Writing a research proposal

FAQ
I would like to apply for PhD. Had my first meeting with my
potential supervisor who gave me one of his book to read
before he makes the decision if to take me on. He also asked
me to write proper formal proposal and I am stuck! What shall I
include in this proposal and what is the format of it? I have
done dissertations and essay but in this field I am completely
lost. I am desperate for him to say yes so my proposal need to
be very good one. Is there anyone who I can find and have like
guidence, who would help me with this matter and make more
clear on how to write the proposal?

Here are a number of hints that may help you prepare a proposal for
registering as a PhD/master topic. It is often more important that your
unique contribution to these projects comes across clearly in the proposal.

Note: Proposals are not wholly binding. They can (and must) change as the
research progresses. They do, though, help us to work out;

(a) who might be appropriate supervisors,

(b) how well you have thought out a small piece of research, and

(c) roughly the kind of project you intend to tackle, and how you intend to
tackle it.

And that's really what the proposal is for.

1. Talk to the department in advance

Academic supervisors are allowed, and often even encouraged, to help you
prepare a proposal in advance. This allows you and potential supervisors to
negotiate a common interest in the topic of your research. If you don't
contact a department in advance, it is more than likely that they won't be
able to find potential supervisors with enough common interest. Feel free to
email the named contact for the department, with a summary of your ideas,
and they may be able to put you in touch with potential supervisors and
others who might be able to help.

2. Structure the proposal

Before actually writing the proposal, it's a good idea to do a bit of research
on what other people have done, and to find a nice clear statement of a
problem that you are interested in tackling.

We find that targeted proposals — ones with a clear statement of a

particular problem and possible solution, or a clear system to build — tend
to be much easier to write proposals about than open research topics. It is
important that a proposal doesn't seem at all vague. If the proposal seems to
read confidently, that will help it to be successful.

3. Cover the "big four" issues

A good proposal covers four main issues. These look like answers to these
four questions:

x What am I going to do in my research?

x Who else has done research like this, and what did they do?
x How am I going to do this research?
x Why will this research be important to the academic community?

A good proposal will have answers to all these questions, usually spending
about half to two thirds of a page on each one.

4. Attend to the method

The other important part of a proposal is for us to get a clear idea of how
you intend to pursue the proposed research. Questions that might be
addressed in this section include:

x Am I going to build a system?

x What tools am I going to use to build it?
x How am I going to find evidence as to whether it is a good system?
5. Select proposal references carefully
An important part of the proposal is the background against which you are
proposing to work. A good way of representing this is to carefully choose
some of the more important academic papers that discuss this, and properly
refer to them in your proposal. You are allowed (and even encouraged) to
be constructively critical of this work if you intend to build on it.

example

OPTIMAL OPERATION OF MULTI-SOURCE RESERVOIR SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION

Urbanization is a continuing phenomenon not only in developing countries but also in

developed countries. There has been increasing interest and concern focused on the
use of our natural resources, specifically water that has been accorded as high priority
in the global development agenda. Forests, plantations, grasslands and others are
being continually converted into residential areas, commercial and industrial
complexes, shopping centers and other facilities. One of the effects of urbanization
with which engineers, planners and decision makers should deal with is the increase
demand of water for domestic uses that requires a greater involvement in the
management of water resources and water supply in an integrated manner.

The demand for a proper and sustainable water resources development and water
supply services has increased steadily as a result of the rapid socio-economic
development and environmental consciousness in the country. As the population of
the country expands, rapid urbanization, industrial expansion and climate
change, besides contributing to rising water pollution, the strains places on the earth’s
natural resources also increase (Raja Dato’ Zaharaton Raja Zainal Abidin, AsiaWater
2004). It will be a challenge for water resources managers to meet the increasing
demands for reliable high quality water supplies. As a result, a proper reservoir
operation and management systems shall be planned to accommodate the population
increase and to avoid water shortages that may disrupt economic activities.
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

As the total quantity of available water is finite but demand increasing at geometrical
rates, Malaysia, a tropical country relatively rich in water resources, is facing
numerous water related problems, such as water shortages, water pollution, and
floods. It is reported that 98% of the total national water use originates from surface
water resources, therefore the water supply services may easily be affected by long
spells. A few incidents in the past wheredrought caused serious water rationing and
hardship for 1.8 million residents of Kuala Lumpur & other towns in Klang Valley in
1998 and Malacca also imposed water rationing when the level of Durian Tunggal
Dam, the water supply reservoir, reached 50% of its capacity.

