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When making a proposal document, it is important that the appropriate sizes should be adhered to. If you’re planning to write a proposal, it’s best that you know which size will suit the type of proposal, its specific purpose , and the extent of the content .

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Eligibility of Individuals and Proposals

Overview of session types, preparing and formatting your proposal document.

  • Submitting Your Session

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  • Submit Your Proposal

In this section you will find detailed instructions on preparing and formatting your written proposal. Please review the contents of this section carefully. Submissions that do not follow the rules for submission, including word count, will be rejected and cannot be resubmitted after the deadline. 

Summary of proposal document elements for each submission type.

* Titles, abstract, references, tables, and figures do not  count toward word limits, but appendices do count.

Basic Formatting Guidelines

All submissions, regardless of type or content, should have the same formatting:

  •   1-inch margins, 10-to-12-point Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. Symbol is permitted for special characters.
  •   Submitted as a single Word document (.doc or .docx) even if multiple papers are included
  •   Does not use special fonts even within tables or diagrams, which may not appear the same on peer reviewers’ computers as they do on submitters’.

What to Include on the Title Page

All submission documents should begin with a title page that includes the submission type, title, shortened title, abstract, and word count. All submission documents other than posters will also include an APA-style citation. Please review the title page template  for your session type (see links below) for information and recommendations for each required element. Some of the information overlaps with requirements in the online submission process;  however, please also include this information on the title page of the submission document.

What to Include in the Body of the Proposal Document

The full text of proposals varies based on submission type. Please be sure that your submission follows the guidelines based on type described below.

DEBATE Example debate proposal Please provide a description of the topic to be debated, the participant composition and format of the debate, the major points likely to be argued by each side or the questions that will be posed to them, and the debaters’ expertise related to the focal topic.

Ignite example ignite proposal please provide a brief overview of the focal topic and a short summary of each presentation, including biographical information for each presenter. if there are fewer presenters, submissions should include guiding questions for the facilitated audience discussion portion.  , master tutorial example master tutorial proposal please describe the specific content to be taught in the tutorial and indicate whether the coverage of the material will be basic or advanced. note that unlike posters or symposiums, master tutorials should be instructive in their approach. the tutorial should seek to leave attendees with a new skill or knowledge set and should directly engage the audience through instruction, activities, or other forms of participation., panel discussion example panel discussion proposal please describe the structure or format of the session, the underlying issues or themes to be discussed, and some key questions that will either be addressed primarily by the panel or will be supplemented with additional questions generated by the audience., poster example poster proposal proposals should consist of a complete paper prepared for blind review. omit names that could identify the author(s), and please remove authors from the file properties (i.e., in word files, go to properties in the file menu, click on the summary tab, and delete any identifiers). papers submitted for poster presentation must represent completed work and should be prepared according to instructions provided in the publication manual of the american psychological association, 7th edition, with the exception of the title page and abstract formatting, which should follow siop’s rules detailed below., symposium example symposium proposal please include a general introduction of the purpose/theme of the symposium, followed by summaries of each component paper detailing the presentation’s contribution, including a description of data and analyses where appropriate (with accompanying references, tables, and figures, as needed). if a discussant is included, a summary of the discussant’s comments is not needed at the time of submission., alternative session example alternative session w/ multiple papers example alternative session w/o multiple papers please describe the focal topic or theme, the distinguishing and novel attributes of the new format and how they will benefit the audience, and provide a specific rationale for why and how the topic/theme is well aligned with this session type. please clearly indicate in your description specifically what qualifies your submission as an alternative session., in preparing your alternative session submission, you can either submit a session in which authorship order does not matter ( example alternative session type without multiple papers ) or one in which multiple papers are presented and authorship order does matter—similar to a symposium (example alternative session type with multiple papers ). for the latter, you must be prepared to provide in the submission system the order of papers and the affiliated authors. (click here for more guidance regarding when this is needed and the format required for the information.).

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Is Specific Formatting of documents required for proposal submissions through grants.gov ?

Designed to maximize system-conducted validations, multiple separate attachments are required for a complete application. When the application is received by the agency, all submitted forms and all separate attachments are concatenated into a single document that is used by peer reviewers and agency staff. NIH and other PHS agencies require all text attachments to the Adobe application forms to be submitted as PDFs and that all text attachments conform to the agency-specific formatting requirements noted below.

Note to Investigators: Please do not send MPRC PDF files! Prepare your work in separate word files, following  the formatting requirement below; MPRC may need to edit your documents to ensure that all formatting guidelines are followed and cannot do so if sent to us in PDF form.

Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger. (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.) Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Type may be no more than six lines per inch (MPRC WILL CHECK TYPE DEnSITY).

Note: For windows users: Please be aware that Microsoft word generally defaults to times new roman, which is not an approved font.

Page Margins

Use standard paper size (8 1/2" x 11). Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins, including the PI’s name and page numbers.

Page Formatting

Since a number of reviewers will be reviewing applications as an electronic document and not a paper version, applicants are strongly encouraged to use only a standard, single-column format for the text. Avoid using a two-column format since it can cause difficulties when reviewing the document electronically. Do not include any information in a header or footer of the attachments. A header will be system-generated that references the name of the PD/PI. Page numbers for the footer will be system-generated in the complete application, with all pages sequentially numbered.

If you prefer to keep number pages for page-length verification, MPRC will remove these prior to submission.

Figures, Graphs, Diagrams, Charts, Tables, Figure Legends, and Footnotes

You may use a smaller type size but it must be in a black font color, readily legible, and follow the font typeface requirement. Color can be used in figures; however, all text must be in a black font color, clear and legible.

Grantsmanship

Use English and avoid jargon. If terms are not universally known, spell out the term the first time it is used and note the appropriate abbreviation in parentheses. The abbreviation may be used thereafter.

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  • 6.5 Writing Process: Creating a Proposal
  • 1 Unit Introduction

Introduction

  • 1.1 "Reading" to Understand and Respond
  • 1.2 Social Media Trailblazer: Selena Gomez
  • 1.3 Glance at Critical Response: Rhetoric and Critical Thinking
  • 1.4 Annotated Student Sample: Social Media Post and Responses on Voter Suppression
  • 1.5 Writing Process: Thinking Critically About a “Text”
  • 1.6 Evaluation: Intention vs. Execution
  • 1.7 Spotlight on … Academia
  • 1.8 Portfolio: Tracing Writing Development
  • Further Reading
  • Works Cited
  • 2.1 Seeds of Self
  • 2.2 Identity Trailblazer: Cathy Park Hong
  • 2.3 Glance at the Issues: Oppression and Reclamation
  • 2.4 Annotated Sample Reading from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois
  • 2.5 Writing Process: Thinking Critically about How Identity Is Constructed Through Writing
  • 2.6 Evaluation: Antiracism and Inclusivity
  • 2.7 Spotlight on … Variations of English
  • 2.8 Portfolio: Decolonizing Self
  • 3.1 Identity and Expression
  • 3.2 Literacy Narrative Trailblazer: Tara Westover
  • 3.3 Glance at Genre: The Literacy Narrative
  • 3.4 Annotated Sample Reading: from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
  • 3.5 Writing Process: Tracing the Beginnings of Literacy
  • 3.6 Editing Focus: Sentence Structure
  • 3.7 Evaluation: Self-Evaluating
  • 3.8 Spotlight on … The Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN)
  • 3.9 Portfolio: A Literacy Artifact
  • Works Consulted
  • 2 Unit Introduction
  • 4.1 Exploring the Past to Understand the Present
  • 4.2 Memoir Trailblazer: Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • 4.3 Glance at Genre: Conflict, Detail, and Revelation
  • 4.4 Annotated Sample Reading: from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
  • 4.5 Writing Process: Making the Personal Public
  • 4.6 Editing Focus: More on Characterization and Point of View
  • 4.7 Evaluation: Structure and Organization
  • 4.8 Spotlight on … Multilingual Writers
  • 4.9 Portfolio: Filtered Memories
  • 5.1 Profiles as Inspiration
  • 5.2 Profile Trailblazer: Veronica Chambers
  • 5.3 Glance at Genre: Subject, Angle, Background, and Description
  • 5.4 Annotated Sample Reading: “Remembering John Lewis” by Carla D. Hayden
  • 5.5 Writing Process: Focusing on the Angle of Your Subject
  • 5.6 Editing Focus: Verb Tense Consistency
  • 5.7 Evaluation: Text as Personal Introduction
  • 5.8 Spotlight on … Profiling a Cultural Artifact
  • 5.9 Portfolio: Subject as a Reflection of Self
  • 6.1 Proposing Change: Thinking Critically About Problems and Solutions
  • 6.2 Proposal Trailblazer: Atul Gawande
  • 6.3 Glance at Genre: Features of Proposals
  • 6.4 Annotated Student Sample: “Slowing Climate Change” by Shawn Krukowski
  • 6.6 Editing Focus: Subject-Verb Agreement
  • 6.7 Evaluation: Conventions, Clarity, and Coherence
  • 6.8 Spotlight on … Technical Writing as a Career
  • 6.9 Portfolio: Reflecting on Problems and Solutions
  • 7.1 Thumbs Up or Down?
  • 7.2 Review Trailblazer: Michiko Kakutani
  • 7.3 Glance at Genre: Criteria, Evidence, Evaluation
  • 7.4 Annotated Student Sample: "Black Representation in Film" by Caelia Marshall
  • 7.5 Writing Process: Thinking Critically About Entertainment
  • 7.6 Editing Focus: Quotations
  • 7.7 Evaluation: Effect on Audience
  • 7.8 Spotlight on … Language and Culture
  • 7.9 Portfolio: What the Arts Say About You
  • 8.1 Information and Critical Thinking
  • 8.2 Analytical Report Trailblazer: Barbara Ehrenreich
  • 8.3 Glance at Genre: Informal and Formal Analytical Reports
  • 8.4 Annotated Student Sample: "U.S. Response to COVID-19" by Trevor Garcia
  • 8.5 Writing Process: Creating an Analytical Report
  • 8.6 Editing Focus: Commas with Nonessential and Essential Information
  • 8.7 Evaluation: Reviewing the Final Draft
  • 8.8 Spotlight on … Discipline-Specific and Technical Language
  • 8.9 Portfolio: Evidence and Objectivity
  • 9.1 Breaking the Whole into Its Parts
  • 9.2 Rhetorical Analysis Trailblazer: Jamil Smith
  • 9.3 Glance at Genre: Rhetorical Strategies
  • 9.4 Annotated Student Sample: “Rhetorical Analysis: Evicted by Matthew Desmond” by Eliana Evans
  • 9.5 Writing Process: Thinking Critically about Rhetoric
  • 9.6 Editing Focus: Mixed Sentence Constructions
  • 9.7 Evaluation: Rhetorical Analysis
  • 9.8 Spotlight on … Business and Law
  • 9.9 Portfolio: How Thinking Critically about Rhetoric Affects Intellectual Growth
  • 10.1 Making a Case: Defining a Position Argument
  • 10.2 Position Argument Trailblazer: Charles Blow
  • 10.3 Glance at Genre: Thesis, Reasoning, and Evidence
  • 10.4 Annotated Sample Reading: "Remarks at the University of Michigan" by Lyndon B. Johnson
  • 10.5 Writing Process: Creating a Position Argument
  • 10.6 Editing Focus: Paragraphs and Transitions
  • 10.7 Evaluation: Varied Appeals
  • 10.8 Spotlight on … Citation
  • 10.9 Portfolio: Growth in the Development of Argument
  • 11.1 Developing Your Sense of Logic
  • 11.2 Reasoning Trailblazer: Paul D. N. Hebert
  • 11.3 Glance at Genre: Reasoning Strategies and Signal Words
  • 11.4 Annotated Sample Reading: from Book VII of The Republic by Plato
  • 11.5 Writing Process: Reasoning Supported by Evidence
  • 12.1 Introducing Research and Research Evidence
  • 12.2 Argumentative Research Trailblazer: Samin Nosrat
  • 12.3 Glance at Genre: Introducing Research as Evidence
  • 12.4 Annotated Student Sample: "Healthy Diets from Sustainable Sources Can Save the Earth" by Lily Tran
  • 12.5 Writing Process: Integrating Research
  • 12.6 Editing Focus: Integrating Sources and Quotations
  • 12.7 Evaluation: Effectiveness of Research Paper
  • 12.8 Spotlight on … Bias in Language and Research
  • 12.9 Portfolio: Why Facts Matter in Research Argumentation
  • 13.1 The Research Process: Where to Look for Existing Sources
  • 13.2 The Research Process: How to Create Sources
  • 13.3 Glance at the Research Process: Key Skills
  • 13.4 Annotated Student Sample: Research Log
  • 13.5 Research Process: Making Notes, Synthesizing Information, and Keeping a Research Log
  • 13.6 Spotlight on … Ethical Research
  • 14.1 Compiling Sources for an Annotated Bibliography
  • 14.2 Glance at Form: Citation Style, Purpose, and Formatting
  • 14.3 Annotated Student Sample: “Healthy Diets from Sustainable Sources Can Save the Earth” by Lily Tran
  • 14.4 Writing Process: Informing and Analyzing
  • 15.1 Tracing a Broad Issue in the Individual
  • 15.2 Case Study Trailblazer: Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
  • 15.3 Glance at Genre: Observation, Description, and Analysis
  • 15.4 Annotated Sample Reading: Case Study on Louis Victor "Tan" Leborgne
  • 15.5 Writing Process: Thinking Critically About How People and Language Interact
  • 15.6 Editing Focus: Words Often Confused
  • 15.7 Evaluation: Presentation and Analysis of Case Study
  • 15.8 Spotlight on … Applied Linguistics
  • 15.9 Portfolio: Your Own Uses of Language
  • 3 Unit Introduction
  • 16.1 An Author’s Choices: What Text Says and How It Says It
  • 16.2 Textual Analysis Trailblazer: bell hooks
  • 16.3 Glance at Genre: Print or Textual Analysis
  • 16.4 Annotated Student Sample: "Artists at Work" by Gwyn Garrison
  • 16.5 Writing Process: Thinking Critically About Text
  • 16.6 Editing Focus: Literary Works Live in the Present
  • 16.7 Evaluation: Self-Directed Assessment
  • 16.8 Spotlight on … Humanities
  • 16.9 Portfolio: The Academic and the Personal
  • 17.1 “Reading” Images
  • 17.2 Image Trailblazer: Sara Ludy
  • 17.3 Glance at Genre: Relationship Between Image and Rhetoric
  • 17.4 Annotated Student Sample: “Hints of the Homoerotic” by Leo Davis
  • 17.5 Writing Process: Thinking Critically and Writing Persuasively About Images
  • 17.6 Editing Focus: Descriptive Diction
  • 17.7 Evaluation: Relationship Between Analysis and Image
  • 17.8 Spotlight on … Video and Film
  • 17.9 Portfolio: Interplay Between Text and Image
  • 18.1 Mixing Genres and Modes
  • 18.2 Multimodal Trailblazer: Torika Bolatagici
  • 18.3 Glance at Genre: Genre, Audience, Purpose, Organization
  • 18.4 Annotated Sample Reading: “Celebrating a Win-Win” by Alexandra Dapolito Dunn
  • 18.5 Writing Process: Create a Multimodal Advocacy Project
  • 18.6 Evaluation: Transitions
  • 18.7 Spotlight on . . . Technology
  • 18.8 Portfolio: Multimodalism
  • 19.1 Writing, Speaking, and Activism
  • 19.2 Podcast Trailblazer: Alice Wong
  • 19.3 Glance at Genre: Language Performance and Visuals
  • 19.4 Annotated Student Sample: “Are New DOT Regulations Discriminatory?” by Zain A. Kumar
  • 19.5 Writing Process: Writing to Speak
  • 19.6 Evaluation: Bridging Writing and Speaking
  • 19.7 Spotlight on … Delivery/Public Speaking
  • 19.8 Portfolio: Everyday Rhetoric, Rhetoric Every Day
  • 20.1 Thinking Critically about Your Semester
  • 20.2 Reflection Trailblazer: Sandra Cisneros
  • 20.3 Glance at Genre: Purpose and Structure
  • 20.4 Annotated Sample Reading: “Don’t Expect Congrats” by Dale Trumbore
  • 20.5 Writing Process: Looking Back, Looking Forward
  • 20.6 Editing Focus: Pronouns
  • 20.7 Evaluation: Evaluating Self-Reflection
  • 20.8 Spotlight on … Pronouns in Context

