Writing a research project

A research paper is a piece of academic writing based on its author’s original research on a particular topic, and the analysis and interpretation of the research findings. If you are uncertain as to what is expected of you in completing the assignment or project, re-read your assignment sheet carefully or ask your a subject you can manage. Avoid topics that have only a very narrow range of source can help you with your research 2. Remember that changing elements of your work in the process of writing and reviewing is normal. It increases credibility of the paper and makes good impression about its can help you with your research 4. Research paper basically has the following structure:Title page (including the title, the author’s name, the name of a university or colledge, and the publication date). Body, which can be broken down in further sections, depending on the nature of research:Materials and s (what are the results obtained). It helps an author to make their key points clear for him/her and arrange mes the students are asked to submit formal outlines with their research a formal outline, numbers and letters are used to arrange topics and subtopics. The topics denoted by their headings and subheadings should be grouped in a logical points of a research paper outline must relate to the same major topic that you first mentioned in your capital roman e of an outline:I. Concluding purpose of an outline is to help you think through your topic carefully and organize it logically before you start writing. Make the first outline uction – state your thesis and the purpose of your research paper clearly. Here you will analyze, synthesize, sort, and digest the information you have gathered and hopefully learn something about your topic which is the real purpose of doing a research paper in the first place. You must also be able to effectively communicate your thoughts, ideas, insights, and research findings to others through written words as in a report, an essay, a research or term paper, or through spoken words as in an oral or multimedia presentation with audio-visual not include any information that is not relevant to your topic, and do not include information that you do not understand. Can help you with your research g guideshow to write a research ch, writing and style tation tips for public for a research moreliterature guidesanimal farm. Categories » education and communications » research and articlewikihow to write a research methods:choosing your topicresearchingmaking an outlinewriting your papersample research papers and outlinescommunity q& studying at higher levels of school and throughout college, you will likely be asked to prepare research papers. A research paper can be used for exploring and identifying scientific, technical and social issues. If it's your first time writing a research paper, it may seem daunting, but with good organization and focus of mind, you can make the process easier on yourself. Writing a research paper involves four main stages: choosing a topic, researching your topic, making an outline, and doing the actual writing. The paper won't write itself, but by planning and preparing well, the writing practically falls into place. Although you may be limited by specific classroom or work related guidelines, choosing your topic is the first and most important step in your research paper project. Regardless of whether your topic can be anything you want or has rigid requirements, it is important to keep a few questions in mind: is there enough research available on this topic? Writing about something you enjoy certainly shows in the final product, making it more likely that you will be successful writing a paper about something you original. How can you keep your paper unique and interesting if everyone is writing about the same thing? If you choose a topic, begin researching, and realize that it isn’t the right decision for you for some reason, don’t fret!

How to write academic research

Although it requires a bit more time, you have the ability to change your topic even after you begin researching your research. Research comes in numerous forms including web pages, journal articles, books, encyclopedias, interviews, and blog posts, among others. Take time to look for professional resources who offer valid research and insight into your topic. Although it may seem old fashioned, libraries are chock full of helpful research materials from books to newspapers and magazines to journals. Don’t be afraid to ask the librarian for help either - they are trained in research and know where everything about your topic is online. Using a search engine and picking the top three results isn’t necessarily the best method of researching; use critical thinking to thoroughly read every source and determine if it is legitimate. Take advantage of this ability to ask for specific information by using as many of the query boxes as you your school library and ask the librarian for a full list of the academic databases they subscribe to, as well as the passwords for creative with your research. This should contain many more books and journals that are about your topic as te your research. Once you’ve gathered all your research, print it out (if it is an online source) and gather post-its or anything you need to mark notes in the books/magazines you are using. This step is very important: read through your research, take notes on what you think is important, and highlight key facts and phrases. Make marks on anything that you think might be remotely important or that could be put to use in your you mark off important pieces in the research, add your own commentary and notes explaining to yourself where you might use it in your paper. Writing down your ideas as you have them will make writing your paper much easier and give you something to refer back ze your notes. Annotating your research can take quite a bit of time, but needs to be taken one step further in order to add a bit more clarity for the outlining process. For example, if you are writing a paper analyzing a famous work of literature, you could organize your research into a list of notes on the characters, a list of references to certain points in the plot, a list of symbols the author presents, et writing each quote or item