Providing an adequate water supply plays vital role in the development of a nation and
it becomes the government objective in water sector. The projected domestic and
industrial water demand continues to increase with the economic growth and
industrialization of the country. Considering the growth of urbanization and
industrialization, an optimal operation of a water supply reservoir demands immediate
attention to ensure long term availability and sustainability of water supply including
the conservation of water in future.

NEED FOR RESEARCH

Optimal operation of reservoir has been an active area of research for many years.
Various techniques have been developed and adopted for reservoir operation
incorporating the uncertainty due to stochastic nature of inflows and demands.

For a reservoir that depends upon not only from surface runoff but other sources for
its supply, the available volume is subjected to numerous constraints including
reservoir inflow conditions, increasing water demands, high electricity costs for
pumping and programmed maintenance periods. These constraints vary and may
change considerably during the project life which calls for a modified operational
policy.

At present the operation of case study water supply reservoir is mostly based on a
general theoretical objective curve developed on an ad hoc basis, and in addition to
that lack of real time forecast information on inflow into the reservoir, resulting in a
non-optimal operation of the reservoir. The present practice may be improved by
considering the followings:

i optimizing pumping operation.

i deriving optimal reservoir operation rules for better performance and control of
the system
 i developing a specific technique for reservoir operationincorporating the
uncertainty due to stochastic nature of inflows and demands.

i developing an optimal operation rule of the reservoir taking the account

of population expansion and climate change.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The principal objective of this study is to derive a more realistic and reliable
operational rules for a water supply reservoir system that is multi-source dependent to
reduce the gap between theoretical developments and actual implementations. Five
main objectives have been identified that lead to a logical progression through the
thesis:

1. Assessment of the actual performance of the operating policy.

2. Minimizing pumping costs

3. Analyze operating policy to take the account of the future water demand increase.

4. Evaluating reservoir capacity/operating policy due to climate change.

5. Rainfall forecasting for reservoir operation

SCOPE OF WORK

The scope of the study is confined to the development of stochastic linear

programming models to derive a general monthly reservoir operating policy using
historical and uncertainties nature of inflow data from various sources. The model
development and analysis will be comprised of:

i Rainfall analysis and predictions by various methods such as statistical methods,

fuzzy models and neural network, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and
adopt the most reliable method to be applied in the rainfall-runoff model.

i Development of rainfall-runoff model to simulate historical events.

i Seasonal rainfall forecasting using large scale climate signals and downscale it to
watershed scale using the method such as Fuzzy Set Theory (FST). The relationship
between variation in SST (Sea Surface Temperature), and SLP (Sea Level Pressure)
gradient in a number of characteristic locations and the occurrence of extreme low
and high precipitation will be evaluated

i Analysis of the inflow variation due to climate change

i Development of reservoir management model based on Genetic Algorithm to

produce an optimal reservoir operation rules.

i Evaluation of drought severity, with particular attention is given to climatic and

hydrologic droughts.

i Development of a neural network, fuzzy logic, and other models in derivation of

rules for reservoir operation for water supply system, and to combine the model
with optimization model.

i Developments of probabilistic optimization model formulated with either linear or

dynamic programming optimization algorithm. This model is to be coupled with
neural network prediction model. The objective function is to minimize total
pumping costs from different sources.

i Derivation of the optimal reservoir operation policies based on the above

optimization model that takes an account of population increase and climate
change.

i Development of a reservoir simulation model to test the usefulness of optimal

operation policies.

i Comparison of operational results obtained from the simulation models at various

confidence intervals with the actual operational curve produced from historical
operation of the reservoir.

