Research Proposal的写作步骤及组成部分.doc

英语研究计划书（Research Proposal）的写作步骤和组成部分STEP 1 定研究题目的大方向选择标准：与自己的本科专业、相关研究或调研经历、要申请的专业、目标教授有关。注意：1. 浏览国际上相关领域知名期刊近年来发的文章的题目和摘要，归纳总结一下别人都在研究些什么；也可以在有几个兴趣方向后，问问相关专业领域的老师，他们会比较清楚。2. 一开始没必要把题目定的太细致，有个大方向即可。到下一步阅读文献的过程中，随着对研究主题了解的深入和看别人的研究，会产生很多新的想法。如果一开始就限定死了，很可能到后面就发现这个研究缺乏可行性、或者前人已经研究过了。STEP 2 找文献&阅读文献文献选择的几个标准1. 以英语文献为主。参考文献列表中也可以有少量中文文献。在刚开始读文献时，可以先看些中文的，方便了解相关研究背景。以免在看英文文献时云里雾里，看不懂。2. 相关专业具有影响力的期刊上发的文章；3. 相关领域权威泰斗人士发的文章（可以追踪他长期的研究，一一阅读他从早期到现在的论文，这样能了解到这个研究主题发展的脉络）；4. 近几年的文章，太久的（比如10年前的）参考价值降低；5. 如果你的目标教授有发表相关的英语文章，也可以找出来看看。6. 中文有很多垃圾期刊，少看那上面的文章，不如不看7. 硕士和博士学位论文涵盖的内容比较综合，可以看个几篇，用于了解该领域的研究情况，来龙去脉，补充一些基础背景知识之类的。找文献的方法：英文：通过Google学术搜索; 如果你所在的学校买了该数据库，就可以直接下载。中文：一般是通过中国知网搜索。需要看多少篇文章: 写一篇研究计划书，需要精读15篇以上英文论文。中文的5-10篇，多看一些也无所谓（看得快嘛），但要避免看垃圾文章。看文献的Tips1. 将觉得需要认真看、反复研究的重点文章打印出来，反复看，也方便做记号和前后对照翻阅。2. 在读的过程中，遇到写得好的、关键的、觉得有可能在研究计划书中用上的句子，复制粘贴到一个word文档里并简要标明出处。3. 读文献的过程中有任何想法都要赶紧记下来。可以用笔记本手写，也可以建一个word文档记。4.认真研究英文文献的句子，模仿他们的行文和表述方式。在此推荐一本英语学术写作的书，可以先简要阅读一遍，名字叫The elements of style，网上能搜到英文原版和中译版。STEP3 开始写1. 写的过程中，记得随时翻阅相关文献。觉得写不下去时，就再去看文献，也可以求助于老师或学术能力比较强的师兄师姐。2. 字数在1500-2000字左右为宜（不包括参考文献）英语研究计划书（Research Proposal）各个部分的具体内容1. Research Title and Theme研究题目一句话，详细，具体。然后用一小段话概况整个研究计划书，跟写论文摘要类似。2. Research Context研究背景。介绍一下关于此主题的研究起源，一些基本的背景资料。这部分可以在看文献的过程中好好搜集组织。3. Literature Review文献综述。这就是你阅读文献和思考的成果。要说清楚关于该主题的研究进展到了什么程度，有哪些方面的观点，各做了一些什么研究，有什么结论。然后从前人的研究中发现了什么问题，因而得到你所要做的研究。4. Aims and Objectives此研究要达到什么目的，回答什么问题。可以先写2-3个主要目标。然后有4-5个具体一些的分目标。例如：This planned research has the following aims:1）2）Specific research questions that will be addressed include:1）2）5. Methodology方法论。即如何研究？如何实现上述的目标？研究计划书最核心的部分之一！方法论一定要具体，要可行！让人感觉拿着这个“办事流程”就可以直接上手了。比如说写到发访谈，就应该写清楚访谈对象是谁，采取什么抽样方法，准备访谈哪些问题。比如说写到要做政策分析，应具体到准备怎么收集政策资料，收集哪些资料，在分析时重点关注什么问题。例如：(1) Systematic documentation collection and analysis of public policies;The researcher means to search relevant public policies from government documents and news reports. The policies related to economy, employment, housing and education will be focused. Research Proposal的写作主要包括以下几个部分：1. Statement of your hypothesis2. Review of Related Literature3. Methodology4. Analysis of the problems or significant issues involved. (Statistics)5. Summary of your findings and your conclusions and recommendationsResearch Proposal一般的长度控制在2000-3000字左右，必须回答下列问题：What you plan to accomplish? Why you want to do it and how you are going to do it?必须让读者相信you have an important research idea(重要的研究想法) that you have a good grasp of the relevant literature and the major issues (对主要问题和相关文献有很好的把握) and that your methodology is sound (方法是对路的)。【题目】简单描述性；An investigation of可以省略【摘要】300词，包括the research question, the rationale for the study, the hypothesis (if any), the method and the main findings. Description of the method may include the design, procedures, the sample and any instruments that will be used. 【Introduction】为研究的问题提供主要的背景首先，让研究问题在一个当前热门或者仍旧可以讨论的旧领域的上下文中。其次，要提供简单但恰当的历史背景。第三，提供你的研究问题占据中心位置的当代上下文。最后，确定“核心问题”和最相关的代表出版物。简而言之，突出研究问题的重要性。The introduction generally covers the following elements:1. State the research problem, which is often referred to as the purpose of the study. (陈述研究问题，作为研究的目的)2. Provide the context and set the stage for your research question in such a way as to show its necessity and importance. (用能够显示必要性和重要性的方式，提供研究问题的背景)3. Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it is worth doing. (提出研究的根据，清楚表明为什么值得研究)4. Briefly describe the major issues and sub-problems to be addressed by your research. (简要描述研究的主要问题和次要问题)5. Set the delimitation or boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear focus. (界定研究问题)6. Provide definitions of key concepts. (This is optional) 为重要概念进行定义【Literature Review】The literature review serves several important functions:1. Ensures that you are not “reinventing the wheel”.2. Gives credits to those who have laid the ground work for your research. 3. Demonstrates your knowledge of the research problem.4. Demonstrates your understanding of the theoretical and research issues related to your research question. 5. Shows your ability to critically evaluate relevant literature information.6. Indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize the existing literature.7. Provides new theoretical insights or develops a new model as the conceptual framework for your research. 8. Convinces your reader that your proposed research will make a significant and substantial contribution to the literature (i.e. resolving an important theoretical issue or filling a major gap in the literature).【Methods】It will provide your work plan and describe the activities necessary for the completion of your project (给出研究计划，描述完成项目必要的行为). It should contain sufficient information for the reader to determine whether methodology is sound (必须给出充分的信息让读者相信方法是合理的、最恰当有效的).【Results】obviously you do not have results at the proposal stage. However, you need to have some idea about what kind of data you will be collecting, and what statistical procedures will be used in order to answer your research question or test you hypothesize. 【Discussion】You need to communicate a sense of enthusiasm and confidence without exaggerating the merits of your proposal. That is why you also need to mention the limitations and weakness of the proposed research, which may be justified by time and financial constraints as well as by the clearly developmental stage of your research area. 常见错误：1. Failure to provide the proper context to frame the research question. 2. Failure to delimit the boundary conditions for your research.3. Failure to cite landmar