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A Comprehensive Guide to Writing a Research Proposal in English Literature

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• September 18, 2023

A Comprehensive Guide to writing a Research Proposal in English Literature

Introduction.

A research proposal is an important step in the process of conducting research in any field, including English literature. IT serves as a roadmap for your study, outlining the objectives, methods, and potential outcomes of your research. In this guide, we will take you through the steps involved in writing a research proposal specifically for English literature.

1. Choose a Topic

Before you can begin writing a research proposal, you need to choose a topic that interests you and aligns with your research interests. Consider the broad areas of English literature that intrigue you and start narrowing down your focus. IT ‘s essential to select a topic that is feasible within the scope of your study and has enough existing literature to support your research.

2. Conduct a Literature Review

Once you have chosen a topic, conduct a thorough literature review to gain an understanding of the existing research in your chosen area. This will help you identify any gaps in the literature that your research can fill. Look for scholarly articles, books, and other relevant sources that provide insights and theories related to your topic.

3. Define the Research Questions or Objectives

Based on your literature review, define the research questions or objectives that your study aims to address. These questions should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Clearly state the purpose of your research and how IT intends to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in English literature.

4. Develop a Methodology

Outline the methodology you will use to carry out your research. This includes the research design, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques. Depending on the nature of your study, you may choose qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches. Justify your choice of methodology and explain how IT aligns with your research questions and objectives.

5. Create a Research Timeline

A research proposal should include a timeline or schedule that outlines the various stages of your research and the estimated completion time for each. This will help you manage your time effectively and stay on track throughout the research process. Be realistic when setting deadlines and allow for some flexibility in case unexpected issues arise.

6. Consider Ethical Considerations

Ethical considerations are essential in any research study. Consider whether your research may involve human subjects and whether you need to obtain approval from an ethics committee. Ensure that your research complies with ethical guidelines and respect the privacy and confidentiality of your participants, if applicable.

7. Write the Proposal

Now that you have gathered all the necessary information, IT ‘s time to write your research proposal. The structure of a research proposal generally includes an introduction, literature review, research questions or objectives, methodology, timeline, and references. Ensure that your proposal is well-organized, concise, and coherent. Use clear and academic language to convey your ideas effectively.

writing a research proposal in English literature requires a systematic approach and careful consideration of the various elements involved. By choosing an interesting topic, conducting a thorough literature review, defining your research questions, developing a methodology, creating a research timeline, and considering ethical considerations, you can create a comprehensive research proposal that lays the foundation for your study.

1. What is the purpose of a research proposal?

A research proposal outlines the objectives, methods, and potential outcomes of a research study. IT serves as a roadmap for the research process and helps in obtaining approval for the study.

2. How long should a research proposal be?

The length of a research proposal may vary, but IT is generally recommended to be around 1500-2000 words. However, IT is essential to check the specific requirements of the institution or funding agency you are submitting your proposal to.

3. Can I change my research topic after writing the proposal?

While IT is possible to change your research topic after writing the proposal, IT is advisable to consult with your supervisor or mentor before making any significant changes. Changing the topic may require substantial modifications to the proposal.

4. Do I need to include a literature review in my research proposal?

Yes, a research proposal should include a literature review as IT demonstrates your familiarity with the existing research in your chosen area and helps justify the need for your study.

5. How should I format my research proposal?

The formatting requirements for research proposals may vary depending on the institution or funding agency. However, IT is generally recommended to follow a standardized format, include proper citations, and use clear and academic language.

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English Language and Literature Research Guide: Welcome

• Finding Books
• Finding Articles
• Finding Dissertations
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• Plagiarism, Research and Writing

This guide highlights Yale Library resources related to the study of English language and literature. Here you will find  information to help you search for secondary sources like monographs and articles, as well as links to the Yale Library discovery tool Quicksearch and to the Yale Library catalog. You will also find subject specific online databases and subject specific platforms that support the study of English literature and some information about doing research with primary sources. 

For further assistance, or to schedule an office hour to discuss a paper or research question, please contact me by clicking on the "Email Me" or "Schedule an Appointment" buttons on the right hand side of the page in the Librarian box.

Quick link to Quicksearch

Quicksearch is the Yale Library discovery tool that allows you to search for books, articles, data sets, images, databases, digital collections and more.

