RIFT VALLEY UNIVERSITY HARAR CAMPUS

POST GRDUATE STUDIES

 GROUP OR INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
 GROUP IS NO MORETHAN FIVE MEMBERS
o POINT 30%
o MAXIM PAGE1- 25
o DATE OF SUBMISSION ON FINAL EXAM
 FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES CAREFULLY (YOU
CAN ALSO SEE YOUR LECTURE NOTE
CHAPTER TWO)

INRODUCTION
The preparation and submission of a research proposal is required of all graduate students in all
disciplines at RVU University. The ultimate success of a master’s thesis depends upon the
preparation of a sound research proposal. The following sections describe the format that graduate
students at RVU University should follow when writing their research proposals.
Basic Elements of the Research Proposal

The research proposal submitted by a graduate student for a master’s. degree is expected to have
the following sections although there can be some limited variation based on the academic
discipline and the study in question. Each of these sections should start on a new page and all
section titles should be capitalized. As Master students, you should practices developing research
proposal is expected from you.
General structure of research proposal:
 Cover page
 Acknowledgements (optional)
 Acronyms and abbreviations
 Table of contents
 List of tables ( if any )
 List of figures ( if any )
 Summary ( Option)
 Introduction
 Literature review
 Materials and methods
 Plan of activities
 Budget
 References
 Appendixes
 Approval sheet

1. Cover Page

The cover page should be informative and consist of the Title of your study , rationale of your
study , your name, Logo of University, name of university, post graduate Studies, month, year
place, country , research proposals are provided.

Title: The title of the thesis research proposal should be clear, specific and concise. Words such
as "The Study of" or "An Investigation on" are not essential. The title should accurately capture
and reflect the main theme of the proposed study.

2. Acknowledgements (optional)

The acknowledgements section recognizes the persons and/or institutions the student is grateful to
for guidance or assistance received and those to whom the student extends thanks for special aid
or support in the preparation of the proposal.

3. Abbreviations and Acronyms

In a section students list in alphabetical, order the abbreviations or acronyms followed by their
descriptions in full. In the narrative, each abbreviation other than S.I. units and each acronym
should be defined in full when they are first used and then followed by their abbreviation or
acronym in parentheses. Standard (S.I.) units do not need to be listed. Abbreviations and symbols
such as i.e. etc. should not be italicized. A sample page that illustrates how the list of abbreviations
and acronyms will be prepared is shown.

4. Table of Contents
All of the headings and entries in the table of contents should correspond exactly in wording, font
and case with the headings or entries as they appear in the text of the proposal. Do not use “title”
and “page” at the top of the page in the table of contents. In addition, there should be no dotted
lines (or other forms of tab leaders) connecting headings and respective pages. Subdivisions of
headings should not exceed four levels. A table of contents is shown in the sample pages that
illustrate the capitalization, indentation, line spacing between the headings and the numbering of
sections. You may wish to use the built-in style of Microsoft Word or any other word processing
program to create the table of contents.

5. List of Tables

The sample list of tables from a thesis presented with standard and how the list shall be prepared
in the research proposal. It should be noted that a list of tables rarely occurs in a research proposal.

6. List of Figures

The list of figures also seldom appears in the research proposal and e list of figures for the research
proposal shall be presented.

7. Summary( Abstract) optional

The summary should include the background of the research proposal topic, objectives of the study
and the methods to be used in the research project. It should be concise and less than one page in
length. The summary should be presented in one single block paragraph in single line spacing
without subtitles or any divisions.

1. INTRODUCTION

It provides pertinent background information on the research project and should be as brief as
possible. Ideally, it should short and clear
The introduction includes:
`1.1.Background of the Study
1.2. Statement of the Problem
1.3. Research Questions/Hypothesis
1.4. Research Objectives
1.4.1. General Objectives of the Study
1.4.2. Specific Objective of the Study
 1.5. Significance of the Study
1.6. Delimitation of the Study
1.7. Operational Definition of Key Terms
1.8. Organization of the Study
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review is chapter two. It should be a critical analysis of relevant existing knowledge
on the proposed research topic. It includes the strengths, the limitations ,and gaps of previous
studies. The literature review should be relevant with recent citations on the topic. Citations within
the past five years are ideal and generally considered current. Citations ten years and older should
be used sparingly and only when necessary. Unpublished documents and lay sources like
encyclopedias are discouraged. Serious attention must be given to avoid any possible
consideration of plagiarism. This is done by the student carefully tracking and referencing each
and every document used. Examples of the reference style used for research proposals. Theoretical
framework, Conceptual framework and summary of review of related literature should provide.
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