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Describe the elements of the rhetorical situation for your proposal.
  • Apply prewriting strategies to discover a problem to write about.
  • Gather and synthesize information from appropriate sources.
  • Draft a thesis statement and create an organizational plan.
  • Compose a proposal that develops your ideas and integrates evidence from sources.
  • Implement strategies for drafting, peer reviewing, and revising.

Sometimes writing a paper comes easily, but more often writers work hard to generate ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, draft, and revise. Experienced writers do their work in multiple steps, and most engage in a recursive process that involves thinking and rethinking, writing and rewriting, and repeating steps multiple times as their ideas develop and sharpen. In broad strokes, most writers go through the following steps to achieve a polished piece of writing:

  • Planning and Organization . Your proposal will come together more easily if you spend time at the start considering the rhetorical situation, understanding your assignment, gathering ideas and evidence, drafting a thesis statement, and creating an organizational plan.
  • Drafting . When you have a good grasp of the problem and solution you are going to write about and how you will organize your proposal, you are ready to draft.
  • Review . With a first draft in hand, make time to get feedback from others. Depending on the structure of your class, you may receive feedback from your instructor or your classmates. You can also work with a tutor in the writing center on your campus, or you can ask someone else you trust, such as a friend, roommate, or family member, to read your writing critically and give honest feedback.
  • Revising . After reviewing feedback from your readers, plan to revise. Focus on their comments: Is your thesis clear? Do you need to make organizational changes to the proposal? Do you need to explain or connect your ideas more clearly?

Considering the Rhetorical Situation

Like other kinds of writing projects, a proposal starts with assessing the rhetorical situation —the circumstance in which a writer communicates with an audience of readers about a subject. As a proposal writer, you make choices based on the purpose for your writing, the audience who will read it, the genre , and the expectations of the community and culture in which you are working. The brainstorming questions in Table 6.1 can help you begin:

Summary of Assignment

Write a proposal that discusses a problem you want to learn more about and that recommends a solution. The problem you choose must be a current problem, even though it may have been a problem for many years. The problem must also affect many people, and it must have an actual solution or solutions that you can learn about through research. In other words, the problem cannot be unique to you, and the solution you recommend cannot be one you only imagine; both the problem and the solution must be grounded in reality.

One way to get ideas about a problem to write about is to read a high-quality newspaper, website, or social media account for a week. Read widely on whatever platform you choose so that you learn what people are saying, what a newspaper’s editorial board is taking a stand on, what opinion writers are making cases for in op-eds, and what community members are commenting on. You’ll begin to get a handle on problems in your community or state that people care about. If you read a paper or website with a national or international audience, you’ll learn about problems that affect people in other places.

You will need to consult and cite at least five reliable sources. They can be scholarly, but they do not have to be. They must be credible, trustworthy, and unbiased. Possible sources include articles from reputable newspapers, magazines, and academic and professional journals; reputable websites; government sources; and visual sources. Depending on your topic, you may want to conduct a survey, an interview, or an experiment. See Research Process: Accessing and Recording Information and Annotated Bibliography: Gathering, Evaluating, and Documenting Sources for information about creating and finding sources. Your proposal can include a visual or media source if it provides appropriate, relevant evidence.

Another Lens. Another way to approach a proposal assignment is to consider problems that affect you directly and affect others. Perhaps you are concerned about running up student loan debt. Or perhaps you worry about how to pay your rent while earning minimum wage. These concerns are valid and affect many college students around the United States. Another way is to think about problems that affect others. Perhaps students in your class or on your campus have backgrounds and experiences that differ from yours— what problems or challenges might they have encountered during their time in college that you don’t know about?

As you think about the purpose and audience for your proposal, think again about the rhetorical situation, specifically about the audience you want to reach and the mode of presentation best suited to them and your purpose. For example, say you’re dissatisfied with the process for electing student leaders on your campus. If your purpose is to identify the problems in the process and propose a change, then your audience would include other students, the group or committee that oversees student elections, and perhaps others. To reach other students who might also be dissatisfied, you might write an article, editorial, or letter for the campus newspaper, social media page, or website, depending on how students on your campus get news. In addition, you might organize a meeting of other students to get their input on the problem. To reach the decision makers, which may include elected students, faculty, and administrators, you might need to prepare an oral presentation and a slide deck.

Below in Figure 6.7 are three slides from Shawn Krukowski’s proposal that he adapted for a presentation: the title slide, a slide on one aspect of the problem, and a slide introducing one of the proposed solutions.

Quick Launch: Finding a Problem to Write About

A proposal must address a real-life problem and present one or more workable solutions. Usually, problems worth writing about are not easily solved; if they were, they would no longer be considered problems. Indeed, problems in proposals are often complex, and solutions are often complicated and involve trade-offs. Sometimes people disagree about whether the problem is a problem at all and whether any proposed solutions are viable solutions.

Exploring a Problem

One way to generate ideas about a problem is to brainstorm. To explore a topic for your proposal, use a graphic organizer like Table 6.2 to write responses to the following statements and questions:

For example, perhaps you’re considering a career in information technology, and you’re taking an IT class. You might be interested in exploring the problem of data breaches. A data breach is a real-world problem with possible solutions, so it passes the first test of being an actual problem with possible solutions. Your responses to the questions above might look something like those in Table 6.3 :

Narrowing and Focusing

Many problems for a proposal can be too broad to tackle in a single paper. For example, the sample above reveals that data breaches are indeed a problem but that several aspects can be explored. If you tried to cover all the aspects, you would be left writing general paragraphs with little specific information. The topic needs to be narrowed and focused.

The data breaches example above could be narrowed to the following problems—and possibly even more. Note that the questions start to zero in on possible solutions, too. In your own writing, as you brainstorm, try placing subtopics you discover into their own categories and asking more questions, as shown in Table 6.4 .

Sample Proposal Topics

The following broad topics are potentially suitable as a start for a proposal. Choose one of these or one of your own, and ask the exploring questions. Then look at your responses, and ask focusing questions. Continue to focus until you have a specific problem that you can discuss in sufficient depth and offer a concrete solution or solutions.

  • Health fields: cost of medical and dental care for uninsured people, management of chronic conditions and diseases, infection control, vaccinations, access to mental health care, drug use and addiction, sports injuries, workplace safety
  • Education: gaps in academic achievement, curriculum, recruitment and retention of staff and/or students, buildings and grounds, graduation rates, cocurricular activities
  • Environment: forest management and fires, hurricanes and other extreme storms, water and air pollution, sustainable development, invasive species, waste management, recycling and composting, community gardening
  • Engineering and computer science: robotics, vehicles and transportation, digital divide, online privacy, misinformation and misbehavior on social media, video games
  • Business and manufacturing: quality improvement, process improvement, cost control, communication, social media, pay equity, fundraising, sourcing of materials, net-zero energy processes, workplace safety
  • Policy and politics: public institutions, such as public schools, libraries, transportation systems, and parks; taxes, fees, and services; donations to political campaigns; healthcare, such as Medicare and Medicaid; social security; unemployment insurance; services for active military and veterans; immigration policy
  • Society and culture: social media and free speech; inequality in housing, employment, education, and more; cancel culture; bullying; wealth and poverty; support for the arts; athletes and sports; disparities related to race, sex, gender identity and expression, age, and/or ability

Gathering Information

Proposals are rooted in information and evidence; therefore, most proposal assignments require you to conduct research. Depending on your assignment, you may need to do formal research, an activity that involves finding sources and evaluating them for reliability, reading them carefully and taking notes, and citing all words you quote and ideas you borrow. See Research Process: Accessing and Recording Information and Annotated Bibliography: Gathering, Evaluating, and Documenting Sources for detailed instruction on conducting research. If you are proposing a solution to a problem in your local community or on your campus, you may need to conduct primary research as well, such as a survey or interviews with people who live or work there.

