How to Write a Dissertation Proposal

Writing a proposal for your dissertation may be overwhelming, especially if it’s your first time writing a proposal for a dissertation. Your questions may include, what is a dissertation proposal? What should it contain? Where can I buy dissertation online at low price? What should I leave out? What is my supervisor hoping to see in my proposal? And so on.

This article helps answer these questions and make the proposal writing proposal an easy one for you.

What is a dissertation proposal?

A dissertation proposal is a piece of writing which determines if your supervisor and the department would approve your proposed dissertation topic, literature, scope, and timeline.

A dissertation proposal must contain the following:

  1. Introduction
  2. The main body which comprises of:
  • Methodology 
  • Aims and objectives 
  • Literature review 
  • Limitations 
  • Ethical considerations 
  • Timeframe
  1. Mini-conclusion

Putting pen to paper

The first step in creating a perfect dissertation topic is planning its structure; just like you would in the dissertation itself, your dissertation proposal must include an introduction, the main section, and conclusion to serve as a guide:

Introduction

Here is the part where you introduce your topic. It serves as a ‘backdrop’ to your specific research by exploring the topic’s background to the wider subject area. Here you also layout your main hypothesis and why you feel this particular research is important.

Main body

The body is usually composed of the following subsections:

  • Methodology

The methodology section is where you highlight the methods you intend to use for data collection and processing. Here you should also specify if your research is quantitative and how you intend to conduct your survey, interviews, and analysis (e.g., the number of participants your study will contain).

  • Aims and Objectives

Here you will answer questions like, what is it that you intend to achieve? What problems are you looking to solve? What predictions are you looking to make? You are to highlight the issues you are attempting to explore in this subsection.

  • Literature Review

Your literature review is an opportunity for you to make an argument for the importance of your research and link it to similar research or present it as an extension of an existing study; this is a very important aspect of your dissertation proposal because if you fail to convince your supervisor and department here, you may as well go and start your dissertation all over again.

  • Limitations

Limitations are a part of every research. To write an effective and informative piece, you must recognize and identify the limits that affect your ability to explore or present your findings. This section shows that you have fully engaged with the subject matter, and you are familiar with all the concepts relating to your topic.

  • Ethical Considerations

Not all research has ethical concerns relating to them. If your study does, ensure that you tick this box before going further with the study. Permission from your participants to be interviewed and included in your research are all part of ethical considerations.

  • Timeframe

Your dissertation proposal is required to contain an estimated timeframe for the delivery of work to your supervisor. Depending on the understanding between you two, this delivery may be on a chapter-by-chapter basis.

Mini Conclusion

The conclusion is not a necessity when writing your proposal. Still, sometimes it might be a good idea to conclude your work with a reminder of why you choose the topic, the type of research you intend to carry out, and expected outcomes.