To search for books or journals (not journal articles, but entire journals, e.g. The New Yorker ) click the "Books+" link underneath the main search bar. This will allow you to select the type of resource you are searching for: e.g. "Journal Title."

Related Guides

• Film Studies Research Guide by Michael Kerbel Last Updated Mar 24, 2024 9914 views this year
• Comparative Literature Research Guide by Carla Baricz Last Updated Dec 11, 2023 118 views this year
• Citation Management Research Guide A guide for all things citation management.

Frequently Used Resources

• MLA International Bibliography The MLA Bibliography indexes materials on literature, languages, linguistics, film and folklore, excluding book reviews. Access to citations from journals and series published worldwide, as well as books, essay collections, and dissertations.
• Oxford Bibliographies Oxford Bibliographies offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on specific topics in across varied subject areas. Each bibliography features titles that are considered to be standard works of criticism on a particular topic, work, or individual.
• Cambridge Core A database that allows topic searching in Cambridge guides, handbooks, and companions. It also provides access to journals published by Cambridge UP.
• Oxford Reference Brings together digitized entries from Oxford's Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias, spanning multiple subject areas. Includes research tools: timelines, quotations, and subject overviews.
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contains biographies of noteworthy people, no longer living, who inhabited or were connected with the British Isles.
• Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory & criticism Searchable database of articles on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. It also treats related persons and fields that have been shaped by or have themselves shaped literary theory and criticism. Each entry includes a selective primary and secondary bibliography.
• Gale Literature Resource Center Searchable database of full-text articles, essays, book reviews, plot summaries, poems, short stories, plays, and interviews with contemporary writers.
• Opinion Archives Provides full text searchable archives for journals of opinion, such as American spectator, Commentary, Commonweal, Dissent, Harper's magazine, LaFollette's magazine, Moment, The Nation, National review, The New leader, The New republic, New York review of books, The New Yorker, Orion magazine, The Progressive, Washington monthly, and The Weekly standard. Covers domestic and international politics, arts and culture from leading authors, poets, journalists, and statesmen.
• ProQuest News and Newspapers This database provides access to both historical (dating from 1764) and current newspaper content for various ethnic groups and geographic regions, although the majority of the newspapers are published in the United States.

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Department of English

College of arts and sciences, ph.d. dissertation proposal guidelines.

The following has been adapted for the English Department from the Graduate  School’s “Statement on Thesis/Dissertation Proposals.” Guidelines adapted for the Creative Dissertation Proposal Guidelines can be found here .

I. Introduction

A thesis proposal states a problem to be investigated and describes how the research will be performed and reported. Approval signifies that it meets the standards of the University of Rhode Island for the degree desired. Therefore, the preparation and writing of the thesis proposal are of utmost importance. Although the student is expected to seek guidance in the choice of topic and the method of solving the problem involved, responsibility for the proposal lies with the student who will, as far as possible, work independently and demonstrate the ability to plan and outline an acceptable research project. Adherence to the guidelines given below should assure the student that all information necessary for the satisfactory evaluation of the plans for master’s or doctoral research will be included in the proposal.

The thesis proposal should present the required information as concisely and clearly as possible. The ability to describe concisely a research problem and methodology is one of the skills that the proposal process is designed to develop. Therefore, all thesis/dissertation proposals are limited in length to the signature cover-sheet plus 15 or fewer double-spaced, numbered pages in a font size no smaller than 12 point . Proposals longer than this will not be accepted, however, appendices and references are not included in the 15-page limit . Proposals will also be returned for revision if they do not contain the appropriate sections described in the Contents section of this Statement on Thesis/Dissertation Proposals. Sufficient copies of the proposal must be provided to permit distribution to the Graduate School, Institutional Review Board or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee if required (see Sec. III), department, major professor, thesis or doctoral committee, and the student.

III.  Submission

Thesis proposals should be submitted before substantial research has been completed. Typically, it should be submitted before or during the first semester in which the student registers for research credits. In all cases, however, the proposal must be submitted at least one semester before the semester in which the thesis/dissertation itself is to be submitted and defended.

