Those of you who have are gearing up for a PhD career must have heard some horror stories from your seniors. While some of these are pure academic myths, others are somewhat true. But how does one get the right information on writing dissertation proposals? How to produce the perfectly written proposal that will impress your graduate committee and earn you that much coveted graduate scholarship that your arch rival is also vying for? With a friend like MyAssignmenthelp.com you can now bid adieu to all your worries. MyAssignmenthelp.com is the favorite online assignment provider across Australia, UK and USA that also provides excellent online dissertation sample help. Here is everything you wanted to know about writing a dissertation proposal for your university.

What is a dissertation proposal?

The term dissertation refers to a lengthy and formally written document presented to a graduate committee of a university in order to support the candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification. A dissertation proposal is a short and formally written summary of a dissertation which is submitted to the graduate committee before the actual dissertation is written. The term thesis is used synonymously with dissertation. In some countries, Master’s or Bachelor’s Degree require the submission of a thesis while PhD degree entails the submission of a dissertation called doctoral dissertation. In some other countries, the reverse is true. Professional degrees like law, medicine and management also require the submission of a thesis or a dissertation.

Dissertation Rules in Australia, UK and USA

Each country has its own rule regarding dissertation and dissertation samples. Here are the rules in three major countries of the world.

Australia:

1.    In Australia, a dissertation proposal is usually examined by three examiners. Only universities like Australian Catholic University and University of New South Whales allow two examiners.

2.    Once approved, research is carried out on the chosen topic.

3.    The dissertation has to be approved by the research candidate’s supervisor before submitting it to the examiners once again.

4.    Of all the examiners, one would be from the student’s own department and the remaining would be external.

United Kingdom:

1.    In United Kingdom, the words thesis and dissertations are used interchangeably. PhD or Engineering degrees require submission of a thesis while Masters or Undergraduate programs ask for dissertations.

2.    Proposals have to be approved by the supervisory team.

3.    The team can either be made of a single supervisor or a range of internal and external supervisors.

United States of America

1.    In United States, dissertations and theses are compulsory for undergraduate course as well as graduate courses.

2.    Dissertations can take a long time to complete. As such proposals have to be passed quite early on in the careers of graduate students.

3.    A dissertation or a thesis proposal is judged as to whether or not it makes an original contribution to scholarship.

Parts of dissertation proposal

A dissertation proposal has the following parts which must be included in all types of dissertations, be it engineering, law or management.

1.    Personal and Professional details:

Every proposal should begin with the following personal and professional details. They are:

· Dissertation/thesis title

· Name of the candidate

· Institutional affiliation

· Name of supervisor

· Expected date of submission

These details must be furnished to the graduate committee before the start of the actual proposal.

2.    Introduction:

An introduction proposes the subject or the topic of dissertation. The introduction must carry only the most essential information required and no extra words should be included. Further students are advised not to write anything that will not be taken up later in the dissertation chapters. In short, a dissertation introduction needs to be succinct and short.

3.    Research Question:

A research question is the central question that summarizes the thesis or a dissertation. It has to be included in the proposal itself in order to let the supervisors and the examiners know of your research intentions. Remember to keep your question clear and free from ambiguity.

4.    Research Methodology:

Research methodology refers to the method that is proposed to be utilized by the research during the course of his or her research. Methodology can be of various types:

· Interviews which throw light on what the interviewees are thinking

· Surveys or question and answer sessions of a number of people and then finding out the pattern that governs the responses

· Historical document analysis or analysis of old historical documents for information

· Theoretical analysis or application of relevant theories to practical situations

5.    Chapters:

The actual soul of the proposal consists of the research chapters. They spell out the findings of the research in a systematic manner. There is no limit to how much you can write. But chapters should at least be five or above in number. Each chapter should consist of a particular theme.

6.    Conclusion:

The conclusion proposes the main arguments of the thesis in a cogent fashion in one final section. Like the introduction, a conclusion should not be long. It is desirable to stick to the main argument of the research. Findings should be self explanatory and should come within the chapters themselves.

7.    Citations and References:

No dissertation proposal is complete without references. Each university prefers a particular style of referencing. The major styles are:

· Harvard style in which in-text citations are followed

· Chicago style in which references are separately provided as endnotes and footnotes

· APA style in which name of author is provided along with date of publication within the text itself

· MLA style in which the name of the author is provided along with page number within the text

8.    Proposed Bibliography:

A bibliography is a list of books which is presented in a tabular form at the end of the proposal. It denotes the list of books that you are going to consult while conducting the research. Remember to cite only those books which you have actually read. This is because you will be asked questions on the basis of the list of books provided. So there is really no point in false bragging.

Dissertation proposal sample: management

Now that we have looked at the various parts of a dissertation, we might just as well look at how a sample dissertation proposal looks. For the sake of simplicity, we have chosen a proposal from one specific subject area i.e. management.

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