It describes precisely what will be done and how it will be done, what data will be recorded, the
proposed tools or instruments to be used in data collection and the methods of analyzing the data.
In this chapter, the student should give clear, specific, appropriate and credible procedures that
will be followed to attain the proposed objectives of the study. The research design planned for
use should be clearly stated. The research methods should be appropriate to the problem area, i.e.,
the statement of the problem, the objectives and the hypotheses. In selecting appropriate research
methods and techniques, the student should be able to answer the question: "Precisely how will I
conduct the proposed research?” The logistics of implementation should be viewed parallel to the
choice of the research methodology and design. The student should consider affordability, time
issues, feasibility of the study and availability of equipment and supplies. The student should also
address the methods of data collection, data quality control. and methods of data analysis. Here
under this the major components of this section in include in order.

3.1. Description of the Study Area

3.2. Research Design
3.3. Research Methods
3.4. Sources of Data
 3.4.1. Primary Sources of Data
3.4.2. Secondary sources of Data
3.5. Population, Sample Size, and Sampling Techniques
3.6. Methods of Data Collection Instruments
3.7. Procedure of Data Collection
3.8. Method of Data Analysis
3.9. Ethical Considerations

4. WORK PLAN
This chapter focuses on the budgeting of time for the implementation of the research project. The
student assigns periods for the completion of various activities of the proposed research. The plan
of activities can be presented in the form of a table. Only major activities for accomplishing the
research and corresponding periods should be included in the table.

5. BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Budget of the research proposal is chapter five and clearly describes the financial resources
required to conduct the project. The budget chapter should include both a narrative discussion and
rationale for requested funds, followed by a related set of tables. This involves first discussing and
then listing, in a series of separate tables, the necessary and required personnel, per diem days
required to conduct research, transportation costs, supervision, equipment, stationery, expendable
research supplies and materials, laboratory analysis and any associated services for the project.
Every budget item must be justified if funds are to be expected to support the research. Item costs
should be reasonable and reflect a fair and current market price. The budget chapter will then have
a budget summary table at the end of this chapter and the budget source shall be indicated.
 6. REFERENCES

The references chapter must include all works cited in the research proposal. All citations
appearing in the narrative of the proposal must be included in the references chapter

. In-Text Citations

For in-text citations, the author-date method is used. There are two possible ways of in-text
citation, namely, the subject-centered and author-centered citation. In the subject-centered citation,
the author’s last name followed by a comma, a space, and the year of publication are written in
parenthesis usually at the end of the sentence. In the author-centered citation, only the year of
publication is placed in parenthesis and a comma is not required after the author’s name.
Recognizing country tradition, Ethiopian authors’ names should be presented in full as they appear
in the publication.

If it a Single Author

Subject-centered citation: (Banks, 2021)

Author-centered citation: Banks (2021)

Two Authors
Subject- centered citation: (Banks and Gay, 2010)
Author- centered citation: Banks and Gays (2010)

For Ethiopian Names

Subject-centered citation: ( Chaltu Tashome and Jafar yusuuf, 2010)

Author-centered citation: Chaltu Tashome and Jafar Yusuuf (2010)
Three or more Authors

Subject-centered citation: (Rashid et al., 2008)

Author-centered citation: Rashid et al. (2008)

References List in References

The reference list should start on a new page. The list should use the hanging indent method where
all lines after the first one are indented or one tab. The list should be in alphabetical order by the
last names of the first authors. Following the same tradition as in in-text citation, note that for
Ethiopian names, you are to write the full name of the author with his or her first name first. For
example, Chaltu Tashome would be placed in alphabetical order under the letter “ch” in the
references chapter listing.
Observe the proper use of spacing, periods, semi-colons, colons, backstrokes (/), the parenthesis,
and italicizing in the reference listings. These are all important to the proper presentation of the
references. The titles of books and journals should be italicized. No abbreviations of journal titles
should be used in listing such publications.
Journal Articles

Single Author:
Chen, H.J. (2008). The endogenous probability of migration and economic growth. Economic
Modelling 25 (6): 1111-1115.