that you marked onto an individual note card. Generally, speaking, there are two types of research paper: an argumentative research paper or an analytic research paper. Each requires a slightly different focus and writing style which should be identified prior to starting a rough argumentative research paper takes a position on a contentious issue and argues for one point of view. The issue should be debatable with a logical counter analytic research paper offers a fresh look at an important issue. This is not simply a regurgitation of ideas from your research, but an offering of your own unique ideas based on what you have learned through ine your audience. If you’re writing for academic peers, then the information you include should reflect the information you already know; you don’t need to explain basic ideas or theories. On the other hand, if you are writing for an audience who doesn’t know much about your subject, it will be important to include explanations and examples of more fundamental ideas and theories related to your research. Go through your research and annotations to determine what points are the most pivotal in your argument or presentation of information. Which ideas to you have plenty of firm facts and research to back with evidence? Write your main points down on paper, and then organize the related research under you outline your main ideas, putting them in a specific order is important. Single main point doesn’t have to be kept to a single paragraph, especially if you are writing a relatively long research paper.

For example, when writing in apa format you must organize your paper by headings including the introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Justify main points to the left, and indent subsections and notes from your research below each. Make sure to include in-text citations at the end of each point, so that you don’t have to constantly refer back to your research when writing your final your body paragraphs. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, writing your introduction first may be more difficult to accomplish than starting with the meat of your paper. Starting by writing the main points (focusing on supporting your thesis) allows you to slightly change and manipulate your ideas and t every statement you make with evidence. Because this is a research paper, there shouldn’t be any remarks that you make that cannot be supported by facts directly from your ample explanations for your research. Although your paper is based on research, the point is for you to present your own ideas. Depending on the topic of your research and your field of study, you will have to use different styles of formatting. Mla, apa, and chicago are the three most common citation formats and determine the way in-text citations or footnotes should be used, as well as the order of information in your format is typically used for literary research papers and uses a ‘works cited’ page at the end. This format requires in-text format is used by researchers in the social sciences field, and requires in-text citations as well. It ends the paper with a “references” page, and may also have section headers between body o formatting is used mainly for historical research papers and uses footnotes at the bottom of each page rather than in-text citations and works cited or references your rough draft. Studies show that your writing is still fresh in your mind for 2-3 days after finishing, and so you are more likely to skim over basic mistakes that you would otherwise ’t ignore edits by others just because they require a bit more work. Make sure to save the paper (in multiple places, for extra security) and print out your final research papers and scientific research literary research environmental research research paper making a research paper require me to invent something new or it is just about gathering information? Introduction should set out what you intend to discuss and prove in the research paper, and outline the approaches per topic or heading section. Can publish a research paper through established journals or you can use open source online publishing sites, such as ssrn or researchgate. If your research paper is long enough, you could also publish it as a small book or an ebook, and disseminate it via book sales sites and you need to number the second and third pages? You are numbering the pages, then yes, the second and third pages should be you use contractions in a research paper? If you must use them, make sure they are spelled correctly and used in the right should be the length of the research paper? You don't want to over exhaust the topics or include unless information just to get a page should we attach our questionnaire in the research paper? If there is more than one convention, you can choose one and state which one you're going to use in the preface to your research papers be written in first person? More unanswered sure to get your assignments done on not wait until the last minute to do for the important themes, questions and key issues when researching. Try to home in on what you really want to explore rather than having too many broad ideas in the sure that the information matches the topic and is to research a to get started with a research to write a term to write a research to write a paper in a to write a paper for school in mla to write a thesis to write a to write a research to write a conclusion for a research s and citations. 83923&sid=ed article categories: featured articles | research and no: scrivere una tesina di ricerca, español: escribir un trabajo de investigación, português: escrever uma pesquisa, deutsch: eine wissenschaftliche arbeit schreiben, русский: написать научно–исследовательскую работу, français: écrire un rapport de recherche, 中文: 写一篇研究论文, čeština: jak napsat výzkumnou práci, bahasa indonesia: menulis naskah penelitian, nederlands: een onderzoeksverslag schrijven, ไทย: เขียนรายงานวิจัย, العربية: كتابة الورقة البحثية, हिन्दी: एक शोधपत्र (research paper) लिखें, tiếng việt: viết một bài nghiên cứu, 한국어: 리포트 쓰는 방법, 日本語: 研究論文を書く. Of people told us that this article helped d articleshow to research a paperhow to get started with a research projecthow to write a term paperhow to write a research text shared under a creative commons d by answer questions.

