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002014IEEE
research proposal is an obvious
and essential part of a Ph.D.
application in most parts of the
world. It is an outline of your proposed
project, whose aim is to present and
justify your research idea and explain
the practical ways in which you think
this research should be implemented. It
is often the first opportunity for you to
communicate your ideas to attract inter-
est from faculty members of your cho-
sen university. Since a Ph.D. is awarded
mainly as a result of making a genuine
contribution to the state of knowledge
in your chosen field, it is crucial to cre-
ate a positive first impression on your
potential supervisor.
Similar to the preliminary research
proposal in purpose, especially in univer-
sities in the United States, though not as
detailed, is the statement of purpose
(SoP). An SoP is a personal statement
about who you are, what has influenced
your career path so far, your professional
interests, and where you plan to go after
the completion of your study. Like a
research proposal, an SoP is an important
requirement in the graduate application
process, which influences the decision of
the admissions committee as it deter-
mines your candidacy for admission.
Short-term projects such as those
undertaken at the undergraduate or post-
graduate diploma level are essential train-
ing for graduate research. The transition
into a graduate research degree, such as
a Ph.D., involves a much higher level of
independent thinking and activity than
most students realize. A large number of
students usually find this transition very
challenging and daunting. The challenge
starts from the time of application when
applicants are required to write and pres-
ent a research proposal. Most students
are confused and do not know how to go
about this initial academic task. As a
result, many students circumvent this
hurdle by employing the services of pro-
fessional thesis writers.
Many times, applicants who meet the
minimum entry requirements fail to be
accepted as Ph.D. candidates as a result
of some weakness in the research pro-
posal submitted along with their applica-
tion. While writing your proposal, it is
important to bear in mind that you are
competing with several other candidates
jostling for the limited vacancies in the
department, just as in job vacancies.
Hence, you must come up with a clearly
written and well-structured document,
which easily passes your message across
and, consequently, has a great impact
upon the reader. One should not have to
read it twice to really understand it.
Remember, a high-quality research pro-
posal increases your chances of having a
successful application. Therefore, you
must put your best into it.
Using Internet search engines such as
Google and Yahoo, you can find free
Ph.D. research proposal samples on dif-
ferent research topics. Plenty of research
proposal databases offer access to Ph.D.
research proposal templates in many
fields of endeavor. Similarly, a number of
custom thesis writing companies are
available and could be consulted online
via their Web sites. These companies
offer research proposal writing services to
students and charge them for the services.
Lazy students who cannot face the initial
challenge usually contract out the work
to custom thesis writers and present well-
written research proposals to the school
of graduate studies. Nevertheless, many
Date of publication: 30 April 2014
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2013.2290230
CAN STOCK PHOTO/EVERYTHINGPOSSIBLE
Writing a competitive preliminary
research proposal for an
engineering Ph.D. degree
M.F. AKOREDE AND S.A.Y. AMUDA

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14 IEEE POTENTIALS
do not realize that all already-written
research proposals are not original
papers. You are therefore strongly advised
not to use them as your Ph.D. research
paper, as this option is considered aca-
demic dishonestya breach of ethics in
academia.
Usually, Ph.D. research proposals are
written and presented at two different
times in most universities. The first one is
written and submitted along with other
application documents at the time of
application. This one is tagged as the pre-
liminary research proposal in this article.
The other is usually presented to the fac-
ulty members in the department after the
student has been admitted. The time of
the oral presentation/defense of the
research proposal varies from university
to university and even from department
to department. On a whole, it is done
when the student would have been
4080% of the way through the program.
In such a case, the student is expected to
have accomplished at least one major
result, together with one publication sub-
mitted to or accepted by a journal. The
latter is not covered in this article.
In choosing your research area, it is
crucial to be very careful when consider-
ing what you want to
research. The best proposals
deal with something that has
not been previously studied.
Sometimes this is not possi-
ble, but at the very least you
should steer clear of subjects
that have been exhaustively
discussed. For your applica-
tion to be successful, it is
important that you should
be able to communicate
some contributions of your
research and how you plan to carry out
your work. These aspects enable the fac-
ulty member concerned with your appli-
cation to judge whether the proposed
research would be of benefit, not only to
you as an applicant but also to the
research interests of faculty members.
However, it is worth mentioning that
research proposals are not only judged
on content, they are also judged on
form. Your research proposal must look
professional. It should be typed and
written with good syntax and grammar.
It should be well structured, with section
headings clearly indicated. Make sure it
is well written and devoid of any errors.
