Q: What are the steps to write a perfect research proposal?

The steps or process, of writing a research proposal are, in many ways, similar to that for writing a research paper. You identify a broad research area, read up the current literature in the area, identify gaps in research, and eventually, identify a research question or hypothesis. A proposal statement is also structured similar to a research paper, with an abstract, introduction, hypothesis, and proposed methodology.

However, in some ways, writing a proposal statement can seem even tougher than writing a research paper, because the intention of a proposal is to secure a grant, which can be a challenging thing to do. The proposal should therefore be written to persuade the funding agency to grant the fund. Therefore, I can understand your desire to write a “perfect” or strong proposal.

We have several resources on how to go about doing this. Here are a few popular ones.

• 10 Tips to write an effective research grant proposal: Along with points to include in the proposal, this also talks about things to do before writing the proposal.
• 9 Core parts every grant proposal must contain: This is a downloadable infographic (which you can use as a ready reckoner) of the key points in the above article.
• How to write a research proposal on sawmill machinery incidents: This is a query similar to yours. So check out the answer. 

All the best with the proposal – and funding!