Guidelines for the Research Proposal Assignment
1. Objective of the assignment
The objective of this assignment is for you to experience, as much as possible, the role of the environmental scientist who will attempt to obtain funding and carry out research on an environmental problem involving pesticides or biotechnology for pest management.
2. What is a research proposal?
A research proposal is written to seek financial support for research on a new scientific idea or question. The function of the proposal is to persuade somebody to financially support the work you propose to do, not just for its socioeconomic value but also for its scientific merit and for the fact that it will answer an important question. The proposal should therefore inform the reader of the need for the research, the scientific background or state of knowledge at present, and the exact work that you wish to do.
Introduction
The overall scientific, environmental, health and/or socioeconomic importance of the research area is discussed in the short general introduction. In this introduction it is important for the reader to realize that there is a potential problem or question that should be answered.
Literature Review
The scientific background and/or state of present knowledge is given in a review of the literature. The review is similar to a regular term paper but shorter and more focused on the material that is particularly relevant to previous work in the same or related areas and the methods that have been used by other researchers. The review can also point out the failings and lack of adequate study in the chosen area and may be critical of other work (but only if you can improve on their ideas and methods).
Research Approach & Experimental Design
It is important that the proposed research be experimental rather than observational. The basic approach in experimental research is the testing of one or more hypotheses (e.g. potential answers to the important question). You want to critically test your hypotheses. You do not want to design experiments that will likely be supportive. You would like your study to be sufficiently rigorous that one result might disprove the hypothesis but another possible result could support the hypothesis. The experimental design may involve the control of other variables, the testing of chance responses (blanks) or the proof of the experimental method with a positive control.
Environmental monitoring studies or human epidemiology studies are not accepted. All they can do is generate hypotheses to be tested. We want your proposed research to be experimental in design.
Final Sections
The final sections that need to be given are the cost of the project or budget and then your own history of achievement or curriculum vitae.
Here is a sample of a well-written proposal (anonymous per request); used with permission.
3. Topic Selection for Your Pre-Proposal (5% of your grade) –
Your ‘Pre-proposal’ should include
• The title of the topic that you have selected,
• A brief discussion of the major problem(s) or question(s) that you hope to address (150-200 words) and
• Relevant references (4-6 minimum).
I have finished this step and will attach the pre-proposal (topic you will be doing) along with 8 sources “articles relevant”
The proposal itself
5.1 Layout
The paper must be typed/word processed and must use numbered headings such as in this guide. Failure to use headings for major sections and sub-headings where appropriate will result in loss of marks. Think of the reader or in this case an evaluator on a granting committee. If they want to relocate and re-read something in your proposal, they will want to use your sub-headings to find it quickly. Don’t make them re-read most of your paper.
5.2 Literature Review
This is a brief review of relevant research in the area. You must seek out original journal articles in this section. Too many references in books and review articles will result in loss of marks. Use books and reviews to find journal articles. The references should be as current as possible and the review should contain constructive criticism of the approaches and methods used by other researchers. Length of the review should not exceed 1000 words of text. It is acceptable to use figures or tables but they must be relevant. They shouldn’t repeat what is in the text and they should have a very neat, professional appearance. If you cannot produce good graphics on the computer, try to avoid their use by good explanations in the text. Learn how to write a good literature review by studying the style and format of the reviews that you read.
5.3 Proposed research
5.3.1 This section must be included and must contain clear statements of what you intend to do and perhaps what hypotheses you are testing. These objectives must be numbered and clearly separated from each other. They will be reread and related to all other parts of your paper (length, about 200 words and one to three objectives).
5.3.2 Materials and methods
This should outline the methods you will use, the experiments you will conduct and the specialized equipment you will require, as well as how you plan to analyze and interpret your data (length, about 1000 words).
It should have a design that permits statistical analysis of the results. You will likely need untreated controls and replicates.
It is very important that your planned research and experiments have a clear relationship to your stated objectives.
This section is very important. It lets you show your creativity. Remember the ‘experimental approach’. You will likely control some variables e.g. the treatments, and observe the response.
5.3.3 Budget
The major subheadings for your budget are likely to be:
1. Salaries for research personnel
2. Research equipment and supplies
3. Travel required for the research
4. Costs for statistical analysis
5. Costs for pesticide residue analysis if appropriate (number of samples, costs per sample, total cost)
Remember that your budget should be clearly related to your objectives. Some times the granting committee may have only half of the money you are requesting. In that case, they may suggest funding for the first objective and ask you to apply later for more .
Some tips about Costs
5.3.4 Timeline for the research
If it is to be a two or three year study, you will look very professional and organized if you can develop a chart that describes the activities you will be carrying out each month for the two or three year period.
5.3.4 Citing the references
All facts and data must be referenced in the text either by number or author and date. The references should be typed on a separate page and include the following: Authors, date of the article, full title of the article or book, journal title in full, volume number (in bold) and page numbers of the article. References to books should include the editors name (if appropriate as well as the chapter authors, publisher, place and date of publication.
Example for the body of your proposal
Aneck-Hahn, et.al. (2007) found that impaired semen quality in young men living in a malaria infested area could be associated with exposure to DDT.
Examples for the reference section
Aneck-Hahn, N.H., G.W. Schulenburg, M.S. Bornman, P. Farias and C. De Jager. 2007.
Impaired semen quality associated with environmental DDT exposure in young men living in a malaria area in the Limpopopo Province, South Africa. Journal of Andrology, 28(3):423-434.
Bonner, D.M., C. Dandy and W.F. Humble. 2002. Persistence of parathion on peach foliage. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry, 88: 312-313.
Djerassi, C. 1999.Pesticide Persistence in the Agricultural Environment. In: Environmental Fate of Chemicals. Pp. 156-189. Eds. J.J .Hummer and T.B. Von Hoonnenbein, Second Edition.Academic Press (London).
5.3.5 Curriculum vitae(IGNORE THIS PART- I will complete it)
Researchers would submit a complete CV to document their scientific competence with respect to the proposed research. The CV would include a list of all of their scientific publications. Those published studies particularly relevant to the proposal would be highlighted. At least one reviewer on the committee would read those papers plus others as a part of the review process. We include it here so that you are aware of its importance in the scientific world. For our purposes here, simply prepare or update the one or two page CV that you would use if you were applying for a summer job or a job after graduation.
5.3.6 Cover page(IGNORE THIS PART- I WILL COMPLETE IT)
When finished with the above, type up a nice looking cover or title page that will have the title of the proposal, your name, ID number and the date that you are submitting your proposal.
7.0 Research Proposal Marking Scheme
Layout & neatness 5%
Spelling 5%
Grammar 5%
Introduction 10%
Literature review 45%
Research plan 20%
References 5%
Budget 5%
Note: The research proposal accounts for 20% of the final grade!
It is important to note that most worrisome part of this assignment, the research plan, is worth only 20% of the grade. At least 20% is based on neatness, spelling, grammar and correctness of the references. You can lose a whole grade with 5 spelling errors and 5 grammar errors, so ask a friend well in advance if he or she will read your paper before you submit it. Get your paper done a couple of days early so your friend can read it and you have time to make the corrections.
Finally, before submitting the proposal, print it out and look at it. Check it for neatness, pagination, type size, etc.