The focus of this article is to provide uni-
versity students, who are willing to fur-
ther their studies, with information on
how to organize a research proposal for
a Ph.D. degree. The intent is to help
them think about the proposed research
in a clear, structured, and meaningful
way. However, it should be noted that
following the guide given in this article
does not guarantee acceptance into a
Ph.D. program, as other factors such as
your previous qualifications, experience,
and your communication of the quality
of the anticipated work, as presented in
your proposal, are also important.
The need for a research proposal
in a Ph.D. application
Research proposals are required in
Ph.D. applications to allow potential
supervisors to assess the quality and
originality of your ideas and critical
thinking skills as well as the feasibility of
the research project. Ph.D. programs are
commonly designed to be completed in
three to four years (full time) or six to
eight years (part time) in most universi-
ties across the globe. As a result, you
need to think very carefully about the
scope of your research and be ready to
explain how you will complete it within
the time frame and available resources.
In addition, research proposals are used
to evaluate your expertise in the area in
which you wish to conduct research,
your knowledge of the existing litera-
ture, and how your project will enhance
it. They are also used by the department
to assess and assign appropriate supervi-
sion teams to the student.
Essential components of a
research proposal
The following components are essen-
tial in a research proposal, and you are
advised to ensure that all are present in
your version. However, this is not to say
you cannot add a few other details that
you feel may be necessary.
A clear working title
Choosing your research topic is prob-
ably the first step and most important
single decision you have to make in car-
rying out your research. One of the key
skills involved in choosing a topic is to
pick one of the appropriate sizeneither
too big nor too smalland achievable
within the time, space, and available
resources. The title of research project
given at proposal level is often referred to
as a working title. The reason for this is
that it is most likely to change as the work
progresses. It is normal for students to
refine the original proposal in light of
detailed literature reviews, further consid-
eration of research approaches, and com-
ments received from the supervisors and/
or other faculty members in the course of
the study. Nevertheless, you need to
include important key words that will
relate your proposal to relevant potential
supervisors. Try to ensure that your title
does not only simply describe the subject
matter but also gives an indication of your
intended approach. For example, Opti-
mization of Distributed Generation in
Electric Power Systems Using Fuzzy-
Genetic Algorithm Approach.
Overview of the research
A brief overview of your research,
and the context into which it fits within
the existing academic literature, should
be provided in this section. Be as spe-
cific as possible in identifying influences
or debates in which you wish to engage.
Be sure to establish a solid and convinc-
ing framework for your research in this
section. This should include a clearly
articulated research problem, which typ-
ically takes the form of concise ques-
tions regarding the relationship between
two or more variables. In this section,
one to three research questions should
suffice, and the reason for asking them,
as well as the significance of the research.
The research problem should be capable
of being tested empirically.
Review of literature
The primary purpose of a literature
review is to help you become familiar
with the work that has already been
carried out in the selected topic area. It
is absolutely indispensable when plan-
ning a research study because it would
guide you in the appropriate direc-
tion by answering several questions
related to the topic area: Has anybody
worked on this topic area before? If so,
what suggestions can you make from
the results of the earlier studies? Did
he/she encounter any methodological
difficulties of which you need to be
aware of when planning your own
research? Is more research required to
While writing your proposal, it is
important to bear in mind that you are
competing with several other candidates
jostling for the limited vacancies in the
department, just as in job vacancies.
MAY/JUNE 2014 15
be carried out on this topic? If so, in
what specific area?
The literature review section should
discuss the texts that you believe are
most important to the project, demon-
strate your understanding of the research
issues, and identify existing gaps that
your research intends to fill. Identify
some leading scholars in the field, par-
ticularly those whose published works
you have studied.
A critical literature review
is crucial to ensure that your
project does not duplicate
work already done without
having any knowledge that
the same study has already
been carried out. You can
often save yourself a good
deal of time, money, and
above all, the embarrass-
ment that might later ensue,
by quickly changing the
direction of your study if you
discover, from your literature review, that
the research questions you are planning
to conduct have already been answered.
Also, the review of recent related litera-
ture could help you discover the latest
facilities that are more efficient than ear-
lier existing ones, in carrying out your
work. Though literature review could ini-
tially tend to be intimidating, most other
things relating to research become easier
when it is done thoroughly, especially as
you gain experience.
Research methodology
The methodology section is a hugely
important part of your research pro-
posal. It chronicles the approach(es) you
will use to achieve your research results.
