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
- 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.