Helen c white hall   /   (608) 263-1992 locations & hours    events    about    contact    colloquium    ic and professional writing. Short guide to close reading for literary literary g a rhetorical précis to analyze nonfiction ng and writing a grant proposal: the onal resources for grants and proposal materials and application ation essays (and personal statements). And ces for proposal ces for ng and writing research g and g annotated ng poster g a review of ific report lab g an effective blog g process and ing your writing r and references in your g a research page lists some of the stages involved in writing a library-based research gh this list suggests that there is a simple, linear process to writing such a paper, the actual process of writing a research paper is often a messy and recursive one, so please use this outline as a flexible ering, narrowing, and focusing a researchable g, selecting, and reading ng, sequencing, and documenting g an outline and a prospectus for g the g the ng the final ering, narrowing, and focusing a researchable to find a topic that truly interests writing your way to a with your course instructor and classmates about your your topic as a question to be answered or a problem to be g, selecting, and reading will need to look at the following types of sources:Library catalog, periodical indexes, bibliographies, suggestions from your y vs. 2017 board of regents of the university of wisconsin e to the purdue printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice at butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding g a research paperthe research will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this genre of writing. Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons this topic is so ng an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. Remember, even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. And, perhaps most important of all, patience, a student will find that she can achieve great things through her research and handout will include the following sections related to the process of writing a research paper:Genre- this section will provide an overview for understanding the difference between an analytical and argumentative research ng a topic- this section will guide the student through the process of choosing topics, whether the topic be one that is assigned or one that the student chooses fying an audience- this section will help the student understand the often times confusing topic of audience by offering some basic guidelines for the do i begin- this section concludes the handout by offering several links to resources at purdue, and also provides an overview of the final stages of writing a research butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding and the research paperresearch: what it is. Research paper is the culmination and final product of an involved process of research, critical thinking, source evaluation, organization, and composition. It is, perhaps, helpful to think of the research paper as a living thing, which grows and changes as the student explores, interprets, and evaluates sources related to a specific topic. Primary and secondary sources are the heart of a research paper, and provide its nourishment; without the support of and interaction with these sources, the research paper would morph into a different genre of writing (e. The research paper serves not only to further the field in which it is written, but also to provide the student with an exceptional opportunity to increase her knowledge in that field. It is also possible to identify a research paper by what it is ch: what it is not. Research paper is not simply an informed summary of a topic by means of primary and secondary sources. The goal of a research paper is not to inform the reader what others have to say about a topic, but to draw on what others have to say about a topic and engage the sources in order to thoughtfully offer a unique perspective on the issue at hand. This is accomplished through two major types of research major types of research ntative research paper:The argumentative research paper consists of an introduction in which the writer clearly introduces the topic and informs his audience exactly which stance he intends to take; this stance is often identified as the thesis statement. An important goal of the argumentative research paper is persuasion, which means the topic chosen should be debatable or controversial. The student would support this thesis throughout her paper by means of both primary and secondary sources, with the intent to persuade her audience that her particular interpretation of the situation is ical research paper:The analytical research paper often begins with the student asking a question (a. Research may lead him to the following f is a poem whose purpose it was to serve as an exemplum of heterodoxy for tenth- and eleventh-century monastic his topic may be debatable and controversial, it is not the student's intent to persuade the audience that his ideas are right while those of others are wrong. The following is an example of what his thesis statement may look like once he has completed his beowulf is often read as a poem that recounts the heroism and supernatural exploits of the protagonist beowulf, it may also be read as a poem that served as an exemplum of heterodoxy for tenth- and eleventh-century monastic communities found in the statement does not negate the traditional readings of beowulf; instead, it offers a fresh and detailed reading of the poem that will be supported by the student's is typically not until the student has begun the writing process that his thesis statement begins to take solid form. Such is one of the benefits of approaching the topic without a predetermined butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding ng a topicthe first step of any research paper is for the student to understand the assignment. Student will often encounter one of two situations when it comes to choosing a topic for a research paper.