Other examples
[mujib] [razlan] [roslizam] [syifaul] [NZ]
How to Write a PhD Dissertation Proposal & a PhD
Dissertation – more details

Many aspects of writing a dissertation are the same as those for

preparing a Master’s Thesis. PhD dissertations are somewhat
more involved and complex but yet they can be broken down in
stages and completed part by part making them much more
manageable. Just as with a Master’s thesis, a dissertation
involves the assignment of a supervisor, depending on where you
are going. Additionally, there is also a committee that must be
selected which consists of different professors from a variety of
disciplines that will act to review the final dissertation document
and approve or disapprove it.

That said, just stay focused on your research project and work on
it one stage at a time. The first thing that you should do is
examine the outline of what a completed dissertation should
include. For your benefit I have included a detailed table of
contents below that you can look over to get an idea of the type
of work and thesis you must become familiar with. You would be
surprised at how many people enter a PhD program without any
idea of what is involved in terms of the final completed project
which is the dissertation. Just by looking over the various
chapters and stages of the typical dissertation you can get better
grasp of what you need to do and where you should start:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES. ix
LIST OF FIGURES. x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.. 1
Background of the Problem.. 2
Statement of the Problem.. 2
Purpose of the Study. 2
Significance of the Problem.. 3
Nature of the Study. 3
 Research Questions. 3
Hypotheses. 4
Theoretical Framework. 4
Definition of Terms. 5
Assumptions. 5
Limitations. 5
Delimitations. 6
Summary. 6
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.. 7
Documentation. 7
Literature Review.. 7
First Subthesis - Heading level Two. 8
Second Subthesis - Heading level Two Title Case. 8
Subheading Level Three Title Case. 8
Subheading Level Three - Title Case. 8
Summary. 9
Conclusion. 9
CHAPTER 3: METHOD.. 10
Research Design. 10
Appropriateness of Design. 10
Research Questions. 10
Population. 11
Informed Consent 11
Sampling Frame. 11
Confidentiality. 11
Geographic Location. 12
Instrumentation. 12
Data Collection. 12
Data Analysis. 12
Validity and Reliability. 13
Summary. 13
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS. 14
Findings. 14
Summary. 19
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 20
Conclusion. 20
 Implications. 21
Recommendations. 21
REFERENCES. 22
APPENDIX A: TITLE THAT IDENTIFIES APPENDIX TO THE READER.. 23
APPENDIX B: INFORMED CONSENT FORM... 25

One of the first things that you should notice is the level of detail
that you must achieve in relation to a specific thesis and that is
where you should first focus you energies on—identifying an
appropriately refined thesis. Basically, if you thesis is specific
enough and, better yet, is one that you are actually interested in
then half the battle is over because you will enjoy doing the
project except for dealing with the bloated heads who you are
going to have kowtow to in order to get your project approved.
So, before beginning your dissertation I have detailed some steps
that you should take in preparation for getting started on your
PhD dissertation proposal which is usually the first three
chapters, in shortened form:

*Identify a narrow thesis that is interesting to you

*Identify a methodology which is going to be either qualitative or

quantitative (Hint: if you have a choice select a qualitative
methodology and go with the case study or bracketing method if
you can. However, if you must choose a quantitative
methodology then utilize descriptive statistics because these are
relatively simple statistical analysis procedures and can be
accomplished in Excel. If you go with a more complex statistical
analysis method such as ANOVA or MANOVA then you will need
SPSS or a similar statistical analysis application)

*Do a brief online database search for similar research reports or

articles
These simple steps will accomplish much in preparing you to
formulate your proposal and crystallize your overall dissertation
project.

Writing Thesis/Dissertation Proposals

Your thesis/dissertation proposal provides an overview of your
proposed plan of work, including the general scope of your
project, your basic research questions, research methodology,
and the overall significance of your study. In short, your proposal
explains what you want to study, how you will study this
thesis, why this thesis needs to be studied, and
(generally) when you intend to do this work. (Occasionally, you
may also need to explain where your study will take place.)
Purpose:
Dissertation/Thesis proposals are designed to:
* Justify and plan (or contract for) a research project.
* Show how your project contributes to existing research.
* Demonstrate to your advisor and committee that you
understand how to conduct discipline-specific research within an
acceptable time-frame.
Audience:
Most proposals are written specifically for your academic advisor
and committee.

