Select a Program Path

Research proposals vary in shape and organization. Different types of projects call for different proposals. However, research proposals also share a certain family resemblance because they all seek to answer three main questions regarding their primary rhetorical purpose—to “sell” a project to an audience. These questions are the following:

• What will the research be about? (i.e., what is the topic, and what are the research questions or objectives to be addressed?)
• Why is the study worth doing? (i.e., what is the rationale for and significance of the study? In other words, what is its primary motivation and its expected outcome, e.g. in terms of implications for research, theory, or professional practice)
• How will the study be carried out? (i.e., what is the research methodology and does the proposed study appear feasible?)

Keep these three questions in mind when writing your proposal.

Please note that research involving human participants requires ethics review, whether you are writing a thesis or a research essay. Here are some examples where humans can be research participants:

• interviews
• observations of individuals or groups (e.g., classroom observations)
• questionnaires and surveys

For more details, see Who Needs to Apply for Ethics?  If you discover that your project requires ethics clearance, you must mention this in your proposal.   Click here to learn more about Research Ethics.

What is a Thesis?

In Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies, a Thesis generally reports on an empirical study involving primary research; that is, it involves the collection and analysis of primary data such as interviews, questionnaires, observational field-notes, and language samples. Theses are generally structured like empirical research articles, although they are much longer. They are worth 2.0 credits and are subject to a formal oral defence.

What is a Research Essay?

Research Essays typically only involve secondary research; that is, they provide an original synthesis of published research literature. Therefore, the methodology in Research Essays typically only entails a review of the literature, whereas for Theses, it involves the design and completion of an empirical study. However, Research Essays can also include one chapter reporting on a small primary research component (e.g., a pilot study, a self-study, a small scale discourse analysis, a theory-informed reflection on professional practice). Other options, such as a limited-length empirical study, are possible in consultation with a supervisor.

Compared to Theses, Research Essays are shorter and smaller in scope and are generally structured like literature reviews (by themes and sub-themes or by sub-areas of research relevant to a given issue), although, as mentioned above, there can be some variation depending on the type of the project. They are worth 1.0 credit and are typically 50 to 60 pages in length (excluding appendices and the reference list).

Implications for writing effective proposals

This difference in nature and scope between Research Essays and Theses has important implications for how you choose to write your proposal.

For example, a proposal for a thesis is often motivated by the need to address a gap in the research literature. However, if your plan for a Research Essay is to do a literature review of 50 pages on a given topic, it would be ill advised in your proposal to argue that the rationale for a Research Essay is a dearth of research on the topic: You cannot write a literature review of 50 pages on a topic for which there is little research available! Quite the contrary, it will be important for the assessors of your proposal to know, based on the preliminary literature review you present in your proposal and your proposed strategies for secondary research, how likely you are to find the information you need.

As with the Thesis proposal, the rationale for a Research Essay can be justified with reference to a practical, real-world problem (e.g., a practical issue related to teaching or professional work) as well as an academic problem (e.g., a significant gap in the literature related to the topic). However, because you are not expected to contribute new empirical research, one way you might be able to claim originality is by proposing an original synthesis of the literature, for example, by bringing together bodies of research that, to the best of your knowledge, have developed independently of each other. In other words, an academic problem that might be worth solving is to shed new light on a phenomenon by bringing to bear different perspectives on it in a novel way. Alternatively or additionally, one main goal of a Research Essay might be to address a real-world issue (e.g., how to improve teaching, assessment, communication, or professional practice in a given context) by means of an original synthesis of research literature and analysis of documentary data.

Also important, in terms of methodology for a Research Essay, is how you plan to organize your literature review. Therefore, while proposals for Theses should provide a clear indication of how primary data will be collected and analyzed (along with proposed timeline for data collection and data analysis), proposals for Research Essays (at least those whose aim is to provide an original synthesis of the literature) should sketch a logical outline for your Research Essay:

• What will be the main organizing thread or principle?
• How do you propose to break down the review into sections?
• What will these main sections be and how will they interconnect? In other words, what is the proposed logical progression of the review?

Granted, much of the content and organization of the Research Essay will be discovered as you work on the project, but nevertheless, you need to include a credible preliminary perspective on this aspect of the Research Essay.

Applications for a Thesis or Research Essay path are evaluated based on the student’s overall academic performance to date (as indicated in his or her audit) and the merits of the proposal itself. An additional consideration is the availability of a supervisor in the student’s proposed area of study.

The merits of proposals for a Thesis or Research Essay are assessed according to the following criteria (as applicable to projects):

• Rationale: Is the proposed research project well motivated? For example, is the research project well situated in the related literature? Has the proposal identified a credible ‘research gap’ (or ‘research space’) vis-à-vis this literature? Alternatively or additionally, has the proposal identified a research issue or practical problem worth investigating? Has the proposal identified expected outcomes for the project in terms of implications for research, theory, or professional practice?
• Research questions/objectives: Is the larger research question (or objective) clearly articulated and logically broken down into sub-questions (or sub-objectives? Is the scope of the project well defined?
• Analytical (or conceptual/theoretical) framework: Has the proposal clearly outlined the framework that will be used to orient the research and to analyze the data collected, and is this framework appropriate for the research project? (Note. This criterion is applicable for most empirical studies, although in some studies the framework is implicit in the literature review, research questions, and methodology).
• Methodology (empirical studies): Is the study design appropriate for the research question(s)/objective(s)? Is the study ethical and feasible? Is the methodology described in sufficient detail to provide a clear indication of how the data will be collected and analyzed? (The answer to this last question will depend on the nature of your study, and can include information such as: The way the participants will be recruited; the method(s) that will be used to collect the data; the definition of key concepts and terms).
• Alignment (empirical studies): Is there a good alignment between the research questions (or objectives), the analytical (or theoretical/conceptual) framework, and the methodology?
• For Research Essays only (original syntheses of the literature without an empirical component): Is the proposed outline of the research essay logically organized and well aligned with the research or real-world problem it aims to address? Is the proposed research essay likely to address the problem under examination based on an original synthesis of the literature?
• For Research Essays only (with an empirical component): If the research essay includes an empirical component such as a self-study, a pilot study, or a small-scale discourse analysis, is this component convincingly integrated into the proposed outline of the research essay?
• Overall coherence and intelligibility: Are all the components of the proposal well integrated? Is the progression of ideas logical within and across paragraphs? Are there any inconsistencies, abrupt transitions, or logical fallacies?
• Language and style: Is the English grammatical, appropriately academic, and effective?
• Formatting: Is the proposal well laid out and professionally formatted? Does it follow the conventions of the APA style?
• Potential to complete within a reasonable timeframe: Overall, does the proposal suggest a strong potential for completion without excessive guidance or support?

Possible decisions regarding the proposal are fourfold:

1. Accept ‘as is’ and allow student to proceed with the proposed work;
2. Change from Thesis to Research Essay and allow to proceed with Research Essay;
3. Revise following the committee’s feedback and resubmit;
4. Reject (the student does a course-only MA).

All decisions will be accompanied by the Proposal Review Committee’s feedback and communicated to the students by the ALDS Graduate Supervisor.Keep these three questions in mind when writing your proposal.