Many first-time researchers appreciate such an arrangement by the instructor because it eliminates the stress of having to decide upon a topic on their r, the student may also find the topics that have been provided to be limiting; moreover, it is not uncommon for the student to have a topic in mind that does not fit with any of those provided. Be respectful, and ask the instructor if the topic you have in mind would be a possible research option for the assignment. Remember, as a first-time researcher, your knowledge of the process is quite limited; the instructor is experienced, and may have very precise reasons for choosing the topics she has offered to the class. If not, do not take it personally and choose the topic from the list that seems most interesting to second situation occurs when the instructor simply hands out an assignment sheet that covers the logistics of the research paper, but leaves the choice of topic up to the student. Typically, assignments in which students are given the opportunity to choose the topic require the topic to be relevant to some aspect of the course; so, keep this in mind as you begin a course in which you know there will be a research paper near the end. Instead, realize that it takes practice to become an experienced researcher in any a discussion of evaluating sources, see evaluating sources of s for choosing a ng early leads to starting early. It consists of a timed writing session during which the student jots down—often in list or bulleted form—any ideas that come to his mind. If it appears that something seems to be standing out in his mind more than others, it may be wise to pursue this as a topic is important for the student to keep in mind that an initial topic that you come up with may not be the exact topic about which you end up writing. Research topics are often fluid, and dictated more by the student's ongoing research than by the original chosen topic. Such fluidity is common in research, and should be embraced as one of its many purdue owl also offers a number of other resources on choosing and developing a topic:Understanding writing ng the writing ion slide butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding fying an audienceidentifying an concept of audience can be very confusing for novice researchers. Therefore, it is important for the student to articulate an audience that falls somewhere in is perhaps helpful to approach the audience of a research paper in the same way one would when preparing for an oral presentation. So it is with writing a research paper (in fact, you may need to transform your written work into an oral work if you find yourself presenting at a conference someday). Instructor should be considered only one member of the paper's audience; he is part of the academic audience that desires students to investigate, research, and evaluate a topic. Try to imagine an audience that would be interested in and benefit from your example: if the student is writing a twelve page research paper about ethanol and its importance as an energy source of the future, would she write with an audience of elementary students in mind? Instead, she would tailor her writing to be accessible to an audience of fellow engineers and perhaps to the scientific community in general. What is more, she would assume the audience to be at a certain educational level; therefore, she would not spend time in such a short research paper defining terms and concepts already familiar to those in the field. The audience i am writing for is not particularly interested in my topic, what should i do to pique its interest? One of the purposes of a research paper is to add something new to the academic community, and the first-time researcher should understand her role as an initiate into a particular community of scholars. Once again, practice lies at the heart of the butors:jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding do i begin? Is neither template nor shortcut for writing a research paper; again, the process is, amongst other things, one of practice, experience, and organization, and begins with the student properly understanding the assignment at many college students know, the writer may find himself composing three quite different research papers for three quite different courses all at the same time in a single semester. Each of these papers may have varying page lengths, guidelines, and ore, in order for a student to become an experienced researcher and writer, she must not only pay particular attention to the genre, topic, and audience, but must also become skilled in researching, outlining, drafting, and a discussion of where to begin one's research, see research: ing is an integral part of the process of writing. No drafting should take place without a research question or thesis statement; otherwise, the student will find himself writing without a purpose or direction. The research the student has completed is a vast sea of information through which he must navigate; without a compass, the student will be tossed aimlessly about by the waves of sources. In the end, he might discover the americas (though the journey will be much longer than needed), or—and what is more likely—he will some helpful ideas concerning the initial stages of writing, see starting the writing process .

