A research plan (also called a research outline) is an important part of academic research that demonstrates the research topic, research methodology, and objectives, and lays the foundation for the paper writing that follows. This article will teach you how to write a great research plan and help you better understand and master this skill.
I. Research topic and introduction
The research title should capture the reader’s attention and succinctly summarise the essence of the research topic. The introduction should briefly introduce the background and significance of the study and pose the research question. The significance of the research explains how the research will benefit society or the individual; the research question is the core, beginning with “how” or “what” and reflecting as fully as possible the problems that may exist.
Literature Review
In this part, you need to understand and grasp the existing research results, theoretical perspectives and development trends in the related fields, so as to find the shortcomings in your research and clarify the research direction. In order to ensure the quality of the literature review, you can choose literature from different perspectives as reference, and at the same time, pay attention to highlighting the logical relationship between individual literature.
III. Research Methods
Research methods include experimental design scheme and questionnaire survey method, etc. The research object, research period and data analysis methods need to be described in detail. When choosing the research object, it can be made specific, such as the population of a specific age group or the data of a specific time period. The way of collecting data, the analysis tools used etc. also need to be clearly labelled in the text.
IV. Expected results and conclusions
Expected results and conclusions are key to assessing the value of the study. In this section, you need to list the objectives that are expected to be achieved, analyse the possible impacts of the study and relevant conclusions. It is important to note that although this is only a research plan, you can discuss the likelihood of the study’s implementation as well as the expected results. Finally, at the end of the full text, you should mark the cited literature to prevent plagiarism.
Overall, it is essential to understand the importance of a research plan and acquire basic writing skills. In the process of constructing a research plan, you need to carefully check each paragraph and detail to ensure the feasibility and validity of the content, and finally, you can complete a research plan that is both professional and in-depth.
