The research proposal is undoubtedly one of the most important components of your application to a PhD programme and getting it right is important for a successful admit. While that certainly puts pressure on developing the perfect proposal, it’s not an insurmountable challenge and definitely within your reach. After reading the first-part of this blog series on finding inspiration for your research proposal, here are some things to keep in mind while writing your proposal.

Understand the requirement

The department you apply to will lay out certain guidelines that you must follow while writing your proposal. These guidelines outline the word limit, the format, and the questions that your proposal needs to address. All this information is available on the LSE website but be sure to check the department webpages for more specific details on what is required of your proposal. These guidelines provide you with a structure to work around your topic. Follow them as best as you can to nail the brief.

Work with your potential supervisor(s)

Most PhD applications require that you contact your potential supervisor(s) and find an overlap in your research interests even before you make a formal application to the programme. When contacting your potential supervisor(s), request to meet them to discuss your ideas. If you’re sending in your work to them, ensure you draft crisp, neat, and concise write-ups for them to go over and provide feedback. Ensure that you actively seek their input and incorporate their suggestions into your proposal. This strengthens your proposal and allows both your potential supervisor(s) and you to understand how well you work together.

Stick to the deadlines

Whether you’re developing the proposal with your potential supervisor(s) or you’re submitting the final version with your application, ensure that you stick to the deadline. This is important since it’s easy to get caught up in several ideas but not have a final version of your proposal ready by your deadlines. When working with your potential supervisor(s), draw up a timeline running up to the date you plan on submitting your application. This provides a good structure and helps you manage the process of writing your proposal better. Bear in mind that you’ll also need to work on other documents for your application and it’s important to manage your time well.

Read, research, and refine

Review a few sample research proposals to get a taste of what writing a real research proposal is like. As far as possible, use academic writing style. Reading literature on your topic should help you get a good sense of what the academic writing style is like in your field of interest. If academic writing feels difficult in the first instance, write your ideas down as you normally would in the first draft and then work towards improving the style and tone of your write-up in subsequent drafts.

Highlight key points

The research proposal should be a crisp and concise statement of the research you’re undertaking. It’s basically a case arguing why your research topic is important and warrants attention from the scholar community. To highlight this, your proposal must be original, have practical implications for the real world, and state why you’re qualified to address these research questions. In order to make a strong case, your proposal must explain how your work will further the progress of knowledge in your field. Embed these details into your proposal as seamlessly as you can.

The process of writing your research proposal can be intimidating initially, however, it’s only when you begin writing that you give your ideas better shape and structure. And as you write, you’ll experience better clarity of thought, you’ll be able to link your ideas together, and you’ll develop your own independent thought process about the subject.