12 Steps for Writing a Successful PhD Research Proposal

PhD is not like other academic degree courses in which you have to attend regular classes submit hundreds of assignments, give class presentations, and so on. PhD is a 4 to 6 years program in which students complete extensive research and submit a research paper for the accomplishment of their degree. You can write this Research Proposal on any topic of the world concerning your field of education; there are no fixed specifications for PhD research paper writing.

You must be thinking that how wonderful it would be to work independently, as you don’t have to follow any institutional rules, no semesters, no exams, and no additional assignments. But you don’t know that successfully dealing with the PhD research paper and getting to the degree is 50 times harder than ordinary assignment writing.

The very first phase of research paper writing is to get your proposal approved. You must not lose hope in rejections because you may face this failure multiple times during the four years of PhD. Here is a detailed guide that will help you cope with this challenge successfully.

Essential Steps for PhD Research Proposal Writing

Following are the useful steps that you need to consider for writing a successful PhD research proposal.

Step#1 – Choose a Comfortable Spot

First of all, find a peaceful place to accomplish your task. It can be a separate room in your home or a private apartment where you can sit comfortably and concentrate on your work. A comfortable spot is important so that the activities and noises of the surrounding cannot distract your focus.

Step#2 – Mind Map Your Ideas

Second, you need to gather all the ideas you have in your mind regarding your PhD research paper. Remember that this is no ordinary research but you must need to contribute something new and productive to your field through your PhD research. So, your ideas must match the standard.

Step#3 – Topic Selection

Select an appropriate topic according to your mind-map. The topic of research must be interesting, comprehensive, and compelling. Also, it should be manageable i.e. it is not too extensive or too narrow because an extremely extensive topic will complicate your idea as well as research and you may go irrelevant unconsciously. While a too narrow topic will not let you meet the huge word count i.e. 60,000 to 80,000 words (according to PhD research requirements).

Step#4 – Set a Schedule

You have four years to complete your PhD research paper so you must dedicate the first six months with your whole effort to the research proposal writing. Set a deadline for yourself to get through each step. Also, set a timetable for each day so that you can proceed with your dissertation in a well-organized manner. If you are an employed student and are, unable to work on this long-stretched task so you may ask professionals to write your research proposal. Whatever you want to do, make quick decisions for it. Don’t procrastinate, even not for a single moment.

Step#5 – Prepare the Outline

Outline your plan. List out all the important points and write stepwise what you are doing to extract and explore in your PhD research and how. This outline will help you complete your research proposal in a swift flow.

Step#6 – Start with the Necessary Research

In this step, you first need to make 5 to 8 research questions, not more than that because it will be difficult for you to address them all along with maintaining connectivity. Carry out the primary research relevant to the topic. The sources you use in research must be highly credible. It’s better to explore scholarly journals for the data collection.

Step#7 – Write a Compelling Introduction

After getting done with your research, you should start writing the introduction for your PhD research proposal. The introduction builds the forms of the first impressions so it should be very well-composed. First, elaborate on the title in the introduction, describe the research background, then mention the aims and objectives, and at the end of the introduction give your thesis statement/problem statement. Your problem statement must be concrete because the whole research revolves around it (Rafael, 2021).

Step#8 – Write the Literature Review of the Current State of Knowledge

Writing the literature review for the research proposal is one of the most crucial steps. You should be much focused while writing the literature review of the current state of knowledge. Discuss the literature you have selected, compare and contrast their themes and ideas, find out the research gap and then come up with a comprehensive conclusion.

Step#9 – Discuss the Research Methodology

This step also plays a significant part in your PhD research. You have to write in detail your whole research methodology in your research proposal. Mention the research methods you have in your research yet and those that you will use in the further proceedings. Clearly describe whether you are going to use qualitative research methods, quantitative research tools, or both. Also, describe these methods like how you will conduct an interview and who will be the interviewee.

Step#10 – Mention Research Limitations and Implications

The next step is to write research limitations and implications. You need to create some boundaries for your research. Therefore, in this section, you will discuss the set boundaries that will be the limitations and how you will keep your research under the boundaries will be the implications.

Step#11 – Attach Bibliography

Now, come towards the references. You must know that if you don’t cite and refer to the sources you used in your research, make your content plagiarized which means straight failure. You should carefully create a bibliography in which you add all the sources cited and to be cited, properly and accurately.

Step#12 – Edit and Proofread Your Manuscript

Editing and proofreading are some of the most essential steps that you can’t skip. If you do not have time to do it yourself, you may take research proposal help but never comprise on the quality of the work by showing negligence towards editing and proofreading. It is important to remove all flaws in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation, language, sentence structure, etc. (Daffern, Mackenzie, and Hemmings, 2017). Your PhD research proposal should be perfect by all means.

EndNote

You must write your PhD research proposal up to the standards and strictly follow the above-motioned to get to the success. Don’t hesitate to take online assistance because your future depends on your PhD which you can only complete by producing remarkable research.