Whether you conduct in-depth research or do background reading, keep track of the ideas that come to you and the information you learn. You can write or dictate notes using an app on your phone or computer, or you can jot notes in a journal if you prefer pen and paper. Then, when you are ready to begin to organize what you have learned, you will have a record of your thoughts and information. Always track the source of the information you gather, whether from your reading or a person you interviewed, so that you can return to that source if you need more information and can credit the source in your paper.

Kinds of Evidence

You will use evidence to demonstrate that the problem is real and worthy of being solved and that your recommended solution is workable. Choose evidence for your proposal that is rooted in facts. In addition, choose evidence that best supports the angle you take on your topic and meets your instructor’s requirements. Cite all evidence you use from a source. Consider the following kinds of evidence and examples of each:

Definition : an explanation of a key word, idea, or concept.

The Personal Data Notification & Protection Act of 2017 defines a security breach as “a compromise of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of, or the loss of, computerized data that results in… (i) the unauthorized acquisition of sensitive personally identifiable information; or (ii) access to sensitive personally identifiable information that is for an unauthorized purpose, or in excess of authorization.”

Example : an illustration of an idea or concept.

Every month, university staff members receive a fake phishing email from the IT department. The goal is to train employees of the university to be critical readers of every email they receive.

Expert opinion : a statement by a professional whose opinion is respected in the field.

In The Sixth Extinction , science writer Elizabeth Kolbert observes that humans are making the choice about “which evolutionary pathways will remain and open and which will be forever closed” (268).

Fact : information that is true and can be proven correct or accurate. Statements of fact are built on evidence and data.

In March and April of 2020, 43 states in the United States issued orders directing residents to stay home except for essential activities.

Interview : a person-to-person, phone, or remote conversation that involves an interviewer posing questions to another person or group of people.

During an interview, I asked about parents’ decisions to vaccinate their children. One pediatrician said, “The majority of parents see the benefits of immunizations for their children and for public health. For those who don’t, I talk to them and try to understand why they feel the way they do.”

Quotation : the exact words of an author or speaker.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, SpaceX was required to conduct a “comprehensive review of the company’s safety culture, operational decision-making, and process discipline,” in addition to investigating the crash of its prototype spacecraft (Chang).

Statistics : numerical fact or item of data.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 40 million tons of food waste were generated in 2017, comprising 15.2% of all trash sent to landfills (DeSilver).

Survey : a structured interview in which respondents are all asked the same questions and their answers are tabulated and interpreted. Surveys reveal attitudes, beliefs, or habits of the general public or segments of the population.

In a survey of adults conducted in July 2020, 64 percent of respondents said that social media have a mostly negative effect on American society (Auxier).

  • Visuals and other media : graphs, figures, tables, photographs, diagrams, charts, maps, videos, audio recordings, etc.

Thesis and Organization

Drafting a thesis.

When you have a solid grasp of the problem and solution, try drafting a thesis . A thesis is the main idea that you will convey in your proposal and to which all the paragraphs in the paper should relate. In a proposal, you will likely express this main idea in a thesis statement of one or two sentences toward the end of the introduction.

For example, in the thesis statement Shawn Krukowski wrote for his proposal on climate change, he identifies the problem and previews the solutions he presents:

student sample text What is needed to slow climate change is unified action in two key areas—mitigation and adaptation—spurred by government leadership in the United States and a global commitment to addressing the problem immediately. end student sample text

Here is another example that identifies a problem and multiple solutions:

student sample text The number of women employed in the IT field is decreasing every year, a trend that can be changed with a multifaceted approach that includes initiatives in middle schools, high schools, and colleges; active recruitment; mentoring programs; and flexible work arrangements. end student sample text

After you draft a thesis statement, ask these questions and revise it as needed:

  • Is it engaging? A thesis for a proposal should pique readers’ interest in the problem and possible solutions.
  • Is it precise and specific? If you are interested in curbing the spread of invasive plant species, for example, your thesis should indicate which environment the plant or plants are invading and that you are proposing ways to stop the spread.

Organizing Your Ideas

A proposal has a recognizable shape, starting with an introduction, followed by discussions of the problem, possible solutions, potential objections to the solutions, and a conclusion with a recommendation. A graphic organizer like Table 6.5 can help you organize your ideas and evidence.

Drafting a Proposal

With a tentative thesis, an organization plan, and evidence, you are ready to begin drafting your proposal. For this assignment, you will discuss a problem, present possible solutions, address objections to the solutions, and conclude with a recommendation.

You may choose to write the introduction first, last, or midway through the drafting process. Whenever you choose to write it, use it to draw readers in. Make the proposal topic clear, and be concise. End the introduction with your thesis statement.

Opening a proposal with an overview of your topic is a reliable strategy, as shown in the following student-written example on women working in IT. The thesis statement, which appeared earlier in this section, is underlined:

student sample text People who work in the information technology (IT) field often start their careers fixing computers and other electronic devices for others. Through experience and education, an IT worker’s career path can branch out to specialize in everything from programming new software to setting up and maintaining networks. The IT field is growing because of the constant development of technology, and the demand for employees also is growing. underline Yet the number of women employed in the IT field is decreasing every year, a trend that can be changed with a multifaceted approach that includes initiatives in middle schools, high schools, and colleges; active recruitment; mentoring programs; and flexible work arrangements end underline . end student sample text

Body Paragraphs: Problem, Solutions, Objections

The body paragraphs of your proposal should present the problem, the solution or solutions, and potential objections to the proposed solution(s). As you write these paragraphs, consider using the point , evidence , and analysis pattern:

  • The point is the central idea of the paragraph, usually given in a topic sentence stated in your own words at or toward beginning of the paragraph.
  • With the evidence you provide, you develop the paragraph and support the point given in the topic sentence. Include details, examples, quotations, paraphrases, and summaries from sources. In your sentences and paragraphs, synthesize the evidence you give by showing the connections between sources. See Position Argument: Practicing the Art of Rhetoric and Argumentative Research: Enhancing the Art of Rhetoric with Evidence for more information on quoting, summarizing, paraphrasing, and synthesizing.
  • The analysis comes at the end of the paragraph. In your own words, draw a conclusion about the evidence you have provided and relate it to the topic sentence.

The paragraphs that follow show the point-evidence-analysis pattern in practice.

Body Paragraphs: Problem

Follow the introduction with a discussion of the problem. Using paragraph structure, define the problem and discuss it, drawing on evidence from your sources. This paragraph (or paragraphs) should answer these questions: What is the problem? Why is this a problem? The following example, from the proposal on women working in IT, answers the first question:

student sample text The information technology (IT) field is continuously expanding, with many more positions available than workers to fill them. In fact, the pool of IT professionals was so small that in 2001, Congress raised the visa limit in an effort to fill the gap with employees from overseas (Varma, 2002). And yet the number of women represented in the occupation is decreasing. From 1990 to 2020, the percentage of women in IT declined from 31 percent to 25 percent, even though women make up 47 percent of all employed adults in the United States. According to White (2021), only 19 percent of women pursue a computer science major in college, compared to 27 percent in 1997. Of those women who graduated with a computer science degree, 38 percent are working in the field compared to 56 percent of men, a statistic that indicates women are not staying in the field. Although gender diversity supposedly is valued in the workplace, the underrepresentation of women in IT is clearly a problem. end student sample text

The writer then goes on to answer the second question: Why is this a problem? The writer discusses stereotypes, lack of encouragement and role models, workplace culture, pay, and prospects for advancement (not shown here).

Body Paragraphs: Solutions

After presenting and explaining the problem, use specific information from the sources you consulted to present the solution or solutions you have discovered through your research. If you are proposing more than one solution, present them one at a time, using headings as appropriate.

The solutions section will likely be the longest part of your proposal. Below are two paragraphs from the proposal about women working in IT. Note how the first paragraph introduces the solutions and how the second paragraph uses evidence to develop the first proposed solution. Also note the informative boldface headings.

student sample text The following suggestions are ways to encourage women to enter IT and build their careers, with the eventual goal of achieving gender balance in the field. The solutions discussed include encouraging interest in computer technology among girls in middle school and high school, actively recruiting college-age women to study IT, and within the field, mentoring women and expanding workplace flexibility to improve retention. end student sample text

student sample text The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is an organization that encourages girls in middle school and high school to explore their interest in IT. One program, the NCWIT’s Aspirations in Computing, supports women in high school by showing them that they can succeed in technology and introducing them to other students with similar interests. The same program matches middle-school girls with female high-school and college students and awards scholarships for computing and programming competitions. In addition, internships and IT courses in middle school and high school provide opportunities to learn what a career in IT entails, with or without a degree in IT. Opportunities like these give girls and women support and a sense of belonging. end student sample text

The paragraphs that follow (not shown here) continue the discussion of the possible solutions.

Body Paragraphs: Objections

Depending on the problem and solution, consider the objections readers may raise, and explain why your proposal is necessary and worthwhile. For example, the proposal on women in IT does not discuss objections because few people would object to the writer’s proposal. Shawn Krukowski, however, in his proposal on climate change, includes a section on objections to taking action. He focuses the discussion on people who deny that climate change is a problem. Would you do the same? Consider whether this section of Shawn’s proposal might have been stronger had he addressed objections to the solutions he proposed—mitigation and adaptation—instead of objections to the problem.

student sample text Despite scientific evidence, some people and groups deny that climate change is real or, if they admit it exists, insist it is not a valid concern. Those who think climate change is not a problem point to Earth’s millennia-long history of changing climate as evidence that life has always persisted. Most of the change, however, predates human civilization, which has benefited from thousands of years of stable climate. The rapid change since the Industrial Revolution is unprecedented in human history. end student sample text

student sample text Those who deny climate change or its dangers seek primarily to relax or remove pollution standards and regulations in order to protect, or maximize profit from, their industries. To date, their lobbying has been successful. For example, the world’s fossil-fuel industry received $5.3 trillion in 2015 alone, while the U.S. wind-energy industry received $12.3 billion in subsidies between 2000 and 2020 (Green America, 2020). end student sample text

Conclusion and Recommendation

The conclusion and recommendation section of your proposal is the part in which you interpret your findings and make a recommendation or give a call to action. At this point, focus on the solution that will best solve the problem, suggesting or summarizing specific actions.

Below is the recommendation section from the proposal about women in IT. In the full conclusion (not shown here), the writer summarizes the main points of the proposal. In the recommendation paragraph that follows, the writer calls for specific actions:

student sample text Many researchers have studied why few women choose IT as a career and why some decide to leave the field. Although the numbers cannot be improved immediately, the following changes in school and the workplace could recruit and retain more women in IT: end student sample text

  • Include technology education courses and formal IT programs in middle- and high-school curricula to give girls and young women opportunities to develop an interest at an early age.
  • Develop internship and mentor programs in high schools and colleges to combat stereotyping and encourage women to enter the field.
  • Develop and encourage workplace mentor programs, flexible work options, and open communication for professional growth and retention.

student sample text With time and effort, these actions may result in more women seeing themselves in long-term IT careers. end student sample text

References or Works Cited Page

Including any data you gathered through primary research, such as a survey you created and administered, interviews you conducted, or observational notes you took, you must cite the sources you consulted. These sources appear in the text of your proposal and in a bibliography at the end. The paragraphs in the previous section, including Shawn Krukowski’s proposal, use APA documentation style. For more on documenting sources, see Index and Guide to Documentation , MLA Documentation and Format , and APA Documentation and Format .

Abstract or Executive Summary

An abstract (or executive summary) summarizes your proposal. The purpose is to present information briefly and economically so that readers can decide whether they want to read further. Include your main points, but not the evidence.

Although an abstract or executive summary comes first in a proposal, it is advisable to write it after you have completed your proposal and are certain of your main points. The example below is the abstract from the proposal about women in IT.

student sample text The purpose of this proposal is to raise awareness of the small number of women working in the information technology (IT) field, to examine the factors that contribute to discouraging women from entering IT, and to propose ways to draw women into the field and retain them. Although the IT field is growing, the number of women employed within it remains low. Women may be reluctant to pursue a career in IT because of stereotypes, few role models, and lack of encouragement. Women who have already established a career in IT report leaving the field for these reasons, as well as family responsibilities and lack of advancement. There are several potential ways to raise the number of women in IT. Encouraging interest in computer technology among girls in middle school and high school, recruiting college-age women to study IT, mentoring young professional women, and improving workplace flexibility will, over time, break down stereotypes and increase the number of women in the IT field. end student sample text

Peer Review: Getting Feedback from Readers

With a complete draft in hand, you may engage in peer review with your classmates, giving feedback to each other about the strengths and weaknesses of your drafts. For peer review within a class, your instructor may provide a list of questions or a form for you to complete as you work together.

