The thesis proposal / literature review is your statement of your research question, the rationale for your research, the theoretical and empirical background you are bringing to bear, your methodology, and your review of current debates on the subject. Depending on the degree, we recommend the following format:
- Two-page proposal for bachelor thesis candidates,
- Five-page proposal for master thesis candidates, and
- Ten-page proposal for doctoral thesis candidates
Although the proposal structure for all degrees is similar, the volume and the depth of propositions introduced proportionately increase at each level.
In all cases, you should determine the length and the breadth of your proposal through close consultation with your thesis advisor. Your adviser will approve and sign the final version of your proposal before you turn it in to the GBS Administration office, using the attached form. Proposals will be due on the following schedule:
- Intended Graduation Semester
- Autumn / Spring
- Due Date (Check Academic Calendar for current dates)
What should the proposal include?
- Title and a brief discussion of the thesis topic
A general discussion of the topic is found in the introduction to the proposal, including your rationale for choosing this topic. This section frames the research question, and discusses its significance. This is a place for you to establish the themes, which will run through the rest of your proposal.
- The research question
A proposal includes discussion of the main research question, how it was arrived at, and why it is important. In this section, you outline a specific research question (or questions) or area of inquiry, which can be answered in the course of the research project. Research questions often change while you are doing the research, but the value of articulating them early is that you will give your research focus and direction.
- Methodology
The methodology section is crucially important. It should explain how you are going to answer your research question. The nature of the methodology section varies quite a lot, depending on the methodology chosen. A quantitative project will require detailed discussion of sampling, issues of reliability and validity, data collection methods, analysis, and so forth. Qualitative projects may give more attention to epistemological assumptions or ethics.
- Feasibility
The feasibility section will address some or all of the following issues, depending on topic and research strategy:
- How relevant primary documents will be acquired and analysed.
- How permission or assistance will be acquired from gatekeepers to the research.
- How participants will be found and recruited.
- How sampling will take place.
- Plans relating to analysis of research material.
- Limitations and potential problems.
- Who will have access to research results and how will you make them available?
- A timeline for completion of the project.
- Budget and required resources.
- Provisional outline of thesis chapters – this will be very speculative at this stage and does not commityou to writing under these headings.
Literature Review
Not to be confused with a book review, a literature review surveys current scholarly articles and business journals and other sources (that are not older than 3 to 5 years) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a short description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The literature review itself, however, does not present new primary scholarship. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic. The literature review incorporates four types of items:
- Conceptual or theoretical sources that provide a framework for approaching the problem;
- Empirical research relevant to the topic;
- Primary sources that you will use;
- Methodological literature.
The idea of the literature review is not to incorporate everything you have ever read on the topic, but to elaborate the basis for your research questions, to highlight the assumptions you are bringing to the research and the reasons for them, and to point out what research has already been done on the topic so you can show how your project fits into the wider scheme of the field. The format of this literature review is similar to an annotated bibliography—a listing entry with a short description after it. Depending on the candidate’s degree thesis, these typically range from 5 to 50 items of all types—including websites, newspaper articles, and other theses—depending on subject and existing literature, however, the final length of your list of references should be determined in consultation with your adviser.