Editing, ng is the process consisting of:Major, sweeping, changes to the various drafts of a evaluation of word choice throughout the removal paragraphs and sometimes, quite painfully, complete pages of king the whole project and reworking it as g is a process interested in the general appearance of a text, and includes the following:Analysis of the consistency of tone and voice throughout the tion of minor errors in mechanics and tion of the logical flow of thought between paragraphs and major process is best completed toward the final stages of the project, since much of what is written early on is bound to change eading is the final stage in the writing process, and consists of a detailed final reread in order to find any mistakes that may have been overlooked in the previous a discussion of proofreading, see proofreading your writing . Jack raymond baker, allen brizee, ashley y:this handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding g a research paper: generating questions & topics workshopthis workshop discusses strategies for getting started on a research paper, including generating questions and ideas for topics. Place focuses on providing international students with additional linguistic and cultural support as the acclimate to the north american higher educational ght ©1995-2017 by the writing lab & the owl at purdue and purdue rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair sity of southern zing your social sciences research g a research zing your social sciences research paper: writing a research purpose of this guide is to provide advice on how to develop and organize a research paper in the social of research flaws to ndent and dependent ry of research terms. Choosing a research ing a topic ning a topic ing the timeliness of a topic idea. An oral g with g someone else's to manage group of structured group project survival g a book le book review ing collected g a field informed g a policy g a research goal of a research proposal is to present and justify the need to study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting the research are governed by standards within the predominant discipline in which the problem resides, so guidelines for research proposals are more exacting and less formal than a general project proposal. In addition to providing a rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the research consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and a statement on anticipated outcomes and/or benefits derived from the study's ohl, david r. Syracuse, ny: syracuse university press, to approach writing a research professor may assign the task of writing a research proposal for the following reasons:Develop your skills in thinking about and designing a comprehensive research study;. How to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature to ensure a research problem has not already been answered [or you may determine the problem has been answered ineffectively] and, in so doing, become better at locating scholarship related to your topic;. Review, examine, and consider the use of different methods for gathering and analyzing data related to the research problem; and,Nurture a sense of inquisitiveness within yourself and to help see yourself as an active participant in the process of doing scholarly research. Proposal should contain all the key elements involved in designing a completed research study, with sufficient information that allows readers to assess the validity and usefulness of your proposed study. The only elements missing from a research proposal are the findings of the study and your analysis of those results. Finally, an effective proposal is judged on the quality of your writing and, therefore, it is important that your writing is coherent, clear, and less of the research problem you are investigating and the methodology you choose, all research proposals must address the following questions:What do you plan to accomplish? Be clear and succinct in defining the research problem and what it is you are proposing to do you want to do it? In addition to detailing your research design, you also must conduct a thorough review of the literature and provide convincing evidence that it is a topic worthy of study. If you're having trouble formulating a research problem to propose investigating, go mistakes to e to be concise; being "all over the map" without a clear sense of e to cite landmark works in your literature e to delimit the contextual boundaries of your research [e. To develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed e to stay focused on the research problem; going off on unrelated or imprecise writing, or poor much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major r, margaret. University of illinois at ure and writing ing the proposal with writing a regular academic paper, research proposals are generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines. However, before you begin, read the assignment carefully and, if anything seems unclear, ask your professor whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and writing the proposal. General, a compelling research proposal should document your knowledge of the topic and demonstrate your enthusiasm for conducting the study. General your proposal should include the following sections:In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course assignment, treat your introduction as the initial pitch of an idea or a thorough examination of the significance of a research problem. Note that most proposals do not include an abstract [summary] before the about your introduction as a narrative written in one to three paragraphs that succinctly answers the following four questions:What is the central research problem?

