Thread by @GhaliaShamayleh

As the summer, grad students start to cook up research ideas to apply 4 scholarships in the fall. If you want to get ur ideas organized to write ur proposal, this 🧵 is 4 u!

#AcademicChatter #academicrwitter #phdlife @PhDVoice @ThePhDPlace @PhDspeaks @CouragePhD @AcademicChatter

As an almost 4th year phd candidate, I’ve had the opportunity to create and improve upon countless #research proposals for #Scholarships This is where my outline for an effective proposal comes in.

It’s important to carefully read the application guidelines provided by the institution offering the scholarship, because they differ in format and content. For instance, SSHRC asks for the 1st paragraph of the proposal to talk about your experiences within the PhD program.

While one institution may ask you to start with a paragraph on your progress within your program: the course you’ve done, projects you’ve participated in, and mentors you’ve associated with, another will want you to go straight into your research project.

A general outline to follow for proposals is
Context
Extant research on the topic and gap
Research questions
Theoretical background
Methodology
Contributions, and
Timeline for project
#research #scholarship #gradschool #phdvoice

Context: throughout your summer, keep on the lookout for news and magazine articles that discuss your the research topic of your potential proposal. Take note of these articles and focus on trustworthy, quality resources such as @TheAtlantic @guardian @WSJ @nytimes @Forbes

Context: by citing mass media, you signal that your research topic is important enough to talk about and investigate.

Extant research: has this topic been discussed by researchers in the past? It’s a good idea to know what’s been found and how the phenomenon has been investigated. By doing so, u accrue literature that’s studied ur proposal topic (lit review fodder!) and the gap ur work will fill

Gap: what does the extant research NOT do? Are there unanswered questions that you can shed light on with ur work? This is important because it shows why ur research matters, why should u receive money to conduct it? Is the gap u fill important for advancement in the field?

Research questions: given the gap in the extant literature, what are the questions that your project promises to answer? #researchquestion

Theoretical background: this is where u get creative, but stay credible! Knowing ur topic, the extant lit, the gap, and ur research questions, u’re ready to find the lit that will help answer ur questions. These works r the theoretical lenses through which u will analyze ur data.

Methodology: self-explanatory but it’s important to justify why this method is the most effective at collected the data you wish to collect, and how this data is effective at answering your research questions.

Contributions: how will your findings advance extant theories on your topic? What is the significance of your findings to practitioners? And how/if at all do your findings benefit the public?

And finally, timeline: in the event that an applications asks for this, a table with 2 rows (research work and term) and a few columns (lit review, data collection & analysis, writing, publication & dissemination) should be perfect!
End of thread! Good luck with applications!