Conferencing in Writing Groups

Other people can provide feedback on your writing beside your classmates. If you have an on-campus writing center, it is well worth your time to make an online or in-person appointment with a tutor at any point in your writing process. You will get valuable comments and improve your ability to review your own writing.

Another way to get fresh eyes on your writing is to ask a friend or family member to read your draft. To get useful feedback, provide a list of questions or a form such as the one shown in Table 6.6 for them to complete as they read.

Revising Your Proposal

A strong college paper is rarely written in a single draft, so build in time to revise your work. Take time with the comments you receive from your readers, and read your own work with a critical eye.

Responding to Reviewers’ Feedback

When you receive feedback from readers—whether from your instructor, your classmates, a writing tutor, or someone else—read each comment carefully to understand what the reader is communicating. Do your best not to become defensive, and be open to suggestions for improvement. Remind yourself that your readers are trying to help. As someone who hasn’t thought about your proposal as much as you have, a new reader can often see strengths and weaknesses that you cannot. Analyze each response, and decide whether acting on a suggestion will make your writing better. Remember that you remain the author, and you make the final call on your writing.

As you read, keep track of the comments your readers make. Pay special attention to strengths and weaknesses that more than one reader identifies. Use that information to improve later assignments as well as your proposal.

Revising on Your Own

The following revising strategies can help you read your draft critically and carefully:

  • Read your draft aloud. Read the entire text from the beginning slowly and carefully, marking spots that need revision. Reading in this way allows you to see areas that need clarification, explanation, or development that you may have missed when you wrote the first draft. You can also have someone read your draft aloud to you.
  • Make a paragraph outline. The most common unit of thought in writing is the paragraph, a group of sentences set off from other groups because they focus on a single idea. Writing a paragraph outline creates a map of your whole paper that can help you determine whether the organization is effective or needs changing. Number each paragraph and write a phrase describing its topic or focus. Check that each paragraph has a topic sentence that states the main idea of the paragraph.
  • Test your evidence. Check whether each piece of evidence is factual and supports the main idea of the paragraph. Check that each piece of evidence is introduced, woven into your sentences, and cited.
  • Listen for your voice. In most college papers, your language should sound like a real person. If your instructor requires a formal style for the assignment, the language should be objective and in third-person point of view .
  • Let go if you need to. View change as good. Learn to let go of words, sentences, paragraphs, and maybe even your entire first draft. Sometimes the best way to revise is to start fresh. The knowledge you have built in writing a first draft will serve you well if you need to start over.
  • Create a new file for each revision. Each time you revise a draft, save the new version with a new file name so that you don’t lose your previous work. That way, you can return to an earlier version of your draft if you are not happy with the revision.
  • Edit and proofread. When you are satisfied with the overall shape of your paper, reread it once again to check for sentence-level errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and source citations.

Taking It Public: Publishing or Presenting Your Proposal

Publishing is a final step in the writing process. You may want to consider publishing your full proposal in your campus newspaper (or rewriting it as a letter to the editor) if your topic is related to your school. Or you may want to present it to an organization or committee on campus that can help you make your solution a reality. If your topic is related to the community in which you live, consider submitting your proposal to the local newspaper or presenting it at a city council meeting. (Note that if you decide to present your proposal orally, you’ll need to figure out in advance the procedure for speaking or getting on a meeting agenda.) If your topic is more general and involves substantial research, consider submitting your proposal to one of these journals that publish undergraduate research work in all fields:

  • American Journal of Undergraduate Research
  • Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research
  • PURSUE Undergraduate Research Journal

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The Perfect Length of Your Next Business Proposal

proposal paper size

To truly know how long your business proposals should be, you need to take a number of things into account. Working out how long your proposal should be is less about what to put in and more about what you can leave out.

What we'll cover

  • Proposal contents

What you can do to shorten your business proposals

Everything the ideal proposal should have in it.

First we're going to look at everything your proposal should have in it then we'll look at what scenarios dictate what you can shorten or leave out:

  • Introduction
  • Service description
  • Process and timescales
  • Terms and Conditions

While every one of the above mentioned sections has its place, there are ways to make your business proposals shorter. There are three deciding factors which determine what you can cut from this list and when:

  • What you're selling
  • Who you're selling to

Luckily, if you are using a proposal software like Better Proposals, you'll be able to find the proposal template for your industry that got you covered with all the essential proposal sections. Moreover, you get all the pre-written texts so all you have to do is tweak the template to your liking.

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1. What you're selling

If you're selling a technical service like a website or something similar then, regardless of anything else, it's going to need the information about what it is you're providing which is going to force a certain length. You'd want to explain what they're getting, the pages they'll have.

If, for instance, it's an off-the-shelf item like a set of business cards, then the description really doesn't need to be pages long. Some high-quality photographs would do most the talking, you'd just need to tell them the thickness of the card for instance.

It's really about judging it based on what you're actually selling. Some things need a longer description and more information, others don't.

What you can do to shorten the proposal:

- The length of the service description can vary - The process and timescales will vary in detail - Your guarantee might not need to be so prominent

2. The value

If you're selling something of low value and very cheap, a long proposal would be seen as complete overkill. Using our business card example, 3 page description would be going overboard. Likewise a single line description for a $50,000 custom web and marketing solution isn't going to cut it.

This requires common sense but this should serve as a framework.

- Your service description can be as little as a few lines - You could possibly lose the guarantee or have it on your Investment page - You might not need to explain the process if its low value and timescales can be explained in a sentence in your introduction

Of course, each page is important, but there are two that stand out. After conducting a study which included 3 variables; the number of words per each page, the amount of necessary time to read them and the average amount of time spent on each of these pages, we've discovered that leads spend most of their time on Introduction page (34.6%) and Investment page (27.1% of time).

3. Who you're selling to

If you are selling to someone new then it's likely you'll want to do everything you can to impress them. Things like case studies, guarantees etc are vital in situations like these where they don't have that full certainty that you're going to do what you say you will.

If it's a client you've had for 10 years and they've asked for a quick quote on something, you don't need to show them a list of testimonials. They know - this is just an insult to their intelligence and feels weird.

- You might not need to explain the process to an existing client - Your service description might be able to be trimmed back - Your case studies or social proof might not be needed at all. - You might not need a whole page for your guarantee

It's not about the actual length of the proposal

The length is really quite subjective. If you're sending a PDF then the length or size is going to be measured in the number of paper-sized pages, or even in some cases by the file size. Sending a 54mb file sounds crazy big even though it might not be.

Online proposal systems like Better Proposals don't measure it in paper-sized pages but rather in sections. The content is scrolled through on the right but there's no indication as to how long each section is. This proposal for instance looks like a decent length:

business proposal example

Whereas this one looks pretty light on content:

business proposal example

There's could actually be more content on the second one but your perception tells you otherwise.

In our proposal reports , we looked at a number of factors which helped get proposals signed. One of them was the number of pages. Turns out if you want your proposal to convert, you should have 6 pages.

2022 proposal report section number

It looks "beefy" enough to cater for larger deals with lots of explanation but not so long it looks daunting. Likewise for smaller deals it doesn't feel like overkill.

It's really important that the proposal looks the right size for the job you're pitching for, with defined and structured content. That's really all that matters. Implement these ideas into your future proposals and you'll send the perfect length proposal every time.

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Copywriters, Here's How To Lose a $4000 Sale in 5 Easy Steps

We recently hired a copywriter and had it down to three. Here's the story of how one of them lost himself an easy $4,000 sale.

3 Killer Tips on Writing Crystal Clear Technical Proposals

Writing the technical part of your proposal can win and lose you the job. You need to bridge the gap between their knowledge and yours.

proposal paper size

The Visual Communication Guy

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proposal paper size

How to Organize a Paper: The Proposal Format

The Proposal

What is the Proposal Method?

Proposals are written for a variety of reasons and they can follow a wide array of formats. Ultimately, the goal of a proposal is to pitch an idea to person or organization and to persuade them that your idea is worth pursuing. Depending on the complexity and formality of your proposal’s scope, you may need more or less depth. All proposals have a fairly simple, basic structure, though, that follows six generic parts:

  • Topic:  State your topic and your purpose for writing the proposal.
  • Paradigm:  Describe the current state or understanding as your audience knows it.
  • Gap: Identify the gap in knowledge of practice as the current paradigm sees it. Show what is missing (this is essentially a problem statement).
  • Forecast: Forecast the organization of the proposal so that your reader knows exactly what to expect. Then follow that order throughout the proposal.
  • Research:  Provide detailed explanation of the research you will conduct to learn more about the problem/gap and the solution.
  • Proposition:  Propose something new, based on your research, that fills the gap or solves the problem.

With those six basic components in mind, most proposals, especially ones that require a great deal of formality, research, planning, and presentation, require much more depth and the organizational structure can include up to 14 or more different sections/components. If you’re looking for how to write a full, in-depth proposal, include the following fourteen sections and follow the order provided below:

Transmittal Letter

  • Cover/Title Page

Executive Summary

Table of contents.

  • List of Figures

Introduction

  • Project/Deliverable Description

Methodologies

Cost/benefit analysis, qualifications, what should i know about proposals.

Each of the above proposal sections are described below. But first, you should know a few things about how to write a proposal:

Proposals are for Solving Problems The most fundamental thing you need to know about how to write a proposal is that you are proposing a solution to a problem. This means you should be aware of what the problem is, how serious it is, whom it affects, how (if at all) the problem has been addressed in the past, and how you expect to be able to solve it in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Audience Matters Despite what you may have been taught in your technical or business writing class, there is no precise formula for writing a proposal. In the end, a real person is going to read (or NOT read if you aren’t careful) your proposal and it is important that you cater to their expectations. When you write a proposal for a grant, it is  imperative   that you follow the guidelines given by the organization. If you don’t, yours will almost assuredly be tossed. If you are writing a proposal for your company, look and see what proposals have been written in the past. Follow what is expected.

Proposals are Persuasive Documents Perhaps it seems obvious, but when you write a proposal, you are trying to persuade people to let you move forward with your great idea. In order to get others on board, you have to be impressively and unquestionably persuasive. So make sure you frame each section of the proposal in such a way that your project sounds important, worthwhile, valuable, clear, effective, safe, feasible, or anything else that might be convincing to those reviewing it. Also, make sure you avoid statements that make you sound unsure of yourself or too confident in yourself. It’s a fine line between sounding incompetent (when you say phrases like “I think” or “I believe” or “I’m guessing that…”) and sounding arrogant (when you say phrases like “I’m sure you’ll agree” or “I’m the best option you’ve got).

Proposals Aren’t Usually Read by Just One Person When you write a proposal, you should be aware that several people will often be evaluating the feasibility of what you are proposing. And each person has a different stake in its approval. An accountant may be in charge of reading your budget section, but might not look at anything else. A reading committee may only look at the executive summary for quick validation. Or a specialized group may only be interested in your methodologies. It’s important that you recognize in advance who will likely care about each part of the proposal the most.

Specifics Are Most Important One of the greatest pitfalls in writing a proposal is not being specific enough. Don’t confuse length of the proposal with specifics. Some very long proposals are, simply, long-winded. Make sure that every detail you include makes the project your are proposing more clear. If a detail isn’t valuable to the stakeholders, leave it out. And avoid storytelling (or what is often referred to as “metadiscourse”) in your writing. In other words, avoid interjecting yourself and your desires, thoughts, and processes for choosing the project and deciding to write about it. Stick to why the project is important and how you’re going to complete it.

Transmittal letters are a courtesy and a formality. They are written in professional business letter format  and they are addressed to the person or review committee that you are sending the proposal to. Your transmittal letter should include a brief introduction that introduces yourself and the purpose for the proposal. The letter will usually include a very brief (one or two paragraphs) description of the project you are proposing. The transmittal letter should also include some kind of concluding statement, usually providing you contact information and a statement about being able to answer any further questions about the proposal or project.

