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Developing the research proposal
Having decided on the research topic and defined a clear research question or set of
questions, together with appropriate methods of seeking answers, you now need to convey
your plan of research clearly in a research proposal.
Research proposals serve a number of purposes. Among them:
- They convince others that your research is worth undertaking.
- They enable you to demonstrate expertise and competency in
your particular area of study.
- They may serve as a contract between the researcher and her
funders.
- They serve as a planning tool for the researcher.
"Writing your Research Proposal: A Workbook for
First Time and Inexperienced Researchers"
This guide was developed by the NRF to
address the needs of postgraduate students and early career researchers,
particularly in the humanities and social sciences. The guide may be downloaded in PDF format,
and viewed with Adobe Acrobat.
NRF Proposal Writing Workshop Kit
This zipped set of documents contains materials for use in proposal
writing training workshops, including
- Readme.txt
file with explanatory notes
- MS
PowerPoint presentation
- NRF
proposal writing guide
- Sample
proposals
- Proposal
evaluation form
http://www.nrf.ac.za/yenza/zip/proposal.zip
How to Write a Research Proposal for Peer Review
(Developed by the late Prof Kobus Oosthuizen, Centre for
Population Studies, University of Pretoria, and Dr Robert C.-H. Shell)
On the Art of Writing Proposals(SSRC)
Brief guide for applicants in the Social Sciences by Adam Przeworski,
Department of Political Science, New York University and Frank Salomon,
Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin http://www.ssrc.org/artprop.htm
How does a Researcher Write a Project Proposal?
(Prof Ian Kennedy)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3238/project.htm
Guidelines for the Completion of a Research Proposal
(Port Elizabeth Technikon)
http://www.petech.ac.za/research/Ri2(e).htm
How to Have your Abstract Rejected
Mary-Claire van Leunen and Richard Lipton look at ways of ensuring that
your abstract won't be accepted: "submit late"; "submit
incorrectly"; grossly exceed the maximum length requirements"
etc. Applies as much to proposals as to abstracts.
ftp://parcftp.xerox.com/pub/popl96/vanLeunenLipton
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