Dinaras Debela . (2008.) .Cigarette smoking and khat chewing among university instructors in
Ethiopia. East African Medical Journal 16 (1): 9-17.
Two or More Authors:

Wästfelt, A., Tsegaye Tegenu, Nielsen, M.N. and Malmberg, B. (2011). Qualitative satellite image
analysis: Mapping spatial distribution of farming types in Ethiopia. Applied Geography 32
(2): 465-476.
Books
Dyckman, T.R. and Pfeiffer, G.M. (2010). Financial Accounting, 3rd Edition. Boston, MA, USA:
Cambridge Business Press.

Theses and Dissertations

Eyob Shenkut. (2010). Mathematics Anxiety of 9th and 10th Grade students: The Case of Three
Selected Secondary Schools in Dire Dawa. M.Ed. Thesis, Haramaya University,
Haramaya, Ethiopia.

Technical Reports

Costar, W., Deeney, T., Haltiwanger, J. and Haley, S. (2008). School Function Assessment
Technical Report. Pearson Education, Inc., Boston, MA, USA.

Non- Periodical Web Document

WHO (World Health Organization). (2002). Adolescent-friendly health services: an agenda for
change. (http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health) Accessed on June 1, 2010.

Web Document with No Author’s Name or Date of Publication

Anonymous (n.d.) Census data revisited, Harvard Psychology of Population website,

(http://harvard.edu/data/index.php.) Accessed on March 9, 2009.
 7 .APPENDIXES
If there is any appendix, it will appear as the last chapter of the proposal. It includes, for example,
information such as drafts of questionnaires in English and other languages, participant informed
consent forms, observation checklists, pictures and specifications of the equipment to be used in
the research, mathematical formulae or derivations, a detailed description of the sample selection
procedures and dummy tables.

8. APPROVAL SHEET

The approval sheet is the last page of a master’s thesis research proposal research proposal. The
approval page will be used to get formal approval of the proposal. An example of the approval
sheet from a master’s thesis proposal is provided in as the following
 APPROVAL SHEET
RIFT VALLEY UNIVERSITY
POST GRADUATE STUDIES

Reseserch title or topic

Submitted by:

____________________ __________________ ________________

Name of Student Signature Date

Approved by:

1. ___________________ __________________ ________________

Name of Major Advisor Signature Date

2. ___________________ __________________ ________________

Name of Co-Advisor Signature Date

3. ___________________ __________________ ________________

Name of postgraduate studies, Signature Date
 Other basic issues your careful considers in writing your research proposal
STYLE AND FORMATTING
It is known that there are diverse styles and formats in scientific writing. What is important,
however, is being consistent in using style and formatting. This means that rules need to be
followed consistently in writing a research proposal. The following rules are selected for simplicity
and familiarity and are to be followed strictly followed in preparing research proposal.

Font Type and Size

Times New Roman font must be used throughout the research proposal. The content of cover page
of research proposal is presented upper case (sample 1 and sample 2). The font size in this page is
14 and it is in bold face. The content of the title page of manuscript are presented in upper case,
14-point font size and in bold face. First level headings in the research proposal is written in upper
case 14-point font size. Second level heading are written in bold title case in 14-point font size,
i.e. the first level of each major word of the headings is written in upper case. Third level headings
are written in bold title case in 12-point font size. Fourth level and all remaining lower headings
are written in 12-point font size and in sentence case unless required by grammatical or
nomenclatural rules.

Apart from this variation in font size and formatting, all captions, column headings of tables and
entire text in research proposal and thesis/dissertation are written in 12-point size normal font.
Underlining of headings, subheadings or captions of tables or figures is not permitted.

Margins

A margin of 1.5 cm and 1 cm each on the right, top and bottom of the page are required. The same
margins should be applied to all pages including those of the figures and tables.
Headings and Subheadings
Each of the titles of the preliminary sections and the chapters of the text are written in 14-point
bold upper case letters and are centered. Second and lower level headings are to be aligned left.
The chapter headings of the text of the research proposal and thesis/dissertation must be numbered
with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) starting from the introduction and ending with the reference or
with the appendix (ces) (if any). The Arabic numerals shall be followed by a period and a space
before the chapter without the word “chapter.” However, the titles of the preliminary sections are
not numbered.

