t''s ok in this case, to formulate a rese
arch question, rather than a hypothesis. Let those cases be rare, in any
way.
Another piece of advice when writing your hypothesis, regarding the tren
dy research fields: chances are great that they''re trendy because somebo
dy has already made that exciting discovery, or wrote that splendid pape
r that awoke everybody''s interest in the first place. If you''re in one o
f these fields, try to get a fresh point of view upon the subject; make
new connections, don''t be 100% mainstream. This will make the project ev
en more stimulating for the reader. Imagine that you are writing about t
he trendiest subject, with absolutely no change in the point of view, an
d you are given the chance to make the research. Trends come and go, fas
t; what are the chances that, in four years'' time, when your research is
done and you are ready to publish your results, one of those well-known
professors who dispose of huge research grants has already said whateve
r you had to say?
Remember how, in a structured essay, right after the thesis you would pr
esent the organisation of your essay, by enumerating the main arguments
you were going to present? Same thing should happen in a RP. After stati
ng your thesis, you should give a short account of your answers to those
three questions mention earlier. State, in a few phrases, what will be
learned from your research, that your project will make a