Proposal Writing and Anxiety

General Advice:
* Establish a writing schedule, preferably writing at the same
time and place each day.
* Begin by free-writing. Remember that no one but you has to
see the initial draft.
* Keep a small notebook with you throughout the day to write
down relevant thoughts.
* Say parts of your writing into a recording device and then play
it back to yourself.
* Compose different parts of the proposal in different computer
files or on different index cards to help with arranging and
rearranging.
* Start with more “clear cut” stages first, rather than with the
Introduction, since it may be the most difficult part to write.
Proposal-Specific Advice:
* Understand that the proposal will be a negotiated document, so
be prepared to draft, redraft, and resubmit it.
* Think of the proposal as an introduction to your thesis—not a
chapter, not an extensive literature review, not an opportunity to
rehearse the major conflicts in your field. You are “bridging the
gap” between existing work and your work.
* Remember that the proposal is not a contract that determines
what your thesis will demonstrate. You will likely modify and
refine your scope, argument, and methods.
* Remember that your proposal is not meant to limit your ideas,
but to help you think in practical terms about how you intend to
research and write your dissertation.
* Ask colleagues to form a writing group that you can use to
exchange ideas, drafts, and experiences. As lonely as it may
seem sometimes, writing is a social activity.

Because proposal requirements vary broadly by department,

program, and advisor, generalizing them is difficult. The best
advice is the simplest: consult with your advisor, ask to see past
successful proposals, and talk to your colleagues. Using other
proposals to help you generate ideas in not plagiarizing!

The following table provides an overview of the entire dissertation

proposal and dissertation process that you can check off as you
complete each stage or step:
Week Main task to be Find time this week also to Possible
completed by end of explore: interim
this week: deadlines
1 Background reading Follow interesting ‘trails’, until
one leads to a provisional
question or ‘thesis’
2 Finalise thesis and title More background and focused Agreement of
reading on your chosen aspect of title
the thesis
3 Literature search – what Investigate methodological Brief annotated
has already been written issues, implications of particular bibliography
about your thesis? Seek methods and ethical issues. See
out up-to-date resources, the Developing an Appropriate
asking for help from strategy Guide and Using
library staff Endnote Bibliographic
Software Guide for help with
constructing and maintaining a
bibliography
4 Dissertation plan, Reflect on methodological issues Overview of
informed by your in writing and revising your design of
literature search dissertation plan dissertation
plan
5 Develop dissertation plan Begin to conduct your research
and gather evidence or data
6 Gathering evidence or
data
7 Gathering evidence or Begin to analyse evidence or data
data
8 Gathering evidence or Begin to analyse evidence or data
data
9 Use initial findings to Continue to analyse and evaluate Interim report
begin to draft the evidence or data to supervisor
dissertation
10 Refine assignment plan Focus on adopting an appropriate
and develop draft, academic tone and style, together
referring to self- with accurate, reader-friendly
evaluation checklist in presentation of evidence
Stage 4
11 Continue drafting and
refining
12 Complete draft Refine style Completed draft
13 Apply self-evaluation Last refinements of written style
checklist again and presentation; final check of
data and its presentation
14 Produce final assignment Submit
dissertation
PARTS OF A PROPOSAL
Despite their wide differences, proposals across programs
generally include at least some form of the following stages
(though you will want to check with your academic advisor about
the specific stages s/he requires): Title, Abstract,
Introduction/Background, Problem Statement, Purpose/Aims/
Rationale, Review of Literature, Methodology, Significance/
Implications, Overview of Chapters, Plan of Work, Bibliography.

