(2004)
I will not agree to be the advisor to a graduate student until he or she completes an acceptable proposal according to these guidelines. The topic also must be acceptable.
General areas or topics that I am willing to be an advisor for:
Vocabulary
Cultural literacy
General Education English (for NON-English majors)
And selected other areas (ask me when you talk to me)
If you are satisfied that your topic is the one that you want to pursue AND AFTER you have talked to me about it, please create a formal written thesis proposal. The following document constitutes the guidelines for it.
Þ You CAN write a general introduction in paragraph form (one or two paragraphs).
Þ Each section CAN also begin with a paragraph.
Þ HOWEVER, most of the first version of your proposal or outline, should be in the form of LISTS. If you list each item separately, it will be easier for YOU and for your advisor to see exactly what you are proposing and to identify items to add to or modify on your list. For example:
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® List your research questions one by one as separate items; do the same for the hypotheses (if you have hypotheses).
® Your methodology section should be a DETAILED item-by-item list of everything you are going to do.
® Describe the way you are going to present your findings in a list.
If you want me to be your advisor, you must follow the format given here for your proposal. Include the heading and questions given here in your proposal (that means you should COPY every item into your proposal) AND then respond to them.
STRONG RECOMMENDATION: Also, I strongly recommend you find a thesis somewhere (preferably one related to your topic and preferably a well-written one) and read it. As you read it pay attention to the format used to present the study. Also pay attention to how many of the following items in these guidelines also can be found in the thesis. This should also reassure you that these guidelines do represent an outline of a well-written thesis.
This outline of the research proposal follows Professor Richard Hung's format as used in his Research Methodology course. I have revised my proposal guidelines to fit within his proposal format.
I. Introduction
A. The problem statement
B. A rationale for the research
1. Statement of the research objectives
C. Research questions/Hypothesis
D. Definitions of terms
E. Summary, including a restatement of the problem
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II. A (brief) review of the relevant literature
A. The importance of the question being asked
B. The current status of the topic
C. The relationship between the literature and the
problem statement
D. Summary, including a restatement of the
relationships between the important variables under
consideration and how these relationships are
important to the hypothesis proposed in the
introduction
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III. Method
A. Research design (Is the study a quantitative or a
qualitative study?)
B. Data collection plans
1. Operational definition of all variables
2. Subjects (including a description and selection
procedures)
3. Reliability and validity of instruments
4. Results of a pilot study (if any)
5. Time-Lines (the approximate time each research
activity will be completed)
C. Proposed analysis of the data
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IV. Results of the study
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V. Summary/Conclusion, Implications,
Suggestions/Recommendations, Limitations
Appendices
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References
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Chapter I: Introduction
1. What is the general area or broad topic that you want to
investigate?
¡ EX: reading, writing, pre-reading exercises, learners'
strategies, motivation.
2. What are the SPECIFIC (research) questions you want
to answer in this general or broad area?
¡ Focus your attention on a narrower area of the general
topic.
¡ List your questions one by one in a list.
3. Do you have any hypotheses about the answers to your
questions? What are the bases of your hypotheses; in
other words, why do you believe or accept or choose
these hypotheses?
¡ List your hypotheses one by one in a list.
4. AFTER you do answer (2) and (3) ASK YOURSELF: Do
we already know the answer to this question (through
common sense OR because someone has already studied
it)?
¡ If the answer is YES, then you must choose a NEW topic
OR find a new way to approach this topic.
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Your topic does not have to be completely new. It can be an EXTENSION or a REPLICATION of previous work AS LONG AS SOMETHING IS NEW about it.
If your study is an EXTRENSION or a REPLICATION you MUST tell your readers this.
¡ If the answer is NO, then continue with the topic you have chosen.
5. What assumptions underlie your research questions and/or hypotheses?
6. WHY do YOU want to study this?
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7. Why should anyone else want to know about this? Who will benefit from your study?
¡ Rationale / Motivation
8. What are the limitations of your study?
¡ What have you have decided you WILL NOT DO?
¡ What is OUTSIDE the scope of your study?
Chapter II: Review of the Literature
1. What online databases / search engines are you
consulting for your literature review?
¡E.g., EBSCOHOST, ERIC, FirstSearch, MLA, online
database of theses and dissertations produced at
Taiwan's universities; in English or in Chinese, etc.
2. What key words and phrases are you using to look up
supporting documents for your thesis as you use the
online bibliographic search engines?
¡ List them ALL in an alphabetical list.
3. Make a Bibliography list.
¡ List all the articles and books you have found SO FAR
that you think might be useful for background reading on
your GENERAL TOPIC AND on your SPECIFIC RESEARCH
QUESTION or HYPOTHESES.
¡ MAKE SURE YOU PRESENT THEM IN THE APPROPRIATE
FORMAT FOR A BIBLIOGRAPHY.
4. Outline the sections for Chapter 2, if you can. If you
cannot do it yet, say "I am not prepared to describe the
content of Chapter 2 yet."
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TIPS FOR WRITING CHAPTER 2
1. When you begin to WRITE Chapter 2 you can decide HOW
MANY sections you need in the chapter by looking at your
BIBLIOGRAPHY or the ARTICLES you have collected. You
COULD, for example, put the articles in different PILES
according to what they talk about. You will probably end
up with at least two piles¡Xand probably NOT more than
four. OR, you COULD organize the articles in the
bibliography into groups of related articles. Use these
groups of articles to help you write an OUTLINE for the
chapter.