In the English Department, the Dissertation Proposal is submitted for review by the student’s entire dissertation committee once the written and oral comprehensive exams are completed. The student meets with the committee for the purpose of discussing the proposal and the first stages of the dissertation. Then , all copies of the thesis proposal must be signed by the members of the student’s doctoral committee, who thereby approve the proposal for forwarding by the student’s major professor via the Director of Graduate Studies to the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, Research, and Outreach. The Vice Provost is charged with responsibility for review and approval or rejection of all proposals. Proposals that do not meet the standard of the Graduate School will be returned to the student for revision and resubmission. Approved proposals are returned to the department for distribution, with one copy retained in the student’s file at the Graduate School.

(Sections on “Research Involving Human Subjects” and “Research involving Vertebrate Animals” excluded here, but you may read them by going to the Grad School Webpage and consulting their Statement on the Ph.D. proposal.)

IV.  Contents

Thesis Proposals shall contain the following sections, presented in the order shown:

A. Title of the Study 

This is the title as the student conceives it at the time the proposal is submitted. It should be no more than 100 characters in length. As the research develops, various rephrasings of the title may prove better suited to the work. In such cases, the most satisfactory one will be used for the dissertation, the final formal report of the investigation.  Please note that at that time a title abstract of 40 characters or less must be submitted.

B. Statement of the Problem

This section should be relatively short and sweet — a succinct introduction to your topic, thesis, and the questions that drive your project.

Limit the statement, if possible, to two or three sentences, and note in precise language exactly what is to be investigated. Here is where you introduce your object(s) of study and the principal question or questions you are bringing to it or them. To amplify the Statement of the Problem, it is usually desirable to list:

• The scope or limitations of the problem: e.g., what material will it include and why? Give some thought to the criteria by which you will limit the project, for instance, to a specific time period, geographical locale, genre of literature or film, a particular author or group of authors, a social group, or movement, or school of thought, etc.
• Either one or more hypotheses the research seeks to test or the objectives you expect to attain as a result of the study.
• The major assumptions that underlie both the study as a whole and the methodology you will be following. Note: you will be expanding on this in section D; just give a succinct introduction of the methodology here.

C.  The justification for and Significance of the Study

Now you start to get into the substance of your proposal. You may run to a few pages in this section, and amplify on what you introduced in Section B.

This section of the proposal includes:

• A brief statement of the reasons for the selection of the problem: Is there, for instance, a gap in the existing scholarship on this problem? Alternatively, even if this is a topic that has been much discussed, will you be shedding new light on it by examining it in a new context, or bringing to bear a different theoretical framework, or juxtaposing it with other objects with which it has never been considered?
• The relation of the principal literature to the proposal: In the English Department, by “principal literature” we mean both the primary texts or object you plan to treat, as well as the secondary texts that have come to inform your approach to those primary texts. Why these texts? Why now? What is at stake? And what have you got to contribute to our understanding of them?
• An explanation of the study’s importance to the advancement of knowledge and its significance to the student: To show the importance of your study to the advancement of knowledge, you will need to show where that knowledge is now, and how you plan to extend, question, complement, challenge, or revolutionize it (etc).
• The problem selected should be substantial enough to constitute a good example of a report of a scholarly investigation. Completion of a project or several unrelated projects does not satisfy this requirement. At the Ph.D. level, the work should constitute a significant increase in the pool of knowledge.

D. Methodology or Procedures

Again–this is a substantive section of the Proposal. Another few pages.

This section describes the activities necessary to achieve the objectives. Methods should flow naturally from the problems and objectives.

The Graduate School defines methodology in terms of the study population; sampling design and procedures; tools, instruments, and timetables for data collection and testing; definition of terms and concepts. In the English Department, too, you will be expected to present a methodological plan for how your investigation will be carried out, which will necessarily involve a concise statement of the theoretical or critical frameworks most important to your project. Rather than a list of theorists’ or critics’ names, provide specific concepts or well-defined terms from these theorists, and explain how they inform the way you are approaching your problem. Even better, explain how you are intervening in the status quo already established by these existing critics or theorists. You should also give a sense of the kinds of critical activity you plan to carry out: will you do close readings of primary texts? If so, what kind? Will one or more chapters be devoted to a survey of existing scholarship? Will you be conducting archival research, and if so, where, and for what purpose? Does one section of your dissertation rely on your having completed another section first? Is there an interdisciplinary aspect to your project that requires a special methodological approach all its own? A brief, provisional chapter outline is appropriate in this section since it indicates the logic behind how you envision the organization of your material.

