Essential Ingredients of a Good Research Proposal for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students in the Social Sciences

As part of the requirements for the award of degrees in highereducation institutions, students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels normally carryout research, which they report in the form of dissertations or theses. The researchjourney commences with the selection of a research topic and the preparation of aproposal on the selected topic. Experience has shown that students tend to encounterdifficulties in writing research proposals for their supervisors because they do notfully comprehend what constitutes a research proposal. The purpose of this article is totake students through a step-by-step process of writing good research proposals bydiscussing the essential ingredients of a good research proposal. Thus, it is not adidactic piece—the aim is to guide students in research proposal writing. In discussingthese ingredients, relevant examples are provided where necessary for ease ofunderstanding. It is expected that on reading this article, students should be able to:(a) demonstrate knowledge and understanding of what research is all about and itschallenging nature; (b) display an enlarged comprehension of research gap(s), problem orquestion(s), aim, objectives, and hypotheses as well as their distinguishingcharacteristics; (c) demonstrate a good understanding of the relevant elements to beconsidered in the constituent sections of a good research proposal; and (d) comprehendthe elements of a research proposal that should feature in the final writtendissertation or thesis