Sometimes these stages may be combined—in some fields, the

problem statement, aims, and review of literature are all part of
the introduction. The most common elements are the
introduction/ problem statement, review of literature, and
methodology (which in some fields roughly correspond to the first
three chapters of the dissertation).

Title
At this early stage, you need only provide a working title. You can
decide on the exact wording for your title when you are nearer to
completing your dissertation. Nevertheless, even at the start, aim
to create a title that conveys the idea of your investigation.
Normally, a title beginning “A study in . . .” is too vague; decide
whether you want to compare, collate, assess, etc. Also, don’t
worry if you compose a long title. You are preparing to write an
academic document, not to devise a snappy headline for a tabloid
newspaper.

A good title should:

* Orient your readers to the thesis you will research.
* Indicate the type of study you will conduct.

Abstract
Not all fields require abstracts, so check with your advisor to see
if you are required to include one. The abstract should:
* Provide a brief (100-350 word) overview of the proposal that
gives a reader a basic understanding of your proposal and
encourages her or him to read more.
* Summarize Introduction, Statement of the Problem,
Background of the Study, Research Questions or Hypotheses, and
Methods and Procedures.
* (In some cases, the abstract may need to be very brief—no
more than 50 words—in which case, it will be more descriptive
than complete.)

Introduction/Background
The introduction helps put your project in conversation with other
projects on similar thesis. Generally, the introduction provides
necessary background information to your study and provides
readers with some sense of your overall research interest. A good
introduction should:
* Establish the general territory (real world or research) in which
the research is placed.
* Describe the broad foundations of your study, including some
references to existing literature and/or empirically observable
situations. In other words, the introduction needs to provide
sufficient background for readers to understand where your study
is coming from.
* Indicate the general scope of your project, but do not go into so
much detail that later stages (purpose/literature review) become
irrelevant.
* Provide an overview of the stages that will appear in your
proposal (optional).
* Engage the readers.

Statement of the Problem

This stage may be incorporated in your introduction or your
purpose stage, or it may stand independently (it depends on the
field). Some proposals start with the statement of the problem,
rather than a more general introduction. Regardless of
placement, at some point you need to clearly identify the problem
or knowledge gap that your project is responding to. This stage
should:
* Answer the question: “What is the gap that needs to be filled?”
and/or “What is the problem that needs to be solved?”
* State the problem clearly early in a paragraph.
* Limit the variables you address in stating your problem or
question.

You may want to consider framing your problem “statement” as a

question, since you are really seeking to answer a question (or a
set of questions) in your study.

Purpose/Aims/Rationale/Research
Questions
Most proposals include a clear statement of the research
objectives, including a description of the questions the research
seeks to answer or the hypotheses the research advances. This
may be included as part of the introduction, or it may be a
separate stage. Spend significant time brainstorming before and
while you draft this stage. Once you begin your dissertation
research, you may find that your aims change in emphasis or in
number. What is essential for you at this point, though, is to
specify for your readers—and for yourself—the precise focus of
your research and to identify key concepts you will be studying.

A clear statement of purpose will:

* Explain the goals and research objectives of the study (what do
you hope to find?).

* Show the original contributions of your study by explaining how

your research questions or approach are different from previous
research (what will you add to the field of knowledge?).
* Provide a more detailed account of the points summarized in
the introduction.

* Include a rationale for the study (why should we study this?).

* Be clear about what your study (this is especially important if

you are applying for competitive funding; narrowly focused
studies are more likely to win funding).
In addition, this stage may:
* Describe the research questions and/or hypotheses of the
study.
* Include a substage defining important terms, especially if they
will be new to some readers or if you will use them in an
unfamiliar way.
* State limitations of the research.
* Provide a rationale for the particular subjects of the study.

Review of the Literature

The literature review is a critical look at the existing research
that is significant to the work that you are carrying out.
Obviously, at this point you are not likely to have read everything
related to your research questions, but you should still be able to
identify the key texts with which you will be in conversation as
you write your dissertation. Literature reviews often include both
the theoretical approaches to your thesis and research (empirical
or analytical) on your thesis.