E. Resources Required

The last part of the thesis proposal is a statement of the resources needed for the successful completion of the study and an indication of their accessibility to the student proposing to use them. This may be a very brief section, where you summarize the primary and secondary texts necessary to your investigation, with the understanding that the full bibliography will be saved for an appendix. This is also the place to mention travel to archives or to visit any individuals who may be key to your project.

F. Literature Cited in the Proposal

Take note of the following concern of the Graduate School, a concern shared by the  English Department:

The most persistent difficulty with thesis proposals is lack of evidence that a search of the literature took place in framing the problem to be studied. The absence of evidence that the scholarly literature in the field has been consulted might be due to one or more of the following reasons:

• That it was omitted because the student was not aware that it was required.
• That the student was unfamiliar with the library as a resource in developing the research proposal.
• That, having searched the literature of the field, the student found that the problem was unique, and therefore, could not be documented. If so, it is important to note where the literature stops and the proposed research starts, itself an intriguing scholarly problem.
• That the thesis problem has been provided “ready-made” as a spin-off from a larger study so that no literature search appeared to be needed. One might question the wisdom of thus isolating the student from the scholarly literature, however valid and important the research topic. (This seems to be directed more at faculty than at students.)
• Since you are limited to only 15 pages for the dissertation proposal, we recommend that you write “See Appendix A” for this section of the proposal, and place your Works Cited in that Appendix. That way you leave more room for the substance of the Proposal. In your “Works Cited,” we recommend that you make sub-divisions where appropriate. For instance, you may want to have a “primary” and a “secondary” list; or a list of “literature,” “film,” and the criticism pertaining to each; or if more than one historical period is covered, you may want to divide your bibliography by period, etc. Make your Works Cited as reflective of the logic of your project as possible.

G. Revised Proposals (not a section of your proposal)

If, as the research proceeds, a significant change in subject or methodology becomes necessary, a revised proposal should be submitted. Sometimes an abbreviated format can be used for such changes. The student or major professor should contact the Graduate School for assistance in such cases.

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Research Proposals

• the research topic briefly outline the area and topic of your research.
• the research context relate your proposed research to other work in its field or related fields, and indicate in what ways your research will differ; you might mention monographs on the subject, as well as important theoretical models or methodological exemplars. This is a chance to show your understanding of the background against which your research will be defined.
• the contribution you will make this is your chance to show how you have arrived at your position and recognised the need for your research, and what it is that makes it both new and important; you should indicate what areas and debates it will have an impact on, what methodological example it sets (if appropriate) – in short how it contributes to knowledge and to the practice of our subject. Give examples of the sort of evidence you might consider, and of the questions it might help you to raise. Show that you are already thinking about the area in detail and not only in outline.
• your methods in some cases there will be little to say here, but if there is something striking about your methodology, you should explain it.
• the sources and resources you will use you should delimit your field of enquiry, showing where the project begins and ends; in certain cases, Cambridge will have unique collections and resources of central relevance to your project, and you should mention these.
• how the project will develop you might indicate some of the possible ways in which the project could develop, perhaps by giving a broader or narrower version depending on what materials and issues you uncover

You should ask yourself how your work might change the present state of scholarship in your field, and whether the topic is well suited to the resources provided at Cambridge. Even for MPhil courses we generally aim to admit not just those who propose a sensible topic, but those who have the potential to modify the present paradigms of research in their field. Most students, though, refine their research topics after they arrive in the light of what they discover or of advice from their supervisor, so you need not feel that you are inscribing your future in tablets of stone as you compose your proposal.

You may find it helpful to look at the following examples of successful research proposals.

It is vital that you show that your research is necessary. It is not enough that it happens to interest you. You should make clear that it will be of use and interest to others working in your field, or on a particular author, or indeed in neighbouring fields. You should show how your work will make a contribution to knowledge and to the practice of our subject.

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English and Comparative Literary Studies

Sample dissertation proposal.

Below is an example of a successful MA dissertation proposal. Note particularly the robust referencing, and the way in which the author has already done preparatory work in the field so that clear areas of critical enquiry have already been formulated.

