Purpose of a Master’s Thesis Proposal
A Master’s thesis proposal is basically your research outline that serves as a blueprint to the construction of your thesis. This is what you submit to the advisory committee as a candidate for the master’s program at your chosen university.
Tips for Writing a Master’s Thesis Proposal
The goal of your proposal is being accepted in the master’s program of your choice; therefore, it must be well-researched, well-written, as well as properly formatted, cited, and referenced. In other words, it needs to be in top form.
Typical Proposal Form
The form of your proposal should consist of nine components, which are the: (1) topic and summary; (2) problem, question or hypothesis; (3) purpose of the research; (4) significance of prior research; (5) approach of the research or methodology; (6) potential research outcomes; (7) study limitations; (8) knowledge contributions; and (9) proposed thesis chapters.
- Topic and Summary – Write the topic and summary in the form of a hypothesis or a clear statement that is clarified and refined, as well as specifically and precisely stated.
- Problem, Question, or Hypothesis – This describes the challenge for which researchers aim at finding solutions. It addresses the ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘how, ‘when,’ ‘where’, and ‘who’ of the research.
- Purpose of the Research – This section of the paper details why the research is being conducted. It also explains how the research aims at justifying its significance.
- Significance of Prior Research – It is important to understand what has been previously studied and what the findings and recommendations were for it.
- Approach of the Research or Methodology – In this section, you outline and highlight exactly how you plan on approaching the research. This should be precisely explained with complete methodology information, such as questionnaires, interviews, blind studies, etc. You also need to specify if your research is qualitative, quantitative, descriptive, etc. In addition, this section should describe the types of questions, experiments, tools, instruments, procedures, and data collection methods that will be used.
- Study Limitations – This section points out what the study will not do, as well as any hindering factors which could possibly compromise the study findings.
- Potential Research Outcomes – This section gives an assessment of the validity of your research topic. Potential outcomes include positive or negative correlations between two or more factors that could lead to a dissertation.
- Knowledge Contributions – This is where you detail the nature of each potential outcome of the study.
- Proposed Thesis Chapters – Be sure to include a detailed outline of the chapters you will likely use in the dissertation.
This is a general framework for writing an acceptable Master’s thesis proposal for submission to the university of your choice.