Writing the literature review allows you to understand:

* other scholars have written (in addition to what they have
written).
* The range of theories scholars use to analyze their primary
materials or data
* How other scholars connect their specific research thesis to
larger issues, questions, or practices within the field.
* The best methodologies and research techniques for your
particular thesis.

The literature review has four major functions or rhetorical

goals that you should keep in mind as you write:
* It situates the current study within a wider disciplinary
conversation.
* It illustrates the uniqueness, importance of and need for your
particular project by explaining how your research questions and
approach are different from those of other scholars.
* It justifies methodological choices.
* It demonstrates your familiarity with the thesis and appropriate
approaches to studying it.

Appropriate literature reviews should:

* Flesh out the Introduction’s brief description of the background
of your study.
* Critically assess important research trends or areas of interest
relevant to your study.
* Identify potential gaps in knowledge.
* Establish a need for current and/or future research projects.

Advice on drafting your Literature Review:

* Categorize the literature into recognizable thesis clusters and
begin each with a sub-heading. Look for trends and themes and
then synthesize related information. You want to
1) stake out the various positions that are relevant to your
project,
2) build on conclusions that lead to your project, or
3) demonstrate the places where the literature is lacking,
whether due to a methodology you think is incomplete or to
assumptions you think are flawed.
* Avoid “Smith says X, Jones says Y” literature reviews. You
should be tying the literature you review to specific facets of your
problem, not to review for the sake of reviewing.
* Avoid including all the studies on the subject or the vast array
of scholarship that brought you to the subject. As tempting as it
might be to throw in everything you know, the literature review is
not the place for such demonstration. Stick to those pieces of the
literature directly relevant to your narrowed subject (question or
statement of a problem).
* Avoid polemics, praise, and blame. You should fight the
temptation to strongly express your opinions about the previous
literature. Your task is to justify your project given the known
scholarship, so polemics, praise, and blame are unnecessary and
possibly distracting.

Point to Remember: You are entering a scholarly conversation

already in progress. The literature review shows that you’ve been
listening in and that you have something valuable to say. After
assessing the literature in your field, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
* Why should we study (further) this research thesis/problem?
* What contributions will my study make to the existing
literature?

Methodology
This stage is essential to most good research proposals. How you
study a problem is often as important as the results you
collect. This stage includes a description of the general means
through which the goals of the study will be achieved: methods,
materials, procedures, tasks, etc.

An appropriate methodology stage should:

* Introduce the overall methodological approach for each problem
or question. Is your study qualitative or quantitative? Are you
going to take a special approach, such as action research, or use
case studies?

* Indicate how the approach fits the overall research design. Your
methods should have a clear connection with your research
questions and/or hypotheses. In other words, make sure that
your methods will actually answer your questions—Don Thackrey
notes that the most common reason for the rejection of
professional proposals is that “the proposed tests, or methods, or
scientific procedures are unsuited to the stated objective.”

* Describe the specific methods of data collection you are going

to use—e.g. surveys, interviews, questionnaires, observation,
archival or traditional library research.

* Explain how you intend to analyze and interpret your results.

Will you use statistical analysis? Will you use specific theoretical
perspectives to help you analyze a text or explain observed
behaviors?

* If necessary, provide background and rationale for

methodologies that are unfamiliar for your readers. (Typically,
the social sciences and humanities require more
explanation/rationale of methods than the hard sciences).

* If applicable, you may also need to provide a rationale for

subject selection (particularly if you have not already provided
one). For instance, if you propose to conduct interviews and use
questionnaires, how do you intend to select the sample
population? If you are analyzing literary texts, which texts have
you chosen, and why?

* Address potential limitations. Are there any practical limitations

that could affect your data collection? How will you attempt to
control for potential confounding variables and errors?

