Exercise of Scientific Writing and

Research Title
 Research Proposal
• Research is an exciting adventure when guided by genuine
interest.

• There is a number of funding/donor agencies providing funds for

research

• Every funding agency has its own format for project/proposal/

application submission

• To start writing research proposal we have to select a research

topic

• Then we have to identify a suitable donor

• And then we have to start writing a proposal

 Selection of Topic

• What is a good topic? The most obvious answer is that it is a topic

you are interested in.

1. Where can I start to find a good topic?

2. How do I narrow down my topic?

3. What topic is appropriate for me?

4. How do I know the topic I selected is a “good topic”?

5. Can I change topics?

 1. Where can I start to find a good topic?

• Talking to People

• Searching the Internet

• Browsing Reference Books, Statistics, and Other Library

Resources

• Reading Some Scholarly Journal Articles

• Reading Current Events and Recent Policy Debates

 2. How Can You Narrow Down Your Topic?

• Evaluation of cereal genotypes for abiotic stress tolerance

• Evaluation of wheat genotypes for abiotic stress tolerance

• Evaluation of wheat genotypes for drought tolerance

3. What Topic Is Appropriate for Your Research?
• A Topic Which You Are Excited About

• A Topic for Which You Are Prepared

• A Topic Related to Your Experience or Employment

• A Feasible Topic

• A Topic with a Broader Audience

• A Topic Similar to Your Professor or Supervisor’s Research

 4. How Do You Know the Topic You Selected Is
a “Good Topic”?
• 1. Am I really interested in the topic?
2. Am I familiar with the topic? If not, am I prepared to do extra research
on it?
3. Is there adequate information available to me to research this topic?
4. Will I have access to my study population? Can I get permission to
conduct this research?
5. Does this topic offer future opportunities for research?
6. Do I have personal experience related to this research topic?
7. Will my future employment benefit from this research?
8. Are there professors or tutors in my department who have expertise in
this area? Will they be able to help me?
9. Is my research topic not too broad and not too narrow?
10. Will this research topic be valuable to society? And finally,
11. Is it feasible to do research on this topic within my time frame and
with available resources?
5. Can You Change Your Topic?
 Selection of Topic
• Selection of Topic has following steps
• Identify a problem/ Issue
– Crop, Current issues (may be basic or applied in nature), aspect needs more
attention,
• Identifying keywords related to problem/Issue
– Wheat, Water scarcity, Early vegetative Phase, Plant/cell/molecular Level
etc.
• Making a sentence/topic by using identified keywords
– eg)
– Identification of wheat plant drought tolerance mechanism during
vegetative phase

– NOTE: Every student has to select a topic of own and

submit it today
 Qualities of Research Topic
• It should be clear & focused:
– The topic should have clarity and should reflect the thought of researcher
• Well defined:
– It should not be ambiguous
• Novel:
– The topic should point something novel i.e. issue, method, equipment use etc.
• Current importance
– The issue of Current relevance like climate change, water shortage, increasing
temperature etc.
• Represent contents of the Research
– The topic should be phrased in such a way that any reader have some idea about
research contents
• Language:
– Grammar and word usage should be proper
• Titling
– Use title case,
 Common Title Capitalization Rules
1. Capitalize the First and Last Word
• How to Land Your Dream Job
• Of Mice and Men
• The Cat in the Hat

2. Capitalize Nouns and Pronouns

• Visiting Beautiful Ruins (noun)
• As She Ran Away (pronoun)

3. Capitalize Verbs and Helping Verbs

• The Sun Also Rises (verb)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God (helping verb and verb)
4. Capitalize Adjectives and Adverbs
• All Quiet on the Western Front (adjectives)
• He Quietly Waits (adverb)

5. Do Not Capitalize Short Prepositions

• One Year in Paris
• The Book of Disquiet

6. Do Not Capitalize Articles

• Through the Looking Glass
• The Portrait of a Lady
• The Sense of an Ending

7. Do Not Capitalize Short Coordinating Conjunctions

• War and Peace
• The Once and Future King
 Selection of Funding Agency
There are number of funding agencies locally
and internationally
• Local include
• Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC)
• Pakistan Science Foundation
• ALP – Pakistan Agricultural Research Council
• PARB
• International:
• IFS: International Foundation for Science
 How to Start Writing
• Go to section where we identified key word
related to problem
• We selected “Wheat, Water scarcity, Early vegetative Phase,
Plant/cell/molecular Level etc.
• Introductory Note will start from Importance of crop, its usage, economic
impact, etc
• Then water scarcity, its current situation, effect on crop growth and
productivity, extent of losses due to water scarcity etc
• Then why Early vegetative phase is selected ? water/rain is less available during
this phase, how water shortage impact it?
• What plant mechanism is going to help plant during water shortage? We may
select Cell Membrane Stability

• NOW we have the points to make our

Introductory Note
 The Points are
1. Importance of crop selected, its usage, economic impact, etc.

2. The Selected issue (Water scarcity or any other selected), its

current situation, effect on crop growth and productivity,
extent of losses due to the problem

3. Stage of crop which is affected most and why?

4. Importance of Mechanism supposed to support the plant.

 PRACTICE FOR TODAY
– Make a topic of your own (submit it today)
– Visit websites of donor agencies
– An Introductory Note regarding the topic