Modernist Poetics and the Acquisition of the Other Tongue

I will reconsider the role that multilingualism plays in modernist poetry, and particularly Ezra Pound’s, by moving away from a text-based model – in which the poem is understood primarily as translation, appropriation or montage of another language’s representative texts – and towards a more author-centric one, in which the poem documents the lived experience of knowing multiple languages, each of which transcends the finite set of words and texts that its author knows. I hope that my work will extend Robert Stark’s recent assertion that Pound acquired poetic style as if it were a foreign language, but by paying attention to the more literal encounters with foreign languages that make this simile possible. However, in contrast to Stark’s model of ‘apprenticeship’, Steven Yao has argued that modernism marked the point at which mastering the source language stopped being a prerequisite for a literary translator: thus, the different ways in which Pound translated or incorporated Chinese texts into English works over the course of his career, or used original ‘handy language’ in Italian alongside quotations, may represent different heuristic approaches to a code that still remained somehow impenetrable. ‘Barbarism and onomatopoeia’, rather than forming the comfortable pair of terms sometimes used by Stark, might define a driving tension in Pound’s verse practice, between seeing another language as pure sound and as the product of another culture incompletely understood.

Mutlu Konuk Blasing’s Lyric Poetry will be an important source: although she focuses almost exclusively on the role of the mother tongue, and uses it to justify lyric’s untranslatability, many of the phenomena which she associates with first language acquisition, such as the delay in recognising phonemes, are also relevant to second language acquisition. I also hope to move beyond Blasing’s cognitive and psychoanalytic approaches, to position Pound within a broader cultural history of language acquisition theory: texts to investigate may include the prose treatises by Dante that he admired, and contemporary reflections on language-learning by Leo Spitzer. I expect to offer a reading of Cantos LXXII and LXXIII (perhaps alongside T S Eliot’s early French poems) in light of this investigation, as possible oversights in Blasing’s argument.

Both Blasing’s and Stark’s monographs are bound up in questions of genre definition which deserve further consideration. I intend to develop the arguments of those critics, such as Simon Jarvis, who have questioned whether Blasing’s arguments define lyric poetry alone. How might language acquisition also be important for a definition of epic, especially in light of its traditional association with nation-building and Wai Chee Dimock’s recent vision of the genre as a carrier of foreign lexis? If, for Blasing, lyric ‘dramatises’ the struggle to enter a language-speaking community, is it more fully dramatised in a text such as Pound’s Elektra, where traumatic experience is manifested in a conflation of American vernacular and untranslated Greek?

Here, it may be fruitful to compare Pound’s choral dramas to Eliot’s: Murder in the Cathedral, for example, updates English vernacular drama, but by incorporating a ‘babbling’ chorus who imitate classical tragedy. While I expect the changes in Pound’s practice over the course of his career to provide the structure for my final project, I look forward to paying attention to points of comparison with other, less canonical modernists. These could include Hope Mirrlees’s use of montage to search for a ‘holophrase’ in Paris; Basil Bunting’s insistence on a regional vernacular, but against a backdrop of international cultural references; and the artificial languages of Futurist and Dada sound art, which work both to reject subjectivity and forge international communities.

Critical Bibliography

Arrowsmith, Richard Rupert, Modernism and the Museum: Asian, African and Pacific Art and the London Avant-Garde (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).

(ed.) Bates, Catherine, The Cambridge Companion to the Epic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) [essays by Freccero, Whittier-Ferguson and Merchant].

Blasing, Mutlu Konuk, Lyric Poetry: The Pleasure and the Pain of Words (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007).

Dimock, Wai Chee, Through Other Continents: American Literature Across Deep Time (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2006).

Ellis, Rod, Second Language Acquisition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Hart, Matthew, Nations of Nothing but Poetry: Modernism, Transnationalism and Synthetic Vernacular Writing (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).

Jarvis, Simon, ‘The melodics of long poems’, Textual Practice 24.4 (2010).

Kenner, Hugh, The Pound Era (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971).

Moody, A David, Ezra Pound: Poet, I: The Young Genius, 1885-1920 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

North, Michael, The Dialect of Modernism: Race, Language and Twentieth-Century Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Patterson, Ian, ‘Time, Free Verse, and the Gods of Modernism’ in Tradition, Translation, Trauma: The Classic and the Modern, eds. Jan Parker and Timothy Mathews (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) [and other essays in this volume].

Scott, Clive, Literary Translation and the Rediscovery of Reading (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) [and earlier works by Scott].

Spitzer, Leo, ‘Learning Turkish’, tr. Tülay Atak, PMLA 126.3 (2011).