Advice on drafting your methodology stage:

* Break down your methodology into easily digestible substages.
* In the physical sciences, these stages may include subjects,
design, apparatus, instrumentation, process, analysis, etc.
* In the social sciences, these stages may include selection of
participants, interview process, profiles, interpretive and analytic
framework, methods of qualitative analysis, etc.
* In the humanities, these stages may include scholarly research,
archival research, theoretical orientation, etc.
* Remember that your methods stage may also require
supporting literature.
* Anticipate and pre-empt the audience’s methodological
concerns.
* If the audience might have a problem with a facet of the
methodology, admit this difficulty and justify your approach.
* If your methodology may lead to problems you can anticipate
(including timeframe problems), state this openly and show why
pursuing the methodology outweighs the risk of these problems
cropping up.
Point to Remember: If you have demonstrated that you have
considered even the downside of your methods, their advantages
will seem more carefully developed.

Significance/ Implications
Some proposals require a separate stage stating the significance
of the study. A clear statement of significance may:
* Discuss the methodological, substantive, and/or theoretical
contribution you anticipate making to existing knowledge in your
(sub)field.
* Plainly state the practical and/or theoretical importance of the
problem and/or objectives of your study, given current knowledge
and practices.
* Explain the usefulness or benefits of the study, if possible (and
especially for funding agencies), to both the outside world and
the research community.

Overview of Chapters

Some proposals also include a brief description of relevant

chapters. Check with your advisor to see if this is required for
your proposal. Finally, I have included the following table that
allows you to synthesize the proposal into the final project and to
complete the overall dissertation. Remember, the more detail and
effort you put into your proposal then the less work and effort
you will have to put into the final dissertation:

Questions Yes/No/
Not sure
1 Dissertation thesis
Is the thesis clear and well defined? Does it involve a problem,
question, or hypothesis that sets the agenda and points precisely to
what needs to be explored or discovered?

Is the thesis of genuine relevance or interest within your subject

discipline? Does it pick up on important or interesting themes or
subjects arising from your studies?

2 Literature review
Have you accessed the most recent literature of relevance to your
thesis, as well as seminal sources from the past?

Do you refer to major books, articles, artefacts? Since quality is

more important than quantity – how well have you selected your
material?

Does the literature review hang together, to show how the ideas
and findings have developed, or is it merely a shopping list of books
and articles?

Is the review critical? Does it briefly evaluate, showing how your

dissertation fits into what is mistaken or lacking in other
studies? The literature review should provide a critically appraised
context for your studies.

3 Theoretical underpinnings
Does theory permeate the structure from beginning to end, from
statement of problem to conclusion? Are you asking yourself a key
question, presenting a thesis, or defending a statement? Be clear
about your approach.

Theory is the framework of your study – not a luxury. Your

dissertation will be judged, in part, by how well you express and
critically understand the theory you are using, and how clearly and
consistently it is connected with the focus and methodology of your
dissertation.
4 Methodology
Two primary criteria:
Is your choice of methods and research techniques well suited to
the kind of problem you are studying? Methods work if they
provide a persuasive response to your question, positive or
negative.

Is your description of the methods you have adopted clear enough

to take a blueprint and replicate?

5 Results
Are your findings faithful to what you actually found – do you claim
more than you should? Don’t ‘massage’ your evidence or findings…

Have you provided enough evidence to make a convincing case?

Have you presented everything directly relevant to the question in
such a way that the reader doesn’t have to flip back and forth to
make her or his own connections?

Are results or findings clearly and accurately written, easy to read,

grasp and understand?

6 Conclusions
Have you answered the question ‘So what?’. What should we do
with your findings and conclusions? What do they imply?

Findings don’t speak for themselves – they need to be analysed.

Have you explained what your findings mean and their importance,
in relation to theory and practice?
Research proposal and progress reports
Research proposal
Talk to your probable supervisor about writing and developing
your research proposal.

You must register your research proposal or your enrolment will

be terminated. This must be done within 6 months from the date
of enrolment for your PhD.

If you have a genuine reason for delaying registering your

research proposal, you must apply for an extension to the Centre
for Graduate Management.

