How To Write A Dissertation Proposal In 7 Days

Writing a dissertation proposal in only 1 week may seem like a monumental endeavor, but as with any large undertaking, a little bit of planning goes a long way. The proposal must be persuasive, so that the committee reviewing it will deem it to be a worthwhile research angle to pursue.

What is the committee looking for in your proposal?

The committee that must read your proposal and approve your dissertation topic want to be convinced that you:

• Understand the implications of your question.
• Have a sound plan for gathering the relevant information and assembling the data.
• Are able to locate materials that provide substantive value to your question.
• Have thoroughly examined the resources you have gathered.
• Have investigated hypotheses that appear promising.
• Can use your findings to present a viable analysis to an academic audience.

How to write your proposal in only 7 days

Following these 7 steps will assist you in writing your dissertation proposal in only 7 days. Here are the 7 steps:

1) Get organized.

This is the day that you must set out mini tasks to accomplish each of these 7 steps on a daily basis. Today’s tasks include:

• Know your department’s guidelines and requirements for the content of your proposal.
• Gather resource materials on which to base your proposal. This is a crucial step; don’t skimp on this one. It’s better to have more than you need and not use some of it than to have an insufficient amount of resource materials.

2) Read the material you gathered and ask yourself:

• What is the problem and why is it a problem? Is this a problem you are willing to tackle in your dissertation?
• Why would this be an important problem to solve and where will you look for information beneficiary in the solving of this problem?
• Formulate the exact wording of your problem.
• Approve the problem with your professor.
• Gather more information if necessary. Revise the problem if needed.
• Start writing.

3) Study your materials and take notes.

4) Study some more and take even more notes.

5) Write your proposal. Read over it several times and make sure it makes sense. Get someone else to proofread it for you.

6) Arrange for an expert reader.

• Get an experienced person – your professor – or a post-graduate student to read your proposal and critique it for you.
• Revise your proposal according to the expert critique.

7) Last critique and revision.

• Get another expert reading of your proposal, preferably the same person as in step 6.
• Revise again if necessary