Incidentally, it is the portion of the pro-
posal that most students find the most
difficult. For that reason, you may wish
to take a look at some past related Ph.D.
theses to ensure that you know the
appropriate way to do things. In any
case, this section should lay out, in clear
terms, the way in which you will struc-
ture your research and the specific meth-
ods you will use. A well-developed
methodology section is crucial. Make
sure to include specific techniques and
not just a general approach. This should
include the types of resources consulted,
methods for collecting and analyzing
data, and you must be able to justify why
you adopt the chosen method over other
existing approaches.
Your approach may involve forecast-
ing or statistical modeling, and in other
cases you may wish to combine method-
ologies. You need to specify the approach
you feel will be most appropriate for
your research. Most doctoral work
involves empirical research. The success-
ful completion of Ph.D. work in the time
allotted thus often depends on the ability
to obtain the data needed. If your pro-
posed research involves empirical work,
you should provide an indication of the
form and location of that empirical work
and where and how you might collect
any relevant data. You should give spe-
cial attention to the feasibility of collect-
ing the data. Generally, data acquisition
techniques include direct approaches
such as interviews and questionnaires,
participant observations and indirect
approaches such as instrumenting sys-
tems and fly on the wall, and indepen-
dent approaches such as static and
dynamic analysis and documentation
analysis. Of these techniques, the first
one is often not used in engineering, as
most data are usually system generated.
Facilities required
Remember to explain the facilities to
be used for the research in your pro-
posal. Usually, the list and description of
the available facilities are available on
the Web site of the department to which
you wish to apply. If all of the necessary
facilities (hardware/software) required
for your research project are not at the
current facility, include how they will be
acquired and the time it may take to put
everything in place. Do not go for the
most expensive facilities when less
expensive ones could be adapted and
used for the same purpose. At the same
time, you must think of an alternative in
case your department may not be ready
to purchase the quoted facilities in good
time, which could in turn affect the com-
pletion time of your program.
Conclusion
Although no indication of the research
findings can be presented at this stage, it
is often beneficial to conclude the
research proposal by indicating how you
envisage the contribution that your
research will make to debates and discus-
sions in your particular subject area. This
means providing an indication of the
original contribution that you feel your
research will make, suggesting how it
may fill gaps in existing research, and
showing how it may extend the under-
standing of particular topics. Conclusions
should reflect the quality of your ideas as
expressed in your writing.
List of key references
Your references should provide the
reader with a good sense of your grasp
on the literature and how you can con-
tribute to it. Be sure to reference the most
recent texts and resources that you think
will play a large role in your analysis. It
should show critical reflection in the
selection of appropriate texts and be used
throughout your proposal to demonstrate
that you have read and had a fair under-
standing of the work of others. Literature
not cited in the text should not appear
here and vice versa. It is also important to
follow a particular standard formatting
style in your proposal. The IEEE format is
well known in engineering.
Average length of a research
proposal
Research proposals vary in length,
however, a good research proposal
should neither be too long nor too short.
In most cases, it is specified in the appli-
cation form or on the Web site of the
department to which you are applying.
If not, the length should typically be
kept to between 1,5003,000 words as a
guide. This is based on our previous
experience as former Ph.D. students, as
well as the studies carried out on this
subject as contained on the application
guidelines of a number of universities
worldwide. In fewer words it can be
really tough to write a good research
proposal and, with more, you might
bore your readers, which you must try to
avoid, since it is not meant to serve as
the initial draft of your thesis.
Useful advice while writing a
research proposal
The following advice is of benefit
while writing a proposal:
Make sure that your research idea,
question, or problem is clearly stated,
very persuasive, and addresses a de-
monstrable gap in the existing literature.
Put time into formulating the questions
in the early stages of the project.
The transition into a graduate research
degree, such as a Ph.D., involves a much
higher level of independent thinking and
activity than most student realize.
16 IEEE POTENTIALS
You are strongly encouraged to
identify a prospective supervisor and
get in touch with him/her to discuss
your proposal informally before you
make a formal application. This would
ensure it is of mutual interest and en-
able it gain input on the design, scope,
and feasibility of your project. Re-
searching the department to which you
are applying would ensure that there
is a faculty member interested in your
subject area and he/she is available to
supervise your project.
Ensure your proposal is well
structured, as poorly formed or ram-
bling proposals could give
the impression that the pro-
posed project may suffer
the same fate.
Make sure that the
scope of your project is
reasonable. Remember that
there are significant limits
to the size and complex-
ity of a project that can be
accomplished and written
up in three to four years.
It should be noted that
proposals are not only as-
sessed for their intellectual
ambition and significance
but also for the likelihood
that the candidate can com-
plete the project.