Cover or Title Page

All professional proposals should include a cover page. These are more important than just for decoration. Cover pages provide the title of the proposal, the author(s), the date of submission, the person or committee being submitted to, and any other relevant or requested information. If you are submitting to your company or to a grant or funding organization, make sure that you follow their guidelines for what should be included in the cover page. Most organizations have a preference for the cover since they use a filing system to stay organized.

Executive summaries usually immediately follow the cover page (before the table of contents). These are summaries of the  entire proposal. Executive summaries are often forgotten about, but they do serve an important purpose. Remember that there are usually a large number of stakeholders involved in reading proposals. Some people just need a quick glance of the entire proposal but don’t have the time or interest in reading the entire thing. Executive summaries provide a glimpse into the entire proposal. It is important, though, that  every   section of the proposal is addressed in the summary. Usually, executive summaries are 1 – 2 pages in length.

Properly designed proposals included a table of contents. Even for simple projects, proposals end up being a minimum of 15 – 20 pages. It is important that your proposal is organized and that readers can quickly find the information they are looking for. If the accountants only need to see the proposed budget, for example, they should be able to quickly find the page it is on.

List of Figures (And List of Tables)

Most proposals, especially long ones, include figures and tables. If someone needs to refer back to your proposal and they are only interested in your Gantt chart (which outlines your timeline), they need to know where to locate the chart. Think of the list of figures page as an extension of your table of contents that specifically locates visuals, including images, charts, graphs, diagrams, and tables. Often, if you have several figures and several tables, you’ll want a separate list of tables page from the list of figures page.

Introductions are best if they are kept short and to the point. If you need to introduce yourself, you may, but make it brief. The primary purpose of the introduction, though, is to state your project and its purpose. This is your first chance to really be persuasive, so it is important that you really make it sound like the project you are proposing is important. This means you need to

1) Introduce your topic 2) Provide a problem statement 3) Offer a quick solution to the problem

One of the greatest pitfalls in proposal writing is failing to clearly indicate that there is an actual problem to begin with that is worth solving. Remember from above that proposals are written to solve problems. So, for example, if you are a manager of a branch of a nationwide company, and you want to propose to your superiors that you need to relocate your store to another building, you’ll need to tell them 1) that you propose the move the building, 2) that the building needs to be moved because its location hinders growth (problem statement), and 3) that you have a location in mind that will improve growth opportunities.

Regardless of what your proposal is about, however, you MUST have a  problem statement   and solution in the introduction. If this isn’t clear and to the point, your chances of someone reading the rest of the proposal become dim.

Project or Deliverable Description

This section can take many different names and it is often subdivided into many smaller sections. But regardless of what you name this section and how you organize it, know that your primary goal is to describe  what   the project is, in its entirety. You need to explain everything that you will end up producing or doing. Everything. However, avoid describing anything that explains  how   you will be doing it. That is for the next section, methodologies. In the project description section, you might first think in terms of a list. What is  e xactly everything you will be producing or helping to produce? What,  exactly ,    will the project (or deliverables) look like when completed?

It is very important that you are clear, succinct, and organized in this section. If you leave questions about what the end result will be, your reviewers are very likely to give up and deny approval for the proposal.

After describing the details of your project, you now how the chance to write  how   you will be completing your project. Take your sections and descriptions from the project/deliverables section and describe, in detail, how you will go about obtaining the information, permissions, and other tools to complete the project. You may even need to describe fundraising plans if more money is needed to complete the project.

One of the biggest pitfalls in the methods section is stating new components to your project that were not described earlier, the project/deliverables description. Avoid stating new information about the project here. Rather, focus entirely on how you will research, plan, work through, and execute the project that was described earlier. If you find yourself realizing that you didn’t explain something in the previous section of the proposal, go back and include it there. Proposal reviewers hate nothing more than getting new surprises along the way. If new pieces of the project keep popping up in the proposal, they’ll start to wonder if you’ve thought this all the way through and if you know how much is really entailed in the project.

With that in mind, it is important that you are very specific about your methods. Describe, in detail, your research, if you will be interviewing people, who you will be interviewing, how you will create or design something, who you will consult, and so forth.

The timeline, really, is an extension of your methods. But for clarity and organization’s sake, the timeline usually gets a section of its own. Reviewers will need to know when you will complete different benchmarks in the project and they will need to know if you’ve planned ample time between segments. Mostly, they need something to follow up with you on. A timeline is good for you, too, as it will help you keep on pace and keep organized. Think creatively about how best to visually display your timeline. Is a Gantt chart most appropriate? Or maybe a table? Or a linear timeline? Whatever you choose, make sure that it is clear what will happen when and who will be involved at various points.

To some extent, it is possible that some of your budget will show up in the methods section, but only to the point where you describe how you will fundraise. In this section, you need to outline every possible cost you can think of. You don’t need to describe  how   you’ll get the money (usually the organizations you propose to offer the money based on approval of the proposal and the budget proposed) unless your proposal is, specifically, about raising money. But you need to be thoughtful of every possible cost. Nothing is worse than getting a proposal approved then realizing that it will cost you more than what you were approved to spend.

Cost and benefit analyses aren’t a requirement for many proposals, particularly for projects that don’t require a lot of money to complete. However, you may find yourself proposing something that is controversial  or that otherwise costs a lot of money. Besides stating a very persuasive problem statement in your introduction, you may need to elaborate on why this particular project is worth the money being spend. In order to be persuasive, focus on all stakeholders; point to how many people, organizations, or other entities will benefit from this. If there are risks, state them, but frame them in a way that suggests the cost will likely outweigh the risks. Remember that proposals, more than most documents, are persuasive documents and it is important that you frame everything in a way that makes your project sound very, very important. But, of  course, don’t overdo it.

Many times you will be writing proposals to people you don’t know. But even if you do know the person or persons in charge of reviewing your proposal, it is important that you sound qualified. In the field of rhetoric, this is called  ethos , which refers to your credibility. Recognize that reviewers will be asking in their head as they read your proposal, “but why this person? Are they capable?”

Provide as much information as you think is important to build your credibility. Avoid anything that makes you sound less qualified. Some proposal reviewers will require that you state your credentials, including college degrees, work experience, knowledge, and even resumes and sample work. Make sure you know how much information they’ll want and need.

Every document needs a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion. Unfortunately, conclusions are often forgotten. In your conclusion, you need to restate the problem statement, reminding the reviewers how important this project is. But you also will need to provide a request for approval (so that it is clear you are hoping to obtain such). Also, you’ll need need to let reviewers know how to contact you if they need further information from you. Conclusions aren’t just busy work to polish off your document; they are a courtesy, which makes your proposal more persuasive. Andy they provide valuable information about getting a response and getting in contact with you. Without a conclusion, you may leave some unwanted ambiguity in the proposals’ scope.

Be sure to cite all secondary research used for the development of your project and proposal. While APA format is the most common citation format for proposals, you may need to follow a different style depending on your organization, course instructions, or other expectations. Regardless, it’s important that you cite sources according to a recognized format and  that you ethically give credit to all ideas and direct quotes used.

While not all proposals will need appendices, it is possible that yours might. Consider what information your reviewers may want that doesn’t readily fit into other sections of your proposal. You may need to include balance sheets, for example, that would take up too much space in the budget section. Or, you may need to include drawings that don’t really fit naturally into the project/deliverables description. If you do choose to include appendices, however, make sure that you  mention them earlier in the proposal . You might state in the budget section, for example, something like this: “For further financial information, please refer to the balance sheets in Appendix A.”

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5 Tips on How to Format a Proposal like a Pro

By Alta Alonzi

proposal paper size

Choosing the right words and organization of your proposal is important to best communicate your project to the donor. Additionally, how you present this information can also play a leading role in making sure the donor gets the message.

This is where formatting comes in. Formatting is often seen as a way to ‘beautify’ a document, but it is also an important way to make sure the information is clearly presented and easy to read. There are many ways to format a proposal. Components of formatting include font style, font size, line and paragraph spacing, heading style, chart and table elements, color scheme, and many other elements which are both decorative and functional.

Here are 5 tips to make sure you choose the right format for your proposal!

Get the content right first

Before worrying about how to format a proposal, make sure you have a good foundational text to format. Proof-read, check the text for clarity, make sure every part of the proposal needed is included. A good format is a finishing touch for a proposal, so make sure the rest of the document is complete before beginning. The format should fit your proposal, not the other way around.

Set purpose

All formatting should complete a purpose. Make sure you are aware of what that purpose is. Is there a line or part of the proposal that is very important and needs to draw the donor’s attention? Maybe the M&E plan is too complicated, and you need a format to make it seem simple. Or, possibly all you want is to make your proposal stand out in the crowd. Good formatting can do all these things and more. Just make sure you are clear on what role formatting will play before choosing a format.

Start with defaults

Most word processors, and Microsoft Word in particular, already come with pre-designed professional layouts, formats, and color schemes. In Microsoft Word, these options can be selected under the “Design” button on the ribbon. You do not need to pay a professional designer or spend hours making an original format if you know how to use your word processor correctly. Start with these options, test how they look on your document and make changes where necessary.

Function before beauty

First and foremost, your proposal needs to be readable. Avoid using cursive or hard-to-read fonts, too much color, underlining of non-links, small spacing, or other distractions. While few donors have strict guidelines on formatting, 12 pt. font in Arial or Times New Roman with 1.5 spacing is fairly standard. Also, check to make sure the proposal and its graphics would be readable if printed out in greyscale and large pixels. Once the basics are set, then you can experiment with borders and images and color schemes.

Be consistent

Once you have finalized your format, make sure that formatting is applied correctly throughout the entire proposal. Inconsistent formatting can make a proposal feel disjointed, even if the text does, in fact, flow well. It can also be a tell-tale sign to the donor that sections were copied and pasted together and rushed through. Worse, a donor could wonder if the proposal was plagiarized.

proposal paper size

About the author

proposal paper size

Alta Alonzi is a writer and researcher focusing on international development funding and grassroots NGOs. She works with the fundraising consulting company Philantropia conducting research for clients ranging from small NGOs to UN organizations. She also works closely with FundsforNGOs running training webinars, contributing resource guides, and updating the Premium donor database.

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Thank you very much for the information. It’so insightful!

Proposals forNGOs

Dear Wisdom: Glad you found the article helpful.

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How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis Proposal

Published on September 21, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

When starting your thesis or dissertation process, one of the first requirements is a research proposal or a prospectus. It describes what or who you want to examine, delving into why, when, where, and how you will do so, stemming from your research question and a relevant topic .

The proposal or prospectus stage is crucial for the development of your research. It helps you choose a type of research to pursue, as well as whether to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

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Table of contents

What should your proposal contain, dissertation question examples, what should your proposal look like, dissertation prospectus examples, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about proposals.

Prior to jumping into the research for your thesis or dissertation, you first need to develop your research proposal and have it approved by your supervisor. It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives .

Depending on your department’s requirements, there may be a defense component involved, where you present your research plan in prospectus format to your committee for their approval.

Your proposal should answer the following questions:

  • Why is your research necessary?
  • What is already known about your topic?
  • Where and when will your research be conducted?
  • Who should be studied?
  • How can the research best be done?

Ultimately, your proposal should persuade your supervisor or committee that your proposed project is worth pursuing.

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Strong research kicks off with a solid research question , and dissertations are no exception to this.

Dissertation research questions should be:

  • Focused on a single problem or issue
  • Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
  • Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
  • Specific enough to answer thoroughly
  • Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
  • Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly
  • What are the main factors enticing people under 30 in suburban areas to engage in the gig economy?
  • Which techniques prove most effective for 1st-grade teachers at local elementary schools in engaging students with special needs?
  • Which communication streams are the most effective for getting those aged 18-30 to the polls on Election Day?

An easy rule of thumb is that your proposal will usually resemble a (much) shorter version of your thesis or dissertation. While of course it won’t include the results section , discussion section , or conclusion , it serves as a “mini” version or roadmap for what you eventually seek to write.