Registration process
1. Consult with your probable supervisor and
department/school HOD and work on your research proposal
until it is complete and acceptable
2. Dowload and fill out the Application for Admission. There are
questions you, your supervisor and HOD/HOS will need to
answer
3. You, your probable supervisor and HOD/HOS sign a
supervision agreement (sets out expectations for
supervision, resources and feedback)
4. Send your full research proposal to the Centre for Graduate
Management together with an application form

What happens next

You will hear from the Postgraduate Office whether your proposal
has been approved or not approved.

If your proposal isn't approved you are normally allowed a month

or two to improve your proposal. You can then re-apply as above.

If you are unable to get your research proposal approved your

enrolment will be terminated.
Progress reports
Following registration of the research proposal, students enrolled
in a PhD must submit progress reports six and twelve months
after registration.

Progress reports are due at intervals of six months thereafter.

You will receive a reminder from the Postgraduate Office before

your progress report is due.

You will receive notification from the Postgraduate Office of

whether the Dean has approved your report.

If your report is not satisfactory the matter will be dealt with on

an individual basis by the Dean in consultation with you and your
supervisors.
Hints for Research Proposal Defenses
x Proposal defenses. At the committee level.
x Proposal defenses consist of four parts: first, the candidate introduces
themselves, then presents a summary of their work, interrupted and
followed by questions from the committee. Finally, the committee meets in
private to discuss the presentation and the plan.
x While most of the committee will have read most of your proposal, you
cannot assume that everyone has read every page in detail.
x Avoid high-level talks: "... they usually fail to convey the intellectual
substance, creativity, ingenuity of the speakers' accomplishments - what
takes the work out of the routine. Naturally, these comments apply to all of
our speakers who want to impress people with their ability as opposed to
the breadth of their knowledge or the size of their project."
x When presenting experimental work, be prepared to defend your
methodology. What was your sample size? Confidence intervals?
x Standard presentation guidelines apply:
o Talk to your audience, not to your slides.
o Project; speaking softly conveys the impression that you are unsure
of what you are saying.
o Make sure that all your graphs are readable. Check this in the actual
presentation environment (using a video projector), not just on your
laptop screen. A common problem is that the lines are too thin.
o Avoid flashy or cheesy animations, such as animated GIFs, or
PowerPoint word art. This is not a sales talk and these gimmicks
distract from the message and make you look unprofessional.
o Keep to the allotted time of no more than 45 minutes.
x Your presentation needs to address the following:
o What is the problem you are studying?
o Why is it important?
o What results have you achieved so far and why do they matter?
o How is this substantially different from prior work?
o What do you need to do to complete your work?
x Your work plan should be sufficiently detailed so that the committee can
judge whether it is realistic or not. You don't have to account for every day
between the proposal and your thesis defense, but a roughly monthly or
quarterly granularity is to be expected, depending on how far away your
anticipated graduation date is. Specify the experiments you need to run,
 the software you need to write and the algorithms you want to try out. This
should not just be one page that says "I will do miraculous things".
x The committee should be handed a copy of your slides.
x No more than 25 slides, plus "back up" slides with additional material in
case of questions. The committee will get anxious once the presentation
lasts longer than 35-40 minutes.
x List your contributions early and explicitly. You don't want to create the
impression that related work is yours, and vice versa.
x One of the most important concerns during the proposal is to convince the
audience that you are aware of all related work. Since some of your work
may date back a few years, it is not sufficient to just copy the reference list
from your first paper. Check common recent conferences to see whether
any recent work applies to your thesis. If applicable, point out your work
predates work presented by somebody else done more recently. (Given the
duration of most theses, it is not uncommon that others pursue a direction
after you have stopped working on it.)
x When presenting your contributions, be sure to use "I" and not "we" so
that the committee will know what aspects of the work where yours, and
which were group projects.
x You must convey a clear plan how you are going to evaluate your work
systematically - by measurement, simulation, user experiments. This is a
core part what makes engineering engineering and not just software-
building.
x Be prepared to back up any comparative statement with facts, in particular
statements like "works better", "faster", "scalable" or "optimal". If you are
presenting a modeling, how do you know that it works correctly? If your
algorithm is optimal, can you prove that it is? (If not, avoid the term.)

Other reading

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