How to write a research proposal?

A research proposal can be thought of as an intellectual outline of what you intend to do, why it should be done, how you will do it, what you expect  to be the results  and  how you  will interpret your results  when  you finally set out to do your project. It is in effect a con tract between  you  and  your supervis or, therefore when it is approved? it simply means  that the lecturer has  given 
their best  judgment and  that the approach  to the resea rch is reasonable and likely to yield anticipated results. A clearly done proposal  will enable
you to complete yo ur project on time. A fuzzy, vag ue or weak proposal  will Save for a few vari ations, a typical research proposal will basically consist of the following components?

•    The title
•    Introduction
•    Topic area
•    Research  ques tion
•    Importance to knowle dge
•    literature review
•    A review of previous researches
•    Any preliminary work you had done on the same topic
•    Methodology
• Involves research design, sampling techniques, data collection methods, analytical techniques to be employed, how the data will be interpreted.
•    Expected results
•    Budget
•    Bibliography( references)

Let us now take a closer look at how these areas are important and in what perspective they should be used.

1. The introduction

Topic area

A properly chosen title gives  a good  clue as to what the paper is all about but it is not exhaustive. It should therefore be followed with an introduction which is strong enough to vividly bring out the gist  of the resea rch paper. It should be able to provide a brief overview of what the paper is all about, using as  few words as  poss ible, to enable the reader to determine if the research is relevant  or not. Research question(s)

It is important that you go right to the topic once it is established. Tell the reader the specific topic you will be addres s ing  as  well as  yo ur intended approach  and  finally let them know what they  will learn from the paper. Importance of the research Let it be known how relevant the whole study is to modern knowledge, how does it relate to similar work done before and why it should be supported or funded, whichever is desirable. Sample res earch  ques tions  and  a brief introduction to a resea rch paper;

• This research project seeks to explore the impact of power wrangles in African countries on the economies of the countries involved. In particular, it seeks to explain the extent to which regional organizations have failed to help out the member countries caught up in such situations.

• Leadership has for a long time been a thorn in the flesh of amajority of African states. Power doesn’t easily change hands in Africa. It doesn’t matter how well planned and executed the election might be, somehow one way or the other there will always be a disgruntled leader somewhere who will find fault with the whole process. According to Bradley (1999), power seems to be more intoxicating than the most potent of wines.

2. Literature review

Literature review is aimed at providing conceptual frame work to enable the reader to better understand the research questions. It is geared towards demonstrating how well the researcher understands and appreciates the diversity and breath of work that relates to what you are doing. These will include theories, models, assumptions, studies and methodologies that could also be an integral part of your work. Literature review also serves to unravel the gaps in the knowledge that need to be plugged thereby appropriately positioning your work to fit in and be relevant to the pool the existing of knowledge.

3. Methodology

Research design

Should be able to clearly explain to the reader how you intend to carry out the research, the methods you intend to employ and why they are relevant to your project. You could also seek to explain why you are not using widely known methods? the reasons could be financial or convenience.

Data collection

Briefly describe  the  instruments  you  intend  to use  in  collecting  your  data and  how  well  they  fit  into  your  resource  availability,  time  frame  and budget. This should help to detect flaws in the plan before they come back to haunt you when you are already started.

Data analysis

Data analysis will give an insig ht into the statistical, emp irical and  any other techniques  you intend to use in manipulating  the data in order  to come up with the  information you require to answer   the research questions.

Interpretation

It is vital to know  how  the  anticipated  results will be interpreted with due consideration to the possible range of outcomes. The different ranges of results could present a whole new interpretation of the results and therefore they need to be properly factored in.

4. Expected results

The expected res ults  provide a connection between the data analysis and the poss ible outcomes  to the theory and  the research  qu es tions initially formulated. In a nut shell, it summa rizes the significance of

5. Bibliography

A bibliograp hy is  basical ly a list of all  works  r elevant to your research t hat you might find  useful during the compilation. The references are lis ted alphabetically at the tail end of t he research  paper.  Let’s now look at the dos  and don’ts  when writing  a res earch paper.

The dos
·    Make  sure you  paper has  a profess ional outlook.
·    Make  it as  interes ting  as  possible.
·    Ensure that it comes  out as  informative as  possib le.
·    Write in a way that is easy to read

·    Make use of headings and sub-headings to make your work look organ
·    Include a table of content.
·    Use simple and easy to understand language.
·    Your arguments should be well constructed.
·    Conduct a thorough check of your spelling, grammar and typos.
·    Adopt a relevant referencing format.

The Don’ts
·    Repeat yourself
·    Use an over simplistic language
·    Try to impress your readers by using big words
·    Digress unnecessary
·    Use words whose meaning you are not so sure of