Stark, Robert, Ezra Pound’s Early Verse and Lyric Tradition: A Jongleur’s Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012).

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Home » How To Write A Research Proposal – Step-by-Step [Template]

How To Write A Research Proposal – Step-by-Step [Template]

Table of Contents

How To Write a Research Proposal

Writing a Research proposal involves several steps to ensure a well-structured and comprehensive document. Here is an explanation of each step:

1. Title and Abstract

• Choose a concise and descriptive title that reflects the essence of your research.
• Write an abstract summarizing your research question, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes. It should provide a brief overview of your proposal.

2. Introduction:

• Provide an introduction to your research topic, highlighting its significance and relevance.
• Clearly state the research problem or question you aim to address.
• Discuss the background and context of the study, including previous research in the field.

3. Research Objectives

• Outline the specific objectives or aims of your research. These objectives should be clear, achievable, and aligned with the research problem.

4. Literature Review:

• Conduct a comprehensive review of relevant literature and studies related to your research topic.
• Summarize key findings, identify gaps, and highlight how your research will contribute to the existing knowledge.

5. Methodology:

• Describe the research design and methodology you plan to employ to address your research objectives.
• Explain the data collection methods, instruments, and analysis techniques you will use.
• Justify why the chosen methods are appropriate and suitable for your research.

6. Timeline:

• Create a timeline or schedule that outlines the major milestones and activities of your research project.
• Break down the research process into smaller tasks and estimate the time required for each task.

7. Resources:

• Identify the resources needed for your research, such as access to specific databases, equipment, or funding.
• Explain how you will acquire or utilize these resources to carry out your research effectively.

8. Ethical Considerations:

• Discuss any ethical issues that may arise during your research and explain how you plan to address them.
• If your research involves human subjects, explain how you will ensure their informed consent and privacy.

9. Expected Outcomes and Significance:

• Clearly state the expected outcomes or results of your research.
• Highlight the potential impact and significance of your research in advancing knowledge or addressing practical issues.

10. References:

• Provide a list of all the references cited in your proposal, following a consistent citation style (e.g., APA, MLA).

11. Appendices:

• Include any additional supporting materials, such as survey questionnaires, interview guides, or data analysis plans.

Research Proposal Format

The format of a research proposal may vary depending on the specific requirements of the institution or funding agency. However, the following is a commonly used format for a research proposal:

1. Title Page:

• Include the title of your research proposal, your name, your affiliation or institution, and the date.

2. Abstract:

• Provide a brief summary of your research proposal, highlighting the research problem, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes.

3. Introduction:

• Introduce the research topic and provide background information.
• State the research problem or question you aim to address.
• Explain the significance and relevance of the research.
• Review relevant literature and studies related to your research topic.
• Summarize key findings and identify gaps in the existing knowledge.
• Explain how your research will contribute to filling those gaps.

5. Research Objectives:

• Clearly state the specific objectives or aims of your research.
• Ensure that the objectives are clear, focused, and aligned with the research problem.

6. Methodology:

• Describe the research design and methodology you plan to use.
• Explain the data collection methods, instruments, and analysis techniques.
• Justify why the chosen methods are appropriate for your research.

7. Timeline:

8. Resources:

• Explain how you will acquire or utilize these resources effectively.

9. Ethical Considerations:

• If applicable, explain how you will ensure informed consent and protect the privacy of research participants.

10. Expected Outcomes and Significance:

11. References:

12. Appendices:

Research Proposal Template

Here’s a template for a research proposal:

1. Introduction:

2. Literature Review:

3. Research Objectives:

4. Methodology:

5. Timeline:

6. Resources:

7. Ethical Considerations:

8. Expected Outcomes and Significance:

9. References:

10. Appendices:

Research Proposal Sample

Title: The Impact of Online Education on Student Learning Outcomes: A Comparative Study

1. Introduction

Online education has gained significant prominence in recent years, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research proposal aims to investigate the impact of online education on student learning outcomes by comparing them with traditional face-to-face instruction. The study will explore various aspects of online education, such as instructional methods, student engagement, and academic performance, to provide insights into the effectiveness of online learning.

2. Objectives

The main objectives of this research are as follows:

• To compare student learning outcomes between online and traditional face-to-face education.
• To examine the factors influencing student engagement in online learning environments.
• To assess the effectiveness of different instructional methods employed in online education.
• To identify challenges and opportunities associated with online education and suggest recommendations for improvement.

