What Is A Dissertation Proposal

Writing and presenting your dissertation is the final important part of your academic journey at that particular stage. This is where you showcase all your learning and change during the years that you’ve been pursuing a certain program. Thus, the dissertation writing process can be both demanding and rewarding.

Before you embark on working on the dissertation, you must first begin writing a dissertation proposal. Remember, your dissertation laves your mark. It also showcases your academic and research skills thus, you should ensure you produce an original academic paper that adds value to your field of study.

A dissertation proposal is like a bulletin of your actual dissertation. It normally features information on your academic paper. It communicates with your reader the area of focus, background on theories, methodologies you will use, and the impact and usefulness of your results.

You can simply think of your dissertation proposal is your first outline and skeleton of the actual dissertation paper. In general, an effective dissertation proposal should work to answer several key questions. This includes the problem that is being addressed, why it is being addressed, and the importance, how are you going to find the answer, and the way forward. 

Essentials of Writing A Dissertation Proposal

•      Starting A Dissertation Proposal

When you are creating your dissertation proposal, this is where it all begins. Thus, to really put things into perspective start big. Get a notepad, think of your field of study and start brainstorming b listing down simple concepts that appeal to you within the field. Start to break them down into smaller concepts and think of problems you can address. When you have narrowed down the concepts begin researching and putting together the material.

This should form a good basis for a topic to focus on. During this process, you will be eased into brainstorming an ideal title for your paper. Remember to do something that is directly related to your field of study but you should also enjoy the process. The topic should be conceptualized from a concept that you like and enjoy working on.

•      Structuring And Writing A Dissertation Proposal

How you write and structure the dissertation proposal will highly affect its quality. Plus, it entirely depends on the length, field of study, and other smaller contributing elements. And after successfully creating your dissertation proposal it is a good idea to have your academic instructor or advisor go through it to give you feedback. This ensures that you write a proper and successful dissertation.

When you are writing a dissertation proposal, write in the present tense to easily capture your audience’s attention. And always get straight to the point. Always provide a title to your dissertation proposal and include a clear table of contents to guide the reader.  An Effective Dissertation Proposal should include the important sections of a proposal, i.e. introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, and conclusion.

     1. Introduction

The introduction part is where you will introduce the intended topic of your research paper to the audience. This section also outlines the thesis statement as well as the purpose of your study. To more strength and relevance to your proposal, the introduction should also outline the importance and significance of your study. Try to make the topic of your research paper closely related to your field of study to add more strength and relevance.

      2. Literature Review

The literature review should be the first stage where you showcase the strength and relevance of your chosen topic. In this section, you will summarize and evaluate the existing literature and sources in the field you are researching. In this section, you can outline the source’s research to create an understanding of how you will use the references to your audiences.

     3. Methodology

The methodology section is where you showcase how you will conduct your research. This section normally includes a short introduction, your actual research method design, and questions to answer, the setting, participants or equipment, methods of data collection, the data analysis, and the conclusion. After the introduction, you can also hypothesize and include your parameters as well.

     4. Findings

The research findings sections should be a smooth transition from the methodology. In this section, you outline the results of the methods you employed in the above section.  Because you hypothesize, your findings in the previous section, you get the chance to either support or contest your predicted and hypothesized findings. To remain objective, clear, and comprehensive, the results in the findings should be listed in the order of the research topic objectives. 

     5. Conclusion

The conclusion of your dissertation wraps everything up. The conclusion briefly rewrites the introduction so you can bring the audience back to reality. This helps them to marinate the bulk of the information they have been thrown at from the previous sections. It also helps you to draw a decision from your findings. The conclusion should also contain the discussion of the research findings and link them to the existing research and studies as well as propose a way forward.

As you are outlining the sections and the flow of your work in your proposal, you should also keep in mind that an effective dissertation proposal should also include a timeline. This helps both you and your advisor to understand your workload, plan accordingly, and gauge whether it is realistic or not. The timeframe basically showcases the schedule of how you will complete each task and manage the sections throughout your dissertation.

In the end, the dissertation proposal should be at least 10 to 20 pages – a true summary and outline of your academic research paper! Your dissertation proposal should also be able to provide certain key answers. These include defining and answer your research questions, clearly explaining the importance of the research questions, a tested hypothesis, and detailed and realistic methodologies to examine the hypothesis. This will have a huge impact on how you will conduct your dissertation literature review.

Drawbacks To A Effective Dissertation Proposal

As much as there are guidelines and tips to successfully creating your dissertation proposal and the academic paper itself, there are also drawbacks that can easily send you to failure. As a 21^st century student, who is always trying to juggle a lot at once, it is easy to lose focus and direction which ultimately puts you off track.

Procrastination is the number one enemy of a student’s academic life. There is no great time to start out at work. When you have time, start working on your proposal. Dint wait for last-minute rushing or towards the deadline to start working on the proposal. This habit will definitely lead to poor presentation and execution of work.

Research skills can also affect the quality of your dissertation. Play it safe by finding your references on authoritative and trusted databases such as libraries and academic journals. Seek help from your advisors and university resources during the very beginning before you have spent too much time on the paper.

Writing skills is also an issue that sets back students from writing a good dissertation proposal. Seek help from writing centers in your school to help strengthen you in this area. Remember, practice makes perfect.