Writing a Research Proposal: Guidelines and Instructions

This assignment is something that you will be able to draw upon moving forward in the program. A research proposal is a very common start to a research project as it helps to frame out the importance of the project itself and show the knowledge gaps that currently exist in the literature.

Typically after a solid research proposal is written, the paper unfolds from there as you have a clear framework to follow moving forward.
This assignment requires you to write a proposal that states your research question and your research strategy for addressing it. As mentioned throughout your previous assignments you may draw upon each one to help you build your proposal.

The research proposal must be between 8-10 pages in length not including the title page or references.
Your title page should include the working title of your research project, your name, date, and course title. You should also have an abstract on your title page.

Your proposal should have the following sections:
Introduction: The introduction is where you identify your specific research question and where you set the general context for the study. In this section you need to include:

a statement of the problem or general research question and context leading to a clear statement of the specific research question;
background and contextual material justifying why this case or topic should be studied;
and a purpose statement.

Literature Review: This short preliminary literature review section reviews the literature important to your specific research question. The literature review focuses on discussing how other researchers have addressed the same or similar research questions. It introduces the study and places it in a larger context that includes a discussion of why it is important to study this case. It  provides the current state of accumulated knowledge as it relates to your specific research question.

In this section you should:
Summarize the general state of the literature (cumulative knowledge base) on the specific research question. For example, if you discuss other studies that have been conducted you would summarize the researcher's findings, how those findings were obtained, and conduct an evaluation of biases in the findings.
This section should provide a broad overview of the primary arguments related to the topic and organizes the general views on the main aspects of the topic by theme, which could be the prevailing arguments or schools of thought, or commonly held beliefs that your particular topic may challenge.

Include a short conclusion and transition to the next section.
In your literature review, you should also discuss the theoretical framework to be used in the study.You should ensure you cover the following in your discussion:
a summary of the theory or model to be used in the study, including a diagram of the model if appropriate;
comment on the kinds of questions this theory has been used to answer in the past and why it is appropriate to use in this proposed study
To really drive this home you want to end your literature review with a discussion of the current knowledge gaps. This is an opportunity to once again promote the importance of your own research. How will your research fit within this larger body of knowledge? What are you doing differently? What gaps will your research fill?
For some additional information on how to organize your theoretical framework into your paper, check out this USC Library guide on Theoretical Frameworks.

From here you would then include a transition into your methodology section.
NOTE: Literature reviews can be a bit tricky to write. Think back to how you wrote your short theory lit review in week 4. Chances are you already started to write in a style similar to what one does when completing a literature review. Check out this video (the same one you were guided to in week 4) to help you further prepare to write this section of your proposal. This will not be the last time that you are asked to write a literature review in your academic career so it is important to master this skill.

Research Design and Methods: Describes how you will answer your research question or test the hypothesis. This section describes your overall research design and how you plan to collect, synthesize, and interpret your data. It should include:
identification and operationalization (measurement) of variables;
a sampling plan (i.e., study population and sampling procedures, if appropriate);
justification of case studies used;
data collection/sources (secondary literature, archives, interviews, surveys, etc.);
a summary of analysis procedures (pattern-matching, etc.); and
the limitations of the study and bias discussion.