3. Methodology

3.1 Study Design

This research will utilize a mixed-methods approach to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. The study will include the following components:

3.2 Participants

The research will involve undergraduate students from two universities, one offering online education and the other providing face-to-face instruction. A total of 500 students (250 from each university) will be selected randomly to participate in the study.

3.3 Data Collection

The research will employ the following data collection methods:

• Quantitative: Pre- and post-assessments will be conducted to measure students’ learning outcomes. Data on student demographics and academic performance will also be collected from university records.
• Qualitative: Focus group discussions and individual interviews will be conducted with students to gather their perceptions and experiences regarding online education.

3.4 Data Analysis

Quantitative data will be analyzed using statistical software, employing descriptive statistics, t-tests, and regression analysis. Qualitative data will be transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically to identify recurring patterns and themes.

4. Ethical Considerations

The study will adhere to ethical guidelines, ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of participants. Informed consent will be obtained, and participants will have the right to withdraw from the study at any time.

5. Significance and Expected Outcomes

This research will contribute to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the impact of online education on student learning outcomes. The findings will help educational institutions and policymakers make informed decisions about incorporating online learning methods and improving the quality of online education. Moreover, the study will identify potential challenges and opportunities related to online education and offer recommendations for enhancing student engagement and overall learning outcomes.

6. Timeline

The proposed research will be conducted over a period of 12 months, including data collection, analysis, and report writing.

The estimated budget for this research includes expenses related to data collection, software licenses, participant compensation, and research assistance. A detailed budget breakdown will be provided in the final research plan.

8. Conclusion

This research proposal aims to investigate the impact of online education on student learning outcomes through a comparative study with traditional face-to-face instruction. By exploring various dimensions of online education, this research will provide valuable insights into the effectiveness and challenges associated with online learning. The findings will contribute to the ongoing discourse on educational practices and help shape future strategies for maximizing student learning outcomes in online education settings.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Research Proposals for PhD in Linguistics

In the 'Research Proposal' section of the main application form, please include only 100 words outlining your topic, and upload a fuller research proposal as a separate document, in the 'supporting documents' section.

This proposal should be between 1500 and 2500 words in length , and should contain at least the following:

1. Title of proposed research project

This should allow the reader to place the research, at a glance, within an academic sub-field, as well as identifying the main issue to be addressed.  It should not be more than 20 words long.

2. Background

Outline the linguistic area in which you propose to conduct research.  Why is it important and interesting? What is the need for further research in this area? You should provide a context for your research.  Do this by referencing and briefly reviewing a number of key works in your chosen field, showing how your work is built on this prior research.

3. Research questions

You should give at least one overarching research question, plus a number of more specific sub-questions.  Make sure these questions all emerge from and are firmly grounded in the literature you have reviewed.  Ensure that these questions — particularly the specific sub-questions — are researchable; that is, they should not be too broad or too general.  You should also explain how these research questions can be considered original.

4. Data and data analysis

All projects will involve the collection of data of some kind.  In some cases, this will be based on native-speaker judgements.  Other projects will require experimental data, the use of existing or specially-created corpora, longitudinal observation, or sociolinguistic interviews - to name but a few data sources.  Will you be able to gain access to the data in the quantities required? Are there ethical concerns which need to be overcome? You should also be as specific as you can at this stage about the kinds of analysis you will perform.  What specific techniques will you use? What statistical analyses will you be performing (if any)? Mention any software you envisage using.

5. Fit with Departmental Research Interests

Before you formulate your proposal, you should look carefully through the Department of Language and Linguistic Science web pages to identify staff members who might be able to supervise your research.  You may mention the person or people by name.  You are also encouraged (though you are not obliged) to contact individual staff members to find out if they believe your ideas to be viable and if they would in principle be interested in supervising your project.

6. References

You should provide a list of the works you have referred to in your proposal. Don't list other works which may be relevant: this is to assure the reader that you have read and understood the literature you have cited.

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There are many ways to write a good proposal. These two, from Spring 2009, will give you some sense of what other successful proposers have done:

To see a sample individual study proposal for a scholarly project, click here: sampleISprplscholarly  or  here: SampleISprplscholarly 2 .

To see a sample individual study proposal for a creative writing project, click here: sampleISprplcreative .

