Faculty of Arts and Humanities – Sousse English Department Cultural Studies Masters Dissertation/Thesis

Research Proposal Outline

Below is a suggested outline for writing up your research proposals. It is not the only way of writing
one, but should act as a helpful framework to think through key issues at this stage.
A clear proposal can help you focus your research well, and help you be much more productive in
your use of time.

Title
This is important, and should reflect the main research question which you will give later.
The title can be altered after you have submitted the official form, as long as it is still within the
same domain as your original suggestion.
Introduction (1 page)
This should include two main aspects:
 First, you should set the scene for the research area, giving a brief literature review.
 Second, you should give a rationale for your field of research and choice of topic.
These two steps correspond approximately to the first two steps of Swales’ ‘Creating A Research
Space’ CARS model, which are ‘Establishing a territory’ and ‘Establishing a niche’.
See http://english1102spring2013.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/5/2/15525268/swales.pdf.
Aims (½ page)
Briefly describe what you hope to achieve through undertaking this research.
What benefits for yourself and others do you expect the research will bring.
This corresponds loosely with the first part of Swales’ third step ‘Occupying a niche’
Research Questions (½ page)
In this section you need to be very specific in defining the exact main research question, and sub-
questions. There is room to adjust these later, but starting with something specific is a better
platform than just having a vague/broad idea at this point.
Methodology (½ - 1 page)
Here you should give an outline of:
 the main research paradigm
 the main research style e.g. documentary, case study, ethnographic etc.
 the various research methods you will employ.
Whichever overall style you employ, you will use documents and sources, so you should give a
preliminary bibliography below. You should also outline where you will find/search for further
documents.
If you are planning to incorporate questionnaires/interviews etc as part of your research, then you
should outline this, giving numbers and suggesting possible respondent populations.
Timing schedule (½ page)
You should give a short month by month outline of what you expect to be doing when – in terms of
reading, questionnaire/interview development, administering research instruments, writing up etc.
This will almost certainly change later, but starting with a clear plan is likely to help you be more
productive, and to finish earlier.
Personal Aims (½ page)
Briefly say a little about what you personally would like to gain from this research, and how you
think you may follow this up in the future.
Selected Bibliography (1 page – APA style)
At this point, this does not need to be a full bibliography, but it should show any potential
supervisor that you have already been undertaking some research into the domain, and that you
have a solid basis from which to develop your research.
I would strongly recommend that you start entering all your references in the MS Word reference
database, so that you can generate the bibliography automatically.

I hope that is helpful 

Jonathan Mason
Faculty of Arts and Humanities – Sousse English Department Cultural Studies Masters Dissertation/Thesis

Jan 2014