Be sure to include:

  • A succinct introduction to your topic and problem statement
  • A brief literature review situating your topic within existing research
  • A basic outline of the research methods you think will best answer your research question
  • The perceived implications for future research
  • A reference list in the citation style of your choice

The length of your proposal varies quite a bit depending on your discipline and type of work you’re conducting. While a thesis proposal is often only 3-7 pages long, a prospectus for your dissertation is usually much longer, with more detailed analysis. Dissertation proposals can be up to 25-30 pages in length.

Writing a proposal or prospectus can be a challenge, but we’ve compiled some examples for you to get your started.

  • Example #1: “Geographic Representations of the Planet Mars, 1867-1907” by Maria Lane
  • Example #2: “Individuals and the State in Late Bronze Age Greece: Messenian Perspectives on Mycenaean Society” by Dimitri Nakassis
  • Example #3: “Manhood Up in the Air: A Study of Male Flight Attendants, Queerness, and Corporate Capitalism during the Cold War Era” by Phil Tiemeyer

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The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

  • If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods .
  • If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
  • If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:

  • Your anticipated title
  • Your abstract
  • Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review , research methods , avenues for future research, etc.)

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

  • Your research questions and/or hypotheses
  • Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
  • The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
  • Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
  • Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
  • Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
  • Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.

Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

  • Researchability
  • Feasibility and specificity
  • Relevance and originality

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How to Write a Research Proposal

Lindsay Kramer

Once you’re in college and really getting into  academic writing , you may not recognize all the kinds of assignments you’re asked to complete. You know what an essay is, and you know how to respond to readings—but when you hear your professor mention a research proposal or a literature review, your mind might do a double take. 

Don’t worry; we’ve got you. Boiled down to its core, a research proposal is simply a short piece of  writing that details exactly what you’ll be covering in a larger research project. You’ll likely be required to write one for your  thesis , and if you choose to continue in academia after earning your bachelor’s degree, you’ll be writing research proposals for your master’s thesis, your dissertation , and all other research you conduct. By then, you’ll be a research proposal pro. But for now, we’ll answer all your questions and help you confidently write your first one. 

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What is the goal of a research proposal?

In a research proposal, the goal is to present the author’s plan for the research they intend to conduct. In some cases, part of this goal is to secure funding for said research. In others, it’s to have the research approved by the author’s supervisor or department so they can move forward with it. In some cases, a research proposal is a required part of a graduate school application. In every one of these circumstances, research proposals follow the same structure.

In a research proposal, the author demonstrates how and why their research is relevant to their field. They demonstrate that the work is necessary to the following:

  • Filling a gap in the existing body of research on their subject
  • Underscoring existing research on their subject, and/or
  • Adding new, original knowledge to the academic community’s existing understanding of their subject

A research proposal also demonstrates that the author is capable of conducting this research and contributing to the current state of their field in a meaningful way. To do this, your research proposal needs to discuss your academic background and credentials as well as demonstrate that your proposed ideas have academic merit. 

But demonstrating your research’s validity and your personal capability to carry it out isn’t enough to get your research proposal approved. Your research proposal also has to cover these things:

  • The research methodology you plan to use
  • The tools and procedures you will use to collect, analyze, and interpret the data you collect
  • An explanation of how your research fits the budget and other constraints that come with conducting it through your institution, department, or academic program

If you’ve already read our post on literature reviews , you may be thinking that a research proposal sounds pretty similar. They’re more than just similar, though—a literature review is part of a research proposal. It’s the section that covers which sources you’re using, how you’re using them, and why they’re relevant. Think of a literature review as a mini-research proposal that fits into your larger, main proposal. 

How long should a research proposal be?

Generally, research proposals for bachelor’s and master’s theses are a few pages long. Research proposals for meatier projects, like Ph.D. dissertations and funding requests, are often longer and far more detailed. A research proposal’s goal is to clearly outline exactly what your research will entail and accomplish, so including the proposal’s word count or page count isn’t nearly as important as it is to ensure that all the necessary elements and content are present. 

Research proposal structure

A research proposal follows a fairly straightforward structure. In order to achieve the goals described in the previous section, nearly all research proposals include the following sections:

Introduction

Your introduction achieves a few goals:

  • Introduces your topic
  • States your problem statement and the questions your research aims to answer
  • Provides context for your research

In a research proposal, an introduction can be a few paragraphs long. It should be concise, but don’t feel like you need to cram all of your information into one paragraph. 

In some cases, you need to include an abstract and/or a table of contents in your research proposal. These are included just before the introduction. 

Background significance

This is where you explain why your research is necessary and how it relates to established research in your field. Your work might complement existing research, strengthen it, or even challenge it—no matter how your work will “play with” other researchers’ work, you need to express it in detail in your research proposal.  

This is also the section where you clearly define the existing problems your research will address. By doing this, you’re explaining why your work is necessary—in other words, this is where you answer the reader’s “so what?” 

In your background significance section, you’ll also outline how you’ll conduct your research. If necessary, note which related questions and issues you won’t be covering in your research. 

Literature review

In your  literature review , you introduce all the sources you plan to use in your research. This includes landmark studies and their data, books, and scholarly articles. A literature review isn’t merely a list of sources (that’s what your bibliography is for); a literature review delves into the collection of sources you chose and explains how you’re using them in your research. 

Research design, methods, and schedule

Following your research review, you’ll discuss your research plans. In this section, make sure you cover these aspects:

  • The type of research you will do. Are you conducting qualitative or quantitative research? Are you collecting original data or working with data collected by other researchers?
  • Whether you’re doing experimental, correlational, or descriptive research
  • The data you’re working with. For example, if you’re conducting research in the social sciences, you’ll need to describe the population you’re studying. You’ll also need to cover how you’ll select your subjects and how you’ll collect data from them. 
  • The tools you’ll use to collect data. Will you be running experiments? Conducting surveys? Observing phenomena? Note all data collection methods here along with why they’re effective methods for your specific research.

Beyond a comprehensive look at your research itself, you’ll also need to include:

  • Your research timeline
  • Your research budget
  • Any potential obstacles you foresee and your plan for handling them

Suppositions and implications

Although you can’t know your research’s results until you’ve actually done the work, you should be going into the project with a clear idea of how your work will contribute to your field. This section is perhaps the most critical to your research proposal’s argument because it expresses exactly why your research is necessary. 

In this section, make sure you cover the following:

  • Any ways your work can challenge existing theories and assumptions in your field
  • How your work will create the foundation for future research
  • The practical value your findings will provide to practitioners, educators, and other academics in your field
  • The problems your work can potentially help to fix
  • Policies that could be impacted by your findings
  • How your findings can be implemented in academia or other settings and how this will improve or otherwise transform these settings

In other words, this section isn’t about stating the specific results you expect. Rather, it’s where you state how your findings will be valuable. 

This is where you wrap it all up. Your conclusion section, just like your conclusion paragraph for an essay , briefly summarizes your research proposal and reinforces your research’s stated purpose. 

Bibliography

Yes, you need to write a bibliography in addition to your literature review. Unlike your literature review, where you explained the relevance of the sources you chose and in some cases, challenged them, your bibliography simply lists your sources and their authors.

The way you write a citation depends on the style guide you’re using. The three most common style guides for academics are MLA , APA , and Chicago , and each has its own particular rules and requirements. Keep in mind that each formatting style has specific guidelines for citing just about any kind of source, including photos , websites , speeches , and YouTube videos .

Sometimes, a full bibliography is not needed. When this is the case, you can include a references list, which is simply a scaled-down list of all the sources you cited in your work. If you’re not sure which to write, ask your supervisor. 

Here’s a tip: Grammarly’s  Citation Generator  ensures your essays have flawless citations and no plagiarism. Try it for citing journal articles in MLA , APA , and Chicago  styles.

How to write a research proposal

Research proposals, like all other kinds of academic writing, are written in a formal, objective tone. Keep in mind that being concise is a key component of academic writing; formal does not mean flowery. 

Adhere to the structure outlined above. Your reader knows how a research proposal is supposed to read and expects it to fit this template. It’s crucial that you present your research proposal in a clear, logical way. Every question the reader has while reading your proposal should be answered by the final section. 

Editing and proofreading a research proposal

When you’re writing a research proposal, follow the same six-step writing process you follow with every other kind of writing you do. 

After you’ve got a first draft written, take some time to let it “cool off” before you start proofreading . By doing this, you’re making it easier for yourself to catch mistakes and gaps in your writing. 

Common mistakes to avoid when writing a research proposal

When you’re writing a research proposal, avoid these common pitfalls: 

Being too wordy

As we said earlier, formal does not mean flowery. In fact, you should aim to keep your writing as brief and to-the-point as possible. The more economically you can express your purpose and goal, the better.   

Failing to cite relevant sources

When you’re conducting research, you’re adding to the existing body of knowledge on the subject you’re covering. Your research proposal should reference one or more of the landmark research pieces in your field and connect your work to these works in some way. This doesn’t just communicate your work’s relevance—it also demonstrates your familiarity with the field. 

Focusing too much on minor issues

There are probably a lot of great reasons why your research is necessary. These reasons don’t all need to be in your research proposal. In fact, including too many questions and issues in your research proposal can detract from your central purpose, weakening the proposal. Save the minor issues for your research paper itself and cover only the major, key issues you aim to tackle in your proposal. 

Failing to make a strong argument for your research

This is perhaps the easiest way to undermine your proposal because it’s far more subjective than the others. A research proposal is, in essence, a piece of persuasive writing . That means that although you’re presenting your proposal in an objective, academic way, the goal is to get the reader to say “yes” to your work. 

This is true in every case, whether your reader is your supervisor, your department head, a graduate school admissions board, a private or government-backed funding provider, or the editor at a journal in which you’d like to publish your work. 

Polish your writing into a stellar proposal

When you’re asking for approval to conduct research—especially when there’s funding involved—you need to be nothing less than 100 percent confident in your proposal. If your research proposal has spelling or grammatical mistakes, an inconsistent or inappropriate tone, or even just awkward phrasing, those will undermine your credibility. 

Make sure your research proposal shines by using Grammarly to catch all of those issues. Even if you think you caught all of them while you were editing, it’s critical to double-check your work. Your research deserves the best proposal possible, and Grammarly can help you make that happen. 

proposal paper size

Research Paper Guide

Writing Research Proposal

Last updated on: Nov 20, 2023

Writing a Research Proposal - Outline, Format, and Examples

By: Nathan D.

13 min read

Reviewed By: Rylee W.

Published on: Mar 24, 2023

Research Proposal

Ready to take on the world of research, but feeling a bit intimidated by the proposal-writing process? You're not alone! Writing a research proposal can seem like a daunting task, especially if you're new to the game. 

But don't worry – we're here to help make the process as easy and exciting as possible!

Think of your research proposal as a sales pitch for your ideas. It's your chance to convince others that your project is worth their time and investment. And just like with any great sales pitch, the key is to show passion and enthusiasm for your work.

In this guide, we'll demystify the proposal-writing process. We'll cover everything from defining your research question to outlining your methodology to presenting your budget. 

So get ready to rock this proposal writing journey!

Research Proposal

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What is a Research Proposal?

As per the research proposal definition, it is a concise summary of your research paper. It introduces the general idea of your research by highlighting the questions and issues you are going to address in your paper.

For writing a good and ‘acceptance worthy’ proposal, demonstrating the uniqueness and worthiness of your research paper is important.

Below is a detailed definition that will help you understand it better.

‘A research proposal is a document that is written to present and justify your interest and need for researching a particular topic.’

Similarly, a good proposal must highlight the benefits and o utcomes of the proposed study, supported by persuasive evidence.

Purpose of Research Proposal 

Knowing what the goal of writing a research proposal is can make the process easier and help you get your project approved by faculty. 

Let’s break down what makes up a good research proposal. 

Filling Gaps in Existing Knowledge 

Crafting a research proposal is an opportunity to explore the depths of your topic and uncover unturned stones. 

By identifying areas previously unexamined, you can open up new perspectives which could provide substantial value to your project. This demonstrates your contribution to knowledge. 

With such insights in hand, faculty will quickly recognize that there's something special about this study – setting it apart from others on the same subject!

Underscoring Existing Knowledge 

A research proposal is a chance for you to show how good you are at analyzing things and understanding past studies. 

With evidence-based data, you can demonstrate how these studies relate to each other - which agrees or disagrees with current theories about the topic. 

Whether it's presenting meaningful insights or uncovering new ones, this exercise will challenge your ability to think critically!