Try to display your passion for
the subject matter in the structure and
arguments presented within your pro-
posal. This could make your project
and subject matter engaging to your
readers.
If applying to multiple depart-
ments, be sure to tailor a unique pro-
posal to each department. Do not
produce a research proposal for mass
consumption!
Avoid broad research areas that
would be unmanageable as a Ph.D. topic
or that have no relevance to the research
areas of your intending university. This
could lead to the rejection of your appli-
cation. For this reason, ensure that you
visit the appropriate Web sites to find out
about existing research taking place in
the department and how your project can
complement it.
Finally, avoid vague descriptions
of your research interests. This would
give the impression that you are not cer-
tain about what you intend to do. In like
manner, the use of conclusive phrases
such as the best way and the only
way should be avoided in describing
your research ideas.
Conclusion
A research proposal is an integral
part of the Ph.D. application process in
most parts of the world. Its quality is a
considerable factor used by the univer-
sity to arrive at a decision either to
reject or accept you into a Ph.D. pro-
gram. The aim is to provide information
about the intended research project, in
terms of content and methodology, to
evaluate its feasibility. The quality of the
proposal is also important in gaining
acceptance by the universitys higher
degrees committee six months from the
time of your enrollment as a research
student. Though you are not expected
to be an expert at this stage, you are
strongly advised to approach it as a per-
suasive essay to establish the attention
of readers and be able to convince
them of the significance of your project.
Remember that a first impression counts
and you can never get the second
chance to make it. A poorly written pro-
posal is likely to end up with your
application being rejected.
Read more about it
(2011, Apr. 20). Writing a Ph.D. re-
search proposal: A 6step general guide
for prospective Ph.D. researchers. [On-
line]. Available: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/
media/universit yofexeter/webteam/
shared/postgraduate/pdfs
A. Mitchell. (2011, Mar. 11).
Writing a good Ph.D. proposal. Univ.
York. [Online]. Available: http://
www.fi ndaphd.com/st udent /st udy/
study-33.asp
(2011, Mar. 11). How to write a
research proposal. [Online]. Available:
http://www.eastchance.com/howto/res_
prop.asp
(2011, Mar. 11). Ph.D. Research
proposal guidelines. [Online]. Available:
http://dmst.aueb.gr/gr2/diafora2/YPD2/
PhD%20Proposal%20Guidelines.htm
(2011, Mar. 11). Guide to writing
a research proposal for an engineering
Ph.D. [Online]. Available: http://www2.
warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/pg/apply/
proposal/
L. T. Wright. (2011, Apr. 20). A
guide to writing a research proposal for
MPhil or Ph.D. [Online]. Available: http://
www.dmu.ac.uk/research/graduate-
school
G. Marczyk, D. DeMatteo, and D.
Festinger, Essentials of Research Design
and Methodology. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley,
2005.
(2011, June 10). Writing Ph.D.
proposals. [Online]. Available: http://
www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/
di sci pl i nes/pol i t i cs/post gr aduat e/
research/proposal/
(2011, June 10). What is a state-
ment of purpose? [Online]. Available:
http://www.statementofpurpose.com/
whatis.html
About the authors
M.F. Akorede (makorede@ieee.org)
earned his B.Eng. and M.Eng degrees in
electrical engineering in 2000 and 2006,
respectively, in Nigeria. He earned his
Ph.D. degree in electrical power engi-
neering at Universiti Putra Malaysia in
2011. He is currently with the Electrical
and Electronics Engineering Depart-
ment, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. He is
a Member of the IEEE, the Nigerian Soci-
ety of Engineers, and a registered profes-
sional engineer with the Council for
Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria.
S.A.Y. Amuda (saamuda@unilorin.edu.
ng) is currently a researcher and lecturer
in the Electrical and Electronics Engineer-
ing Department, University of Ilorin,
Nigeria. He earned his M.Eng. and Ph.D.
degrees in 2004 and 2013, respectively.
Dr. Amuda was a visiting researcher at the
Center for Robust Speech System, Univer-
sity of Texas, Dallas, in 20092010 for
nine months as a Fulbright Scholar. He is
a Member of the IEEE, a registered pro-
fessional engineer in Nigeria (with the
Council for Regulation of Engineering in
Nigeria), and a member of the Nigerian
Society of Engineers.
You can often save yourself a good
deal of time, money, and above all, the
embarrassment that might later ensue,
by quickly changing the direction of
your study if you discover, from your
literature review, that the research
questions you are planning to conduct
have already been answered.