online bachelor degree

by Sarah Cady

A thesis proposal is one of the three official milestones in PhD candidature. First there is PhD school qualifying exams, then the PhD thesis proposal and lastly the PhD thesis defense. The PhD thesis is a summary of what is going to be defended in PhD defense. This proposal is presented as both a written report and in a panel where a committee determines if the subject is appropriate and whether the topic is relevant to the field being studied. The committee may be approved depending on if the value of the PhD thesis topic is a worthwhile or not or reject the PhD proposal if the PhD proposal is of any value or not. A PhD thesis proposal must outline the thesis topic, elaborate all the contents it will address and finally expound on why further research is significant for the named topic. This criterion can only be optimally achieved if one identifies a specific problem and gives a detailed solution for that problem.

The PhD thesis proposal requires a very basic structure however; it is very detailed since a large amount of the contents present in the PhD thesis proposal is used in the final thesis. Amongst all things, a PhD thesis proposal should contain a title page. This page contains the identification of the PhD thesis proposal writer and the PhD thesis proposal topic.  In addition, the thesis proposal must contain an abstract which is a brief summary of all the chapters contained in the thesis proposal sequentially. The thesis abstract also introduces the thesis topic to the audience. Conventionally, the PhD thesis proposal abstract must contain utmost 200 words which must be carefully chosen to ensure the abstract defines the key statement of the PhD thesis. From the abstract, one must include the table of contents, followed by the introduction and lastly the statement of the PhD thesis. The introduction is important since if elaborates on the thesis topic’s background, reviews what one knows about the topic, and then gives in detail any research that is of significance to the thesis. Typically, the aim of the introduction is to draw the attention of the audience, therefore it is written so clearly and in a language that makes it easy to understand.

The thesis is then stated in form of a research question or a statement of the project, or using a hypothesis in the thesis statement. The next content of the thesis proposal is the methods or approach section. Here, one should provide the brief description of the research methods and/or materials to be used to bring the thesis into being. Any groundwork research is then represented in the preliminary research section of the thesis proposal. This explains how that research is appropriate to the thesis topic. After the discussion of the introductory research, one should now deal with the allegations of the researched information. One should depict any new information that will be provided by the thesis and the importance it has. The last part is the listing of the references that one plans to use in the making of the thesis. This list should also include the credentials for concepts or works belonging to other sources. Once the proposal is completed one should carefully proofread it before presenting it for evaluation.