Adding New Original Knowledge 

To create a compelling research proposal, you must demonstrate your understanding of the existing body of knowledge on your topic. 

You should also bring something new to the table. You can explore primary sources like interviews or surveys with experts or members involved in this study. 

Showcase how this proposed project adds value and moves conversations forward; make sure that it is relevant to today's context!

In conclusion, the purpose of a research proposal is to identify gaps in existing knowledge and provide new, original perspectives on the topic. By doing this, you'll be able to craft an impactful study that faculty will find hard to ignore! 

How to Create a Research Proposal Outline?

Sometimes students don’t realize how important a research paper proposal is and end up putting all the information together without following the basic outline or thinking this through.

Before starting with the outline, you need to understand the basic components. A clear outline is important when it comes to presenting the literature review and writing the entire paper.

Here is a basic format you can follow while writing your proposal.

  • Introduction
  • Literature Review
  • Research Methodology

It might seem like a dreadful task and especially for the students who are new to this. It requires good writing as well as research skills.

Here is a sample template to further explain the outline.

Research Proposal Template

RESEARCH PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

Need help with creating an outline for your research paper? Check out this in-depth read on how to create an effective research paper outline !

How to Start a Research Proposal?

Many students think that starting a research proposal is the same as creating an outline. No, it is not, and knowing how to start with your research proposal on the right track is like getting done with half of it.

Below are the important steps to start a research proposal.

  • Begin working on it as soon as possible.
  • Conduct thorough and in-depth research.
  • Instead of forming the title first, find the main theme or problem that you would like to discuss in your research.
  • Collect and save the research information with proper and complete citation and reference information.
  • Divide the collected details into the sections of the proposal and stick to them.

Writing a research proposal is tricky, but when you start it beforehand then you will have enough time to understand your main topic’s different aspects.

Procrastinating and leaving it for the last few days before submission will only land you in trouble.

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How to Write a Research Proposal

Now you have the basic outline you can follow. Let’s discuss how to write it by following the format mentioned above.

1. Choose the Title Carefully

Your proposal title should be concise and clear to indicate your research question. Your readers should know what to expect in the paper after reading the title. Avoid writing titles in a general perspective or phrases like “An investigation of …” or “A review of …” etc. Make it concise and well-defined.

2. Add a Concise Abstract

‘How to write an abstract for a research proposal?’

The abstract is a short summary that is around 100-250 words. The abstract should include the research question, the hypothesis of your research (if there is any), the research methodology, and the findings.

If the proposal is detailed, it will require a section of the contents after the abstract. It, knowing how to write an abstract  will be helpful and can save you from making any blunders.

3. Add a Strong Introduction

You need to start with a strong introduction. The introduction is written to provide a background or context related to your research problem. It is important to frame the research question while writing the proposal.

Start the introduction with a general statement related to the problem area you are focusing on and justify your study.

The introduction usually covers the following elements.

  • What is the purpose of your research or study?
  • Mention the background information and significance before you introduce your research question.
  • Introduce your research question in a way that its significance is highlighted by setting the stage for it.
  • Briefly mention the issues that you are going to discuss and highlight in your study.
  • Make sure that you identify the independent and dependent variables in the title of your study.
  • If there is a hypothesis or a theory related to your research, state it in the introduction.

Have a very clear and concise idea about your research, and make sure that you do not deviate from the main research question. A clear idea will help you craft a perfect thesis. Here is how you can create a crisp and interesting  thesis introduction  along with a basic guideline.

4. Clarify the Research Objectives

Your research objectives will explain what the writer is trying to achieve. Moreover, these aims and objectives must be achievable. It means that it must be framed according to the:

  • Available time
  • Infrastructure
  • Other important resources.

However, it is beneficial to read all the developments in the field and find research gaps before deciding your objective. It will help you come up with suitable aims for your projects.

5. Add Relevant Literature Review

A separate section dedicated to the literature review will allow you to conduct extensive background research and support your research question with credible sources and research.

The following are the basic purposes of the literature review.

  • To give reference to the researchers whose study has been a part of your research.
  • To help you construct a precise and clear research question.
  • To critically evaluate previous literature information related to your research.
  • To understand research issues relevant to the topic of your research.
  • To convince the reader that your research is an important contribution to the relevant niche.

A literature review is an important component. Learning  how to write a literature review  will help you compose an engaging and impressive literature review easily.

Keep your literature review organized by adding a subheading to maintain a smooth flow in the content. Try not to bore your readers and your instructor or the committee. Write it in an engaging manner.

6. Mention the Significance of the Research

The significance of your research will identify the importance of your work. It should be mainly stated in the introductory paragraph.

You must highlight how your research is beneficial for the respective field of study. Similarly, you can also state its contribution to the field in both the broader and narrow sense.

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7. Explain the Research Methodology

‘How to write a methods section of a research proposal?’

This section explains how you are going to conduct your research. Explain why the specific method is suitable for your research and how it will help you attain your research goals. Your research methodology will give you an organized plan for the research.

Mention sufficient information regarding your research methodology for readers to understand how you are conducting your research. It must contain enough information regarding the study for another researcher to implement it.

i.) Types of Research Methodology

Choose the type of research methodology that is suitable for your research.

a.) Qualitative type is used in a theoretical type of research like that in literature.

Some research involves both; if your research topic also involves analyzing both the statistical data and theory, then make sure that you use them appropriately.   For a qualitative approach, the method section of your proposal needs to be more detailed and elaborate compared to the one in the quantitative approach. How you will collect your data and analyze it according to the qualitative approach should be described with great care.

b.) Quantitative research is suitable for projects involving collecting and analyzing statistical data like that in social sciences, medicine, and psychology.    When you choose a quantitative approach for your research, the method section should contain answers to the following elements.

  • Design – Is it a laboratory experiment or a survey?
  • What are the sample size and the subject of your study?
  • What is the procedure of your study, and how will you carry out the activities involved in it?
  • Describe your questionnaire or the instruments you will be using in the experiment.

Have detailed knowledge of all the research methodologies to justify your approach toward the research problem.

8. Present the Hypothesis or the Expected Research Results

In the research proposal, this section will contain the results of the research, but since this is a research proposal, you do not have the results yet. This is why you will add the expected research results here. These results are those that you aim to obtain from the research.

Sometimes the researcher gets the same kind of results, but sometimes, the results could differ from the expected ones.

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9. Mention the Ethical Considerations

It is an essential part of your outline. Researchers need to consider ethical values while conducting research work. Furthermore, you also have to be very careful in the data collection process and need to respect the rights of the participants.

They should not harm them in any way, and full consent should be obtained from them prior to the study.

Lastly, the writer’s moral duty is to promise complete confidentiality to feel comfortable while sharing information.

10. Discuss the Research Limitations

The research limitations indicate the flaws and shortcomings of your research. These may include:

  • Unavailability of resources
  • Small sample size
  • Wrong methodology

Listing the limitations shows your honesty and complete understanding of the topic.

11. Add Proper References and Citation

Don’t forget the references section. You don’t want to get blamed for plagiarism. Always give references to the authors and the literature you have studied for your research.

There are two ways to cite your sources.

  • Reference –  List the literature that you have used in your proposal.
  • Bibliography –  List everything that you have studied, cited, or not while doing your study or while writing.

Follow a specific format for the citation section as instructed by your supervisor. It can be written in APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard style. Both references and a bibliography are included in it.

12. Edit and Proofread

Many students prefer not to proofread the proposal after completion, which is a grave mistake. If you proofread the paper on your own, you may fail to identify the mistakes. Use online tools or have a helping hand from your friend to give it a good read.

In the end, edit the document as per the needs.

Why Do Research Proposals Get Rejected?

An analysis of 500 rejected proposals allowed us to identify the common blunders made in them. These blunders caused the rejection of otherwise promising research. Therefore, to maximize the chances of acceptance, you must avoid these mistakes.

Here are some of those mistakes.

  • The proposal stated a flawed hypothesis.
  • The professor doubts the research will not bring new or useful results.
  • The plan mentioned in the proposal lacks details and is unrealistic.
  • It lacks coherence.
  • The results obtained, or the hypothesis from the chosen method will be inaccurate.
  • The review of the literature is not done correctly.
  • Sufficient time was not devoted to writing the proposal.
  • The proposal is copied or has been used by many other students in the past.

These are the common mistakes that result in rejection.

If you desire to make it shine, stick to your instructor’s guidelines and stay away from committing these mistakes. 

Research Proposal Examples

Looking for some helpful and detailed research proposal examples to get you started? Examples are great for a quick understanding of how something works or is written, in our case.

Here are some complete research paper proposal samples to help you write your own.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL SAMPLE

RESEARCH PROPOSAL EXAMPLE - APA

HOW TO WRITE A RESEARCH GRANT PROPOSAL

NSF RESEARCH PROPOSAL SAMPLE

MARKET RESEARCH PROPOSAL SAMPLE

PH.D. RESEARCH PROPOSAL SAMPLE

Research Proposal Topics

You can take ideas for your topic from books, journals, previously done research, and dissertations.

Here are a few topics you can choose from.

  • How has technology evolved the English language over the last ten years?
  • What are the effects of individualism on British literature?
  • How has Feminism helped women get their rights over the last decade?
  • What caused the fall of the Roman empire, and what are its effects?
  • What factors caused World War II?
  • What are the effects of World War II on diplomacy?
  • Can cultural differences affect social interactions?
  • How have violent video games affected brain development among children?
  • How does alcohol affect aggression among a few people?
  • How effective is the death penalty?

If you want to know more about finding a topic for your research paper and research paper topic examples, here is a list of interesting  research paper topics .

Research proposals can be critical because they require great attention. If you are inexperienced, you are likely to suffer. In a worst-case scenario, your proposal may get rejected.

Your dedicated professional and experienced essay writer at  5StarEssays.com is always here to help you. Being a professional essay writing service , we know how to craft a compelling research proposal and help you get it accepted.

Or, try using our AI powered paper writer to get quick writing help and sample citations. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a strong research proposal.

Your proposal must explain why your research is important in addition to explaining the methods that you will use. You should also position yourself within your field of study and give an overview of why this specific topic could be significant.

How many pages a research proposal should be?

Research proposals typically range between three and five pages in length. Research proposal formats vary across disciplines.

You should follow the format that is standard within your field, with special attention to what your faculty mentor prefers.

What tense should a research proposal be written in?

In a research proposal, use future tense for actions to be undertaken in the study. For example: A survey method will be employed , and a close-ended questionnaire will be used .

How long is a research proposal?

When writing a research proposal, it is best, to begin with, what you want to know more about. There is no set length for these proposals so they can be anywhere from 2,500 words up or down depending on the topic and scope of your study.

Does a research proposal have chapters?

Like a research paper, the introduction and conclusion of your proposal should be brief. In every chapter you include in your proposal, begin with an informative intro paragraph that captures what will follow in each section.

Similarly, for chapters near their end, conclusions summarize points discussed throughout the sections but also highlight what is most important about them overall.

What are the 7 parts of the research proposal?

The 7 parts of a research proposal include 

  • Problem statement
  • Literature review 
  • Methodology

Each of these sections is key in order to craft an effective research proposal that will be approved by faculty members! 

Nathan D.

PhD Essay, Literature

Nathan completed his Ph.D. in journalism and has been writing articles for well-respected publications for many years now. His work is carefully researched and insightful, showing a true passion for the written word. Nathan's clients appreciate his expertise, deep understanding of the process, and ability to communicate difficult concepts clearly.

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Formatting Requirements

Page layout, margins and numbering.

Your scholarly approach may call for a different presentational method. These are the requirements and recommendations for text-based theses.

For a text-based thesis, or the text portions of a thesis, the page size must be 8.5" x 11", and the text must be in a single, page-wide column. Do not use two or more columns in your thesis.

The text of the thesis is written in paragraph form.

  • the first line of each paragraph should be indented, OR
  • there should be a larger space between paragraphs than there is between lines.

Each chapter should generally start at the top of a new page.

Left: 1.25 inches (32 mm) is recommended if you intend to bind copies of your thesis; 1 inch minimum.

Right, top, and bottom: 1 inch recommended; 0.75 inches (19 mm) minimum

Page Numbering

Preliminary pages:.

