UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

What is a Research Proposal?  informative writing: an attempt to educate the reader  persuasive writing: you want to get it passed  Is your research topic of value? Of interest?  Is your methodology practical and appropriate?  Depends on your ability to explain the nature, context & scope of your project

WHAT ARE INCLUDED?  Title Page  Statement of Research Question  Goal and Objectives  Background & Significance  Methodology/ Research Design  Timeline  References  Feedback Page

TITLE PAGE  The title is preferably a phrase, not a sentence or a question  It needs to reflect the contents of your research though needs not be too specific  It should be grammatically correct

THE TITLE  "To Want And Want And Not To Have": Virginia Woolf And The Mother/Daughter Relationship  The Effect of Written Corrective Feedback and Revision on Intermediate Chinese Learners' Acquisition of English  A discourse analysis of communication strategies in student employment interviews  Evaluation of Task-based Online Course Materials  Evaluation of an Online Program

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTION  Very clearly state what you will be studying  Define the terms if necessary  Make sure it is understandable to someone who doesn’t know about your field of study  E.g. A Corpus-based research on Business Communication

GOAL & OBJECTIVES  What you want to achieve/ attain with your research project  Goals are often more long-term than objectives; objectives are more specific than goals  E.g.  Goal: Our after-school program will help children read better.  Objective: Our after-school remedial education program will assist 50 children in improving their reading scores by one grade level as demonstrated on standardized reading tests administered after participating in the program for six months.

BACKGROUND & SIGNIFICANCE  Clearly support your statement with documentation and references  Include a review of literature in your area of research: present current understanding/ state of knowledge concerning the question & how your study positions in that context  Don’t just summarize anything you come across. Choose wisely, explain, interpret, and evaluate  What is the question that you want to explore in your research and why is this an interesting and important question?

METHODOLOGY/ RESEARCH DESIGN  How will you go about exploring your research question? What will be your methods?  Methods of data gathering?  Methods of data analysis?  Give specific description

TIMELINE  On a biweekly or monthly basis  Make sure you have enough time to review/ synthesize your data or to reflect on your experience  Make sure you have enough time to write it up AND REVISE!

REFERENCES  Does not need to be completed yet  Follows the APA format  01/ 01/

FEEDBACK PAGE  Give some room for readers to note down their recommendations for improvement