The Golden Rules for writing an Effective Dissertation Proposal

A dissertation proposal is not as difficult as writing an actual dissertation but students face many difficulties during this stage as well. A proposal basically presents why and how a research is being conducted and what will be aimed to accomplish by the research. The aim of writing a research proposal for dissertation is to get it approved by the dissertation supervisor so the actual dissertation writing can start. There are some specific rules which can be followed in order to complete an effective proposal.

Rule 1: It is imperative that the research proposal for dissertation include all the necessary and relevant sections as prescribed by the university such as the background to context, research aims and objectives, research questions, hypothesis, proposed research strategy and proposed literature review.

Rule 2: The dissertation proposal should effectively portray what the research process will try to accomplish and how this aim will be accomplished. This means that the aims and objectives should be clear and to the point and should be stated in a definite manner. The methods of data collection and analysis should be selected carefully and the reasons for these choices should be explained in the proposal.

Rule 3: The research proposal for dissertation should also include a preliminary review of literature and present an outline of the literature which the researcher plans to review during the research. The context of the research should be structured based on the preliminary literature review. A specific referencing and citation style should be used in the proposal for appropriate references of sources.

Rule 4: The limitations and ethical issues which may be faced during the research should also be presented in the dissertation proposal so that the person approving the proposal can evaluate the understanding of the researcher with respect to these two aspects. The researcher should also include a time framework in the proposal to give an idea of time which will be spent in various stages of the dissertation.