Many people don’t clearly distinguish a research proposal from a research project. Whereas the latter is action-oriented and requires that a research proposal be first established, a research proposal can loosely be defined as an action plan for the final research project. A research proposal is a preamble to the research. I did not know this distinction when I set out to write my paper some years ago.
With all the theory from my tutor in ‘Research Methods’, an introductory course offered in 3rd Year, I felt competent to write my paper. We had been asked to write a research proposal on a topic of choice. I got stuck immediately I began to write my paper. I couldn’t come up with a suitable topic that looked original enough, not to mention that the research proposal I was supposed to write my paper about had to be related to my course.
As I couldn’t think of a suitable topic to write my paper about, I decided to visit the library and peruse several books just to see if I could get an idea of how to write my paper. In my search, I came across a certain book that seemed to contain a suitable research proposal. Without any second thought, I copied almost everything inside. To me the work was very professionally done; and I was certain that the assessor would commend me that I was able to write my paper well.
Little did I know that what I was duplicating was not a research proposal but someone’s research project! I was very embarrassed when the lecturer asked me to write my paper all over again.