Is this important research, what is its significance, and why should someone reading the proposal care about the outcomes of the proposed study? Approach writing this section with the thought that you can’t assume your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do. Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the topic; instead, you must choose what is relevant to help explain the goals for your that end, while there are no hard and fast rules, you should attempt to address some or all of the following key points:State the research problem and give a more detailed explanation about the purpose of the study than what you stated in the introduction. Be sure to note how your proposed study builds on previous assumptions about the research n how you plan to go about conducting your research. Clearly identify the key sources you intend to use and explain how they will contribute to your analysis of the the boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear focus. Literature ted to the background and significance of your study is a section of your proposal devoted to a more deliberate review and synthesis of prior studies related to the research problem under investigation. The purpose here is to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being explored, while demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Think about what questions other researchers have asked, what methods they have used, and what is your understanding of their findings and, where stated, their recommendations. Assess what you believe is missing and state how previous research has failed to adequately examine the issue that your study addresses. For more information on writing literature reviews, go a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is intelligently structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments underpinning your study in relation to that of other researchers. Generally, you can have confidence that all of the significant conceptual categories have been identified if you start to see repetition in the conclusions or recommendations that are being help frame your proposal's literature review, here are the "five c’s" of writing a literature review:Cite, so as to keep the primary focus on the literature pertinent to your research e the various arguments, theories, methodologies, and findings expressed in the literature: what do the authors agree on? The literature to your own area of research and investigation: how does your own work draw upon, depart from, synthesize, or add a new perspective to what has been said in the literature? Research design and section must be well-written and logically organized because you are not actually doing the research, yet, your reader has to have confidence that it is worth pursuing. Thus, the objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and methods of analysis will correctly address the problem and that the methods will provide the means to effectively interpret the potential results. Your design and methods should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your be the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples from your review of the literature. Consider not only methods that other researchers have used but methods of data gathering that have not been used but perhaps could be. Describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover the following:Specify the research operations you will undertake and the way you will interpret the results of these operations in relation to the research problem. In mind that a methodology is not just a list of tasks; it is an argument as to why these tasks add up to the best way to investigate the research problem. This is an important point because the mere listing of tasks to be performed does not demonstrate that, collectively, they effectively address the research problem. Be sure you explain pate and acknowledge any potential barriers and pitfalls in carrying out your research design and explain how you plan to address them. The purpose of this section is to argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results will impact future scholarly research, theory, practice, forms of interventions, or policymaking. The purpose is to reflect upon gaps or understudied areas of the current literature and describe how your proposed research contributes to a new understanding of the research problem should the study be implemented as conclusion reiterates the importance or significance of your proposal and provides a brief summary of the entire study. This section should be only one or two paragraphs long, emphasizing why the research problem is worth investigating, why your research study is unique, and how it should advance existing e reading this section should come away with an understanding of:Why the study should be done,The specific purpose of the study and the research questions it attempts to answer,The decision to why the research design and methods used where chosen over other options,The potential implications emerging from your proposed study of the research problem, and.

Sense of how your study fits within the broader scholarship about the research with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used in composing your proposal. In a standard research proposal, this section can take two forms, so consult with your professor about which one is nces -- lists only the literature that you actually used or cited in your graphy -- lists everything you used or cited in your proposal, with additional citations to any key sources relevant to understanding the research either case, this section should testify to the fact that you did enough preparatory work to make sure the project will complement and not duplicate the efforts of other researchers. Cited works should always use a standard format that follows the writing style advised by the discipline of your course [i. This section normally does not count towards the total page length of your research p a research proposal: writing the proposal.