2. As you WRITE Chapter 2, whenever you describe previous
studies:
(a) Present findings
(b) Give concrete examples of whatever you claim
(c) Explain what the implications are for YOUR study
Do (c) section by section, NOT article by article.
3. Your discussion of findings SHOULD NOT JUST BE a list of
what author 1 found, then what author 2 found, then what
author 3 found, and so on. You should look for main
themes that are similar and SYNTHESIZE them into one
group. Give the BIG PICTURE, but with enough details
that the reader will be able to evaluate whether the study
(studies) you mention DO OR DO NOT relate to your present
study.
Chapter III: Methodology
1. Is your study a quantitative study or a qualitative study?
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2. If your study involves an EXTENSION OR (Partial)
REPLICATION of another study, state clearly what is the
SAME and what is DIFFERENT between YOUR study and
the other study. (See Chapter 1, item 4 above)
¡ Do this in a list showing what is the same and what is
different. The reader should be able to understand how
your studies are similar (and not similar) at a glance.
3. What will you use as the data for your study? This means,
what data will you collect?
¡ DESCRIBE IT THOROUGHLY.
4. What variables (independent, dependent) will you look at in
your study?
5. How will you collect your data?
¡ Outline step by step what you will do in the process of
gathering data.
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6. If you will use some INSTRUMENT to collect data (e.g., a test,
a survey, etc.), what will be on it?
¡ Give some examples; you do not have to have a complete
version of it.)
7. What tasks will subjects have to perform to create data for
you to analyze?
¡ Outline step by step what your subjects (if any) will do.
8. If you are gathering data from subjects, WHO WILL BE
YOUR SUBJECTS?
¡ Be as SPECIFIC as possible.
¡ How many subjects will you have?
¡ List EVERYTHING about the subjects you want to KNOW
and INVESTIGATE. THIS IS AN ITEM THAT MOST
STUDENTS DO NOT DESCRIBE FULLY. TAKE SPECIAL
CARE TO ANSWER THIS ITEM IN DETAIL.
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9. IMPORTANT:
¡ Copy all of your research questions and/or hypotheses from
items 2 and 3 from Chapter 1 above and put them in this
outline for Chapter 3.
¡ Then question by question (or hypothesis by hypothesis) tell
exactly which task or item in your methodology section will
answer that question or hypothesis. In other words, how will
the data you collect or the survey you carry out, etc. answer
your research questions or hypotheses?
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(YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW THE ANSWERS TO YOUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS OR HYPOTHESES, BUT YOU DO HAVE TO KNOW WHAT SPECIFIC TASK, TEST, QUESTIONNAIRE SECTION OR ITEM, OR WHATEVER WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO FIND OUT THE ANSWERS.)
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Chapter IV: Results / Findings
1. Speculate briefly on the possible answers you might see as
a result of your study.
2. How will you analyze your data? (Statistical methods;
statistical software)
3. How will you report them? (Tables, graphs, etc)
4. Will you find someone (who) to help you do any statistical
analyses?
¡ IF YES, say who they are OR what qualifications they have to
help you with your statistics
¡ IF NO, then say "NO"
Chapter V: Conclusions, Implications, Suggestions, Recommendations, Limitations
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1. Conclusions: Briefly speculate about your findings.
2. Implications: Briefly speculate about the value of your
findings (regardless of whether they support your
hypotheses or not) and how they might be useful to
WHOMEVER you think they should be useful to? (Items 2
and 3 in Chapter 5 are related to the rationale/motivation
items in Chapter 1.)
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3. Suggestions / Recommendations: Do you think your
study will lead you to make any suggestions?
4. Limitations: Can you think of some items that belong in the
section describing possible future research topics? (Consider
item 8 in Chapter 1 about limitations of your study.)
These guidelines are specifically for graduate students who would like to work with me as their advisor. However, any student is welcome to use them to help them organize the research for their thesis. You should consult your advisor (or the person you hope will be your advisor) and ask what he or she requires. I am confident that no matter who your advisor may be, the above outline can guide you to clarify the goals and methods of your study.
If you follow the above outline to produce your written thesis proposal, it should help you identify where you need to add details so that you can be sure you know what you want to do and what you do not intend to do.
TIP: A well-written thesis proposal can also be used as an effective outline for your thesis.
BEFORE you begin collecting data, you should
1. Complete your thesis proposal and get it accepted by your
advisor.
¡ It is strongly recommended that each of the people who
will/might be on your committee have a chance to give you
input BEFORE you begin your study.
2. Write a draft of Chapters 1 and have at least notes for
Chapter 2.
¡ This means you should have done your review of the
literature BEFORE deciding exactly what your study will
include. Having read the relevant literature should help you
in designing your study. (You do not have to have completed
a final draft of Chapter 2, but you should have something to
show you understand the relevant issues raised in the
literature.)
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3. Make sure you have a COMPLETE OUTLINE of your
methodology for Chapter 3 so everyone (including you) will
know exactly what you ARE and ARE NOT going to do.
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4. Decide if collecting preliminary data in a pilot study might be
a good idea. A pilot study is a good way to identify problems
and fix them BEFORE you do your main study.
Writing the thesis is a headache for everyone.
REMEMBER: The thesis is a REPORT of the study you conducted.
LENGTH is NOT the most important issue. Making a complete and coherent description (report) of your study is the most important thing.
Use your proposal as an outline and "flesh it out".
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