  • must be numbered in lower case Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv, etc.)
  • the title page is "i" but this number must not appear on the page
  • numbering begins at "ii" on the committee page
  • the first page of the abstract is page iii

Body of thesis:

  • must be numbered in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.)
  • the first page of the text is "1"
  • subsequent pages are numbered continuously throughout, including pages with tables and figures, bibliographies, appendices, and index

Whole thesis:

  • every page except the title page must have a number on it
  • there must be no blank pages in the thesis.

Page numberS:

  • must be placed at least .5 inches (12 mm) from the edge of the page
  • may be either in the lower centre or on the top or lower right of the page, when the page is viewed in portrait view. Lower right is preferred.

Landscape Pages

Landscape pages must be orientated in your PDF so that they are readable without rotation. You do not need to change the location or orientation of the page number, but may if you wish.

Facing Pages

Facing pages are not acceptable; you must use one-sided layout and pagination. If the caption for a figure, table, etc., cannot appear on the same page as its accompanying illustration, place the illustration on a separate page after the caption.

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Taxes and levies for short-term rentals an option to help increase longer-term rental property availability

A man sitting in a chair sipping tea

Nick Stone has been forced to move three times from one rental property to another over the last 12 months at Batemans Bay on the New South Wales south coast.

After a marriage break up and in the middle of a lengthy property settlement, Mr Stone found himself relying on word of mouth to get his first rental, which chewed up 80 per cent of his income per week.

"[You] feel very vulnerable and that has a direct impact on health and wellbeing," he said.

"[The] cost of living crisis combined with rental shortage is a unholy storm which has made it very difficult for people who don't have alot of assets at their disposal."

One of the government's proposals to fix the state's housing crisis is converting short-stay rentals and holiday homes to long-term rental accommodation, a discussion paper released on Thursday suggests.

What solutions are being considered?

Housing Minister Rose Jackson believes these "under-utilised properties" are having an impact on the availability of long-term affordable housing.

"Absolutely everyone is feeling the pinch of the housing crisis," she said.

"Renters have seen rents skyrocket in NSW, our vacancy rates are very low, they're close to one per cent of vacant rental stock in some areas."

Mr Stone, who lives in the Eurobodalla Shire, saw some potential properties being offered by accommodation provider Airbnb during the peak season, which only became available for short-term rental during off-season.

He believes a levy or tax would encourage owners to rent these properties out over the long-term instead.

"Several would sway towards a longer term rental, I think it would have a direct impact," he said.

A row of houses sit in the sunshine near the blue ocean surrounded by gum trees

Accommodation providers unconvinced

A tax on revenue from online booking sites like Airbnb and Stayz, and a cap on the number of guests allowed in short-term rentals is another measure being considered.

In 2021 the NSW government introduced a short-term rental accommodation registration scheme, code of conduct and a 180-night cap across Greater Sydney and some regional areas.

But Stayz says the government should avoid increasing day or night caps on the number of calendar days a property can be rented, limits on guest numbers and day fees.

Senior director at Stayz, Eacham Curry, said none of these approaches would address current concerns about housing.

"Stayz argues that arbitrary taxes or levies risk damaging the economic value the short-term accommodation sector brings to local communities."

Accommodation provider Airbnb said it was not against the imposition of a levy, but the Victorian proposal to charge 7.5 per cent paid for by rental guests was too high.

From next year, Victoria will introduce a  levy on revenue from short-term rental platforms  as part of an attempt to boost housing supply, the first time such a tax has been proposed in Australia. 

The head of public policy at Airbnb Australia Michael Crosby, said a levy of between three and five per cent which could be used by governments for critical infrastructure, was more comparable with international arrangements.

No 'one-size fits all' approach

Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sydney, Nicole Gurran, said imposing taxes and levys to help preserve longer term rental stock was sensible, but warned there was not a strong research base on their impact.

"I'm concerned that it's not enough to preserve or create rental housing supply, but there may be other good reasons to look at how short-term rentals are taxed," Professor Gurran said.

She said the international world standard to encourage long-term rentals was to limit the number of days in a calendar year that a property can be on the rental market.

A woman in a black jacket looking at the camera, with arms crossed, on a suburban street.

It's a solution being introduced in Byron Bay on the state's north coast, where rental availability is at crisis point.

The cap on the number of days people can rent short-term holiday accommodation there will be reduced from 180 days to 60 calendar days in September this year, following a  recommendation from the Independent Planning Commission . 

Professor Gurran said the difficulty with the cap is that it needs to be regulated, and she doubts it has helped in Sydney.

"There's no other country in the world that I'm aware of that has such a lax approach to allowing permanent homes to be rented out on the short-term rental market for the equivalent of every single weekend plus Christmas holidays, and at a rate of hotel occupancy or not dissimilar to what a hotel would record over a similar period," she said.

A surfer rides a wave in front of homes beneath a lighthouse

'They don't want a hotel room'

Tim Mortimer established BNB Made Easy when he noticed farming families owned properties in Orange in the state's central west which were left vacant during the weeks or holiday periods.

"They're not suitable for the long-term market," he said.

He now manages 180 properties across Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, and Wagga Wagga.

He said the reforms would have very little impact on how many long-term rentals returned to the market in regional NSW.

"The owners stay in them all the time, or they're fully furnished, or they're multimillion-dollar homes that won't be leasable in the long-term market," he said.

Mr Mortimer argues tourists make up only a small percentage of people who use them, including families of an individual undergoing cancer treatment and fly-in fly-out workers.

"Fly-in fly-out workers want a home, they don't want a hotel room," he said.

The government is seeking feedback from the community about the discussion paper over the next four weeks. 

If you're unable to load the form, click here .

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COMMENTS

  1. Proposal Size

    Letter The first standard proposal document size is the letter size, which measures 8.5×11 inches, or 215.9×279.4 mm. This is one of the most frequently used paper sizes, especially in the US. This is commonly used when students write a research proposal during their class or when an evaluation plan is in a proposal. Legal

  2. How to Write a Business Proposal with Examples

    January 25, 2024 23 min Author: Yauhen Zaremba Director of Demand Generation at PandaDoc How to write a business proposal? 1. Create a cover page 2. Introduce yourself with a cover letter 3. Table of contents 4. Set the scene with an executive summary 5. Proposal and solutions pages 6. Pricing 7. About us 8. Testimonials and social proof 9.

  3. How to Write a Research Proposal

    Published on October 12, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 21, 2023. A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it's important, and how you will conduct your research. The format of a research proposal varies between fields, but most proposals will contain at least these elements: Title page

  4. How To Write A Proposal

    Introduction: Provide a concise overview of the problem, its significance, and the proposed solution. Background/Context: Offer relevant background information and context to help the readers understand the situation. Objectives/Goals: Clearly state the objectives or goals of your proposal.

  5. How to Write a Project Proposal (Example and Templates)

    Plan and outline your proposal. After gathering all the information you need, start building your proposal. Brainstorm possible solutions with your team and workshop them until you come up with a viable project approach. Once established, you can then identify your deliverables and resource requirements.

  6. Preparing and Formatting Your Proposal Document

    Basic Formatting Guidelines. All submissions, regardless of type or content, should have the same formatting: 1-inch margins, 10-to-12-point Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. Symbol is permitted for special characters. Submitted as a single Word document (.doc or .docx) even if multiple papers are included.

  7. How to Write a Proposal Essay/Paper

    Pre-Write. Before starting the actual essay, spend some time brainstorming excellent ideas. Once you have a bunch of good ideas, spend some time thinking about how you'd like to organize them. Revise, Revise, Revise. Never turn in a first draft! Have a trusted peer or colleague read your paper and give you feedback.

  8. Is Specific Formatting of documents required for proposal submissions

    Use standard paper size (8 1/2" x 11). Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins, including the PI's name and page numbers. Page Formatting

  9. Formatting a Grant Proposal

    Format for 8.5 by 11-inch paper. Even if you submit the proposal electronically, funders usually print them out. Sticking with the standard size of paper makes this easier. Number all pages. You'd be surprised how many grantseekers don't. Without page numbers, it's difficult to review a proposal and discuss it with colleagues.

  10. 6.5 Writing Process: Creating a Proposal

    Describe the elements of the rhetorical situation for your proposal. Apply prewriting strategies to discover a problem to write about. Gather and synthesize information from appropriate sources. Draft a thesis statement and create an organizational plan.

  11. The Perfect Length of Your Next Business Proposal

    Oct 18, 2018 5 mins How long should your business proposal be? The answer is simple - however long it needs to be to get you the sale. To truly know how long your business proposals should be, you need to take a number of things into account.

  12. How to Organize a Paper: The Proposal Format

    What is the Proposal Method? Proposals are written for a variety of reasons and they can follow a wide array of formats. Ultimately, the goal of a proposal is to pitch an idea to person or organization and to persuade them that your idea is worth pursuing.

  13. 5 Tips on How to Format a Proposal like a Pro

    First and foremost, your proposal needs to be readable. Avoid using cursive or hard-to-read fonts, too much color, underlining of non-links, small spacing, or other distractions. While few donors have strict guidelines on formatting, 12 pt. font in Arial or Times New Roman with 1.5 spacing is fairly standard.

  14. PDF GUIDELINES FOR WRITING RESEARCH PROPOSALS

    proposal. It deals with some of the most important questions regarding the research ... All research proposals must be typed on A4 paper, one side only. An office style font (Arial, Times new Roman) size 12 (unbolded) for paragraphs (justified), size 12 (bold) for sub-headings (left aligned) and main headings (centred or left aligned) should be ...

  15. PDF Research Proposal Format Example

    1. Research Proposal Format Example. Following is a general outline of the material that should be included in your project proposal. I. Title Page II. Introduction and Literature Review (Chapters 2 and 3) A. Identification of specific problem area (e.g., what is it, why it is important). B. Prevalence, scope of problem.

  16. How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis Proposal

    Writing a proposal or prospectus can be a challenge, but we've compiled some examples for you to get your started. Example #1: "Geographic Representations of the Planet Mars, 1867-1907" by Maria Lane. Example #2: "Individuals and the State in Late Bronze Age Greece: Messenian Perspectives on Mycenaean Society" by Dimitri Nakassis.

  17. How to Write a Research Proposal

    Write with Grammarly What is the goal of a research proposal? In a research proposal, the goal is to present the author's plan for the research they intend to conduct. In some cases, part of this goal is to secure funding for said research.

  18. How to Write a Proposal Paper With Purpose

    Point #1: Know your audience If you're writing a proposal for business purposes, your proposal might be written for a client or for your employer. If you're writing a proposal paper for a class, you need to check your assignment guidelines to see if your professor has already given you an audience.

  19. How to Write a Research Proposal

    13 min read Reviewed By: Rylee W. Published on: Mar 24, 2023 Ready to take on the world of research, but feeling a bit intimidated by the proposal-writing process? You're not alone! Writing a research proposal can seem like a daunting task, especially if you're new to the game.

  20. How To Write A Research Proposal

    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.

  21. Page Layout, Margins and Numbering

    Right, top, and bottom: 1 inch recommended; 0.75 inches (19 mm) minimum Page Numbering Preliminary pages: must be numbered in lower case Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv, etc.) the title page is "i" but this number must not appear on the page numbering begins at "ii" on the committee page the first page of the abstract is page iii Body of thesis:

  22. How to Format Your Research Paper

    This table describes how to format your research paper using either the MLA or APA guidelines. Be sure to follow any additional instructions that your teacher provides. 12-pt. Times Roman or Courier. For figures, however, use a sans serif font such as Arial. Leave one space after a period unless your teacher prefers two. Leave one space after a ...

  23. PDF Writing the Sample Size Section for your Proposal

    Lecture 23 Writing the Sample Size Section for your Proposal 10 28 1. Align power analysis with data analysis 2. Justify the power analysis 3. Account for uncertainty 4. Plan for missing data 5. Demonstrate enrollment feasibility 6. Plan for multiple aims We discussed six components that should be in the sample size section of a grant proposal.

  24. Taxes and levies for short-term rentals an option to help increase

    One of the government's proposals to fix the state's housing crisis is converting short-stay rentals and holiday homes to long-term rental accommodation, a discussion paper released on Thursday ...