The second level headings are numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in an outline
numbering system (e.g., 1.1., 1.2., etc. for subheadings of Chapter 1; 2.1., 2.2., etc. for Chapter 2;
etc.). Likewise, the outline numbering system will be used for lower level headings (e.g. 1.1.1.,
1.1.2., etc. for subheadings under 1.1.; 2.1.1., 2.1.2., etc. for those under 2.1.1.; 1.1.1.1., 1.1.1.2.,
etc. for subheadings under 1.1.1; and 2.1.1.1., 2.1.1.2, etc. under 2.1.1.; etc.).

To have a numbered subheading, there ought to be at least two subheadings discussed under the
higher level heading. It is unacceptable to number headings as 1.1., 1.1.1., 1.1.1.1. etc. unless there
is at least one heading to be numbered as 1.2., 1.1.2., 1.1.1.2., etc., respectively.

Line Spacing and Paragraph Format

The line spacing for all of the narrative is 1.5 although single line spacing is to be applied to
captions of tables and figures. An extra line (1.5 spacing) is kept between paragraphs above and
below all headings, subheadings and captions.

Page Numbering and Set Up

Each component of the preliminary section, each chapter of the narrative, the References chapter
and the Appendix must start on a new page. As a rule, each component of the preliminary section
should be short and not exceed one page. Exceptions to the latter may be for the Table of Contents,
Acronyms and Abbreviations and the List of Tables and List of Figures.
Except for the cover page, every page of the thesis is assigned a page number. The use of two
different types of page numbering is recommended. Small Roman numerals such as ii, iii, etc. are
used for the preliminary section from the title page to the page preceding the Introduction.
However, a page number should not appear on the title page and the subsequent page will be
numbered with ii. Arabic numerals such as 1, 2, 3, etc. are used from the first page of the
Introduction to the last page of the Appendix. Page numbers are centered at the bottom of the page.
Page numbers will not include periods or dashes.

Tables and Figures

Students should decide the most appropriate way to present their data. They should not use tables
and figures for the same data discussed in the narrative. Tables and figures should be single line
spaced. Borders are required above, below the column headings, and below the last row of the
table. Tables and figures should be logically placed in the narrative of the thesis or dissertation and
should be as close as possible to the results narrative where those tables and figures are first cited.

The headings within the Tables and Figures can be bolded. Tables and figures should be consistent
in format throughout the document. Tables and Figures, which are more than one page in length,
are strongly discouraged. In addition, the author is responsible for checking computational
correctness in the tables and figures. In addition, the numerical values cited in the narrative should
match those in the tables. Significance levels should be indicated by the use of an asterisk.

All tables and figures should have a clear and concise caption. Table notes may be used to describe
the contents of the caption or column headings cross-referenced using super-scripted numbers.
For ease in readability, landscaping of tables and figures is encouraged as necessary. Empty space
between the tables and figures and the narrative should not exceed two double spaces. Tables and
figures should be clearly presented and self-explanatory. The reader should be able to understand
them without reading the narrative of the results.

8. Other Style and Formatting Issues

1. All measurements should be given in metric or Standard International (S.I.) units.

2. Only the Ethiopian Birr (ETB) shall be used for budget currency discussions.
3. Complicated, long or awkward sentences should be avoided.
4. Correct grammatical rules should be followed.
5. Contractions such as should not, cannot, and will not should not be used.
6. The use of personal pronouns such as I, you and we should be avoided.
7. Colloquial language (slang) should be avoided.
8. Technical jargon should be minimized.
9. The structure of a sentence is important in scientific writing. For example, do not begin a
sentence by “Study” or “And”. In addition, never start a sentence with numerals such as
10, 33, 145, etc. or with an abbreviation such as contracted scientific name. Write out
abbreviations if they appear at the beginning of a sentence.
10. Give attention to English mechanics. To avoid common mistakes, a parenthesis should be
preceded and followed by one space and a comma should be followed by a space, etc.