Thursday, March 21, 2013

Review of Research Proposal and Obstacle


Research Proposal
Proposal should be between 4 and 10 pages and possibly a comprehensive proposal in fewer than 1500 words.
Suggested Format for a Research Proposal
  1. Title
                        Overall research question
Ø  What do you want to find out?
Ø  Give context for your research question(s): why is an important area to study?
Ø  What specific questions or hypotheses will you test in order to answer the overall question (be explicit about what these are)?
Ø  What is the state of scientific knowledge in this area, and how will your research question advance that knowledge?
                        Approach (methods, e.g. field experiments, economic surveys, meta-analysis of existing data, that you will employ to test the hypotheses laid out in part 3)
·         What will you do to answer the overall research question?
·         What data will you collect? Where will you do the research?
·         What equipment or technical resources will you need?
·         How long will the research take?
·         How will you analyze and interpret your data?
                        Significance of the proposed research (to the scientific community and society)
·         Why are you excited about the proposed research, and why should the reader be as well?
·         How does the proposed research relate to what has already been done in this area?
                        Literature cite
Phases of the project:

Phase 1: Research proposal
The student should submit a research proposal (according to the guidelines given by the department).
Phase 2:  Oral presentation
The student/group should present a seminar on their work, so far done. The results, pooled data should be presented. They should also mention how far they are from their objective.
Phase 3: Research article
The student/group should submit their research work so far done to the department. The paper should be submitted along with the results and bibliography. (Format will be provided by the department).
Phase 4: Thesis writing and submission
The group has to start writing the thesis in the prescribed scientific format. The format and writing methodology is available with your respective guides.

Important criteria:
1.      The group should attend one or more conferences/workshops during their tenure of the project.
2.      The work should be presented at any symposium/workshop/National or International seminar.
3.      The work should be feasible for submission to any national or international journal. 

Guidelines for the student:
1.      The project team should maintain an individual file, which should include documents like:
Acceptance letter, purchase orders/bills of the chemicals and any other essentials, their visit to any conference, acknowledgements of their work in other labs.
2.      Observation book:
Should be maintained by each student.
Thesis or work will not be accepted without observation book.
The observation book should be duly signed by the respective guides on regular basis or weekly basis.
The project has to be taken individually even though it is a group project.