thesis proposal 3

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Thesis Proposal:

The thesis proposal shall be 5 pages in length not including title page or references.

Your title page should include the working title of your thesis, your name, and your working abstract.

The abstract includes the following components: purpose of the research, methodology, findings, and conclusion. The body of the abstract is limited to 150-200 words.

Your thesis proposal should have the following sections:

Introduction: The introduction is where you identify your specific research question and where you set the general context for the study. In this section you need to include:

  • a statement of the problem or general research question and context leading to a clear statement of the specific research question;
  • background and contextual material justifying why this case or topic should be studied; and
  • a purpose statement.

Literature Review: This short preliminary literature review section reviews the literature important to your specific research question. The literature review focuses on discussing how other researchers have addressed the same or similar research questions. It introduces the study and places it in larger context that includes a discussion of why it is important to study this case. It provides the current state of accumulated knowledge as it relates to your specific research question. In this section you should:

  • Summarize the general state of the literature (cumulative knowledge base) on the specific research question. For example if you discuss other studies that have been conducted you would summarize the researcher’s findings, how those findings were obtained, and conduct an evaluation of biases in the findings.
  • This section should provide a broad overview of the primary arguments related to the topic and organizes the general views on the main aspects of the topic by theme, which could be the prevailing arguments or schools of thought, or commonly held beliefs that your particular topic may challenge.
  • Include a short conclusion and transition to the next section.

Theoretical Framework/Approach: The theoretical framework section develops the theories or models to be used in the study and shows how you have developed testable research hypotheses. This section should include:

  • an introduction discussing gaps in the literature, how this study will help fill some of those gaps, and justification for the theory or model to be used in study;
  • a summary of the theory or model to be used in the study, including a diagram of the model if appropriate; and
  • a statement of hypotheses to be tested.

For some additional information on how to organize your theoretical framework into your paper, check out this USC Library guide on Theoretical Frameworks.

Research Design & Methods: Describes how you will test the hypothesis and carry out your analysis. This section describes the data to be used to test the hypothesis, how you will operationalize and collect data on your variables, and the analytic methods that to be used, noting potential biases and limitations to the research approach. It should include:

  • identification and operationalization (measurement) of variables;
  • a sampling plan (i.e., study population and sampling procedures, if appropriate);
  • justification of case studies used;
  • data collection/sources (secondary literature, archives, interviews, surveys, etc.);
  • a summary of analysis procedures (pattern-matching, etc.); and
  • the limitations of study and bias discussion.

Conclusion: Should re-emphasize the importance of the study and bring the proposal full circle.

Reference List: References the works that you have cited (direct quotes or paraphrases) in the text. This list must be in the Turabian “Reference List” style rather than in the “Bibliography” style. Remember that the references you use demonstrate your knowledge of the topic area. This research proposal is meant to convince your professor that you not only have identified a worthy question in need of investigation, but that you are also capable of carrying out the research involved to successfully answer that question. At the very least you should have referenced 6-10 sources in this proposal.

 
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