Proposal Submission: Guidelines and Format

The purpose of the proposal is to further advance your understanding of management, achieved through investigation and analysis focused on a particular organisation/issue. To complete the proposal successfully, you need to read extensively within the chosen subject area that the proposal will seek to illustrate and undertake detailed research into the chosen organisation or subject area.

You are required to obtain written permission from the management of the organisation in which the research will be undertaken. It is important that you emphasise the need for access to relevant documentation and the requirement for interviews with the key personnel when obtaining this permission where appropriate.

Questionnaires, proposed surveys and interviews schedules (questions) must be approved by your module leader or your supervisor (if applicable) prior to mailing or being conducted. This stipulation is made largely in our own interest as it ensures that the questionnaire design is sound and will elicit the required information. Your supervisor must approve any covering letter and you must also ensure that the addressees are informed of the purposes of the research and how their information will be used.

Your proposal must contain some key components in addition to the background of study. This type of writing will place particular demands on your knowledge of discourse structure and style. The reader will rely on your ability to lead him or her through the text stage-by-stage. You should do this by using carefully chosen words, links between paragraphs, key sentences in paragraphs and effective opening and concluding paragraphs for each section.

Major and minor headings will help to guide the reader through the essential components of the text. These techniques contribute to the readability of the message. You are advised to consider the following factors when preparing your research proposal for submission.

The final research proposal should be 3,000 (10% +/-) words long. While length will not the major assessment criterion, research proposal lacking in substance or full repetition and padding will be graded down.

The proposal should be single sided with the main body of the text in point Times New Roman font, be one and a half or double line spaced except for quotations of more than one or two lines, have margins of at least 2.5cm on either side and at the top and bottom of each page, and have all pages, including full page exhibits and appendices, numbered

•Title page

•Clarity of topic

•Aims and objectives/Focus/Questions/hypothesis/Scope

•Literature Review

•Research Design/Methodology/Philosophical paradigm/data collection

•Data Analysis plan

•Anticipated Findings

•Gantt Chart

It is important that your proposal is well set out and easy to read. Any written message is both a verbal and non-verbal message. The readability of your proposal is determined by a wide variety of elements.

You should therefore write in a clear, formal style with a well-chosen vocabulary and use carefully constructed sentences.

Remember that the following elements are important in making the message both easy to read and appealing to the 

•Layout

•Appropriate use of headings and sub-headings to guide the reader

•Choice of research vocabulary (of course, do not forget Harvard referencing system)

•Sentence structure and length of sentences

•Paragraph structure and length of paragraphs

•Use of links between paragraphs

•Use of clear discourse

•Numbering and titles of exhibits; and

•Integration of exhibits into the text