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English Graduate Student Colloquium Showcases Student Research

Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | By lbetts

The 2024 English Graduate Student Colloquium was held on Tuesday, April 23 in Sankey Chamber. The student-organized poster session was well attended by faculty and students from past and present. Congratulations to Maddie, Olivia, Jaime, Zoe, Claire, and Jessie on your amazing presentations!

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EU Health Data Space: more efficient treatments and life-saving research  

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• Citizens will have access across the EU to an electronic health record containing prescriptions, imagery and lab tests  
• Anonymised health data to be shared for research e.g. into rare diseases  
• Strong privacy safeguards governing how and for what purpose sensitive data are shared  

MEPs approved the creation of a European Health Data Space, improving citizens’ access to their personal health data and boosting secure sharing in the public interest.

On Wednesday, MEPs voted with 445 in favour and 142 against (39 abstentions) to approve the inter-institutional agreement on establishing a European Health Data Space. It will empower patients to access their health data in an electronic format, including from a different member state to the one in which they live, and allow health professionals to consult their patients’ files with their consent (so-called primary use), also from other EU countries. These electronic health records (EHR) would include patient summaries, electronic prescriptions, medical imagery and laboratory results.

The law will make it possible to transfer health data safely to health professionals in other EU countries (based on MyHealth@EU infrastructure), for example when citizens move to another state. It will be possible to download the health record free of charge.

Data-sharing for the common good with safeguards

Additionally, the Health Data Space would unleash the research potential of health data in an anonymised or pseudonymised format. Data including health records, clinical trials, pathogens, health claims and reimbursements, genetic data, public health registry information, wellness data and information on healthcare resources, expenditure and financing, could be processed for public interest purposes, including research, statistics and policy-making (so-called secondary use). Data could, for example, be used to find treatments for rare diseases, where small datasets and fragmentation currently prevent advances in treatments.

Secondary use will not be allowed for commercial purposes including advertising, assessing insurance requests or lending conditions or making job market decisions. Access decisions will be made by national data access bodies.

Robust privacy safeguards

The law ensures people will have a say in how their data are used and accessed. Patients will be able to refuse their health data being accessed by practitioners (except where this is necessary for protecting the vital interests of the data subject or another person) or processed for research purposes, apart from certain public-interest, policy-making or statistical purposes. Patients will also have to be informed each time their data are accessed, and will have the right to request corrections to incorrect data.

Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia), Environment Committee co-rapporteur, said: "The Health Data Space can help us to leverage the data we have in a safe and secure manner, giving vital research into new treatments a major boost. It will prevent gaps in treatment by making sure health professional can access their patients’ records across borders. At the same time, opt-outs will ensure that patients have a say, and that the system is trustworthy. It will be a major step forward for digital healthcare in the EU."

Annalisa Tardino (ID, Italy), Civil Liberties Committee co-rapporteur, said: “The Health Data Space will boost everyone's access to healthcare. In future, doctors can be authorised to access their patients’ health records and laboratory results in other regions, or even other EU member states, saving money, resources and providing better cures. We also secured opt-outs to ensure that patients have a say in how their data are used. Although we would have preferred even stronger measures, we were able to find a position that can be accepted by a majority."

The provisional agreement still needs to be formally approved by the Council. Once published in the EU’s Official Journal, it will enter into force twenty days later. It will be applied two years after, with certain exceptions, including primary and secondary use of data categories, which will apply four to six years later, depending on the category..

By adopting the law, Parliament is responding to the demands of citizens put forward in the conclusions of the Conference of the Future of Europe. These include proposal 8(1), which explicitly recommended the creation of a health data space to facilitate exchanges, and proposals 35(7) and 35(8) on data and artificial intelligence.

Contacts:  

Janne ojamo  .

• Phone number: (+32) 2 284 12 50 (BXL)  
• Mobile number: (+32) 470 89 21 92  
• E-mail: [email protected]  
• E-mail: [email protected]  
• Twitter account: @EP_Justice  

Dana POPP  

• Phone number: (+32) 2 28 46330 (BXL)  
• Mobile number: (+32) 470 95 17 07  
• E-mail: [email protected]  
• E-mail: [email protected]  
• Twitter account: @EP_Environment  

Further information  

• Agreed text  
• Procedure file  
• EP Research Service briefing  
• Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety  
• Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs  

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