always too long (or vice versa) and overly technical and hence won’t catch the reviewer’s curiosity.
- Summary of Research Proposal
Provide sufficient background information to support your claims and goals and always state the hypothesis with clarity. It is very important to describe the goals and/or objectives of your proposal. Moreover, discuss the relevance, effect, and innovation of your suggestions. For a promising summary, you must not provide a too technical or succinct description of the project. Avoid writing incomplete and ambiguous terms, statements, and goals in your summary. BECAUSE THIS IS THE HEART OF YOUR DOCUMENT.
For non-scientific proposals and those used for press releases, avoid using acronyms. In this kind of proposal, the applicant must clearly state why the intended study is important and must be addressed; discuss its impact. Tip; get it reviewed by a third person; preferably a non-technical person to evaluate your findings and pitch. For non-academic proposals, the applicant must avoid technical language and acronyms even if defined.
- Introduction
In this section, the application must orient the evaluator toward the main finding and must explain the significance and relevance of the topic. Here, it is important to justify the problem to be addressed with claims and references. Present your introduction in a well-structured manner, in the first paragraph, provide ample details related to the scientific details and discuss the nature of the problem in the second paragraph. While the last part of this section must highlight the proposed objectives in light of the first two paragraphs.
- Literature Review
This section highlights closely related studies, but please do not duplicate the existing work. Always share with the evaluator/ reviewer the outcomes of the studies in a well-structured manner. It is essential to highlight the existing gaps and what new information can be addressed to the existing pool of knowledge.
- Goals and/or Objectives of Research
All the goals and objectives should be presented to the point and must present what the applicant expects to achieve by the study. This section should state the innovations of your presented idea and must present a clear statement demonstrating why this project is significant and what impact it will have.
- Proposed Methodology
This section is designated to explain the research design of your study. You can provide descriptive case studies in this section with all the possible information related to the components of the intended work. Always remember that SEEING IS BELIEVING: Use Schematic figures or diagrams to help reviewers understand your model and idea.
- Work Plan
Explain different phases of your proposed methodology concerning the timeline of the expected results. Plan the pitfalls or Alternative approaches. Include the major phases of the project and estimate when you will start each phase of the work. Estimate the duration of each phase Sequencing, flow, and timeline of the study.
- References
- Provide the origin of every claim that you make in your research.
- List all references cited in the proposal.
- Make sure these references are:
- Up-to-date
- Relevant
- Original Source
- Synchronize your references
Follow the same referencing style (i.e. Chicago/APA etc.)
- Applicant’s CV details
The applicant’s CV should always be a very impressive document and must contain all the personal and professional information of the application. It is always a good point to list all the achievements directly related to the proposed idea in your CV and provide a list of all grants already achieved. The researchers must provide the research record in the form of conference and journal publications with their impact factors, journal rankings, and relevant information. The proposals of academic applications having no evidence of research track record are most likely to reject. You must be the first author in a few recent studies.
- What you must not do
Do not put light on the minor issues and avoid the major issues of your study. Incorrect citations and sloppy writing always give a very negative impression to the reviewer. Another thing that leads to rejection is when the applicant does not state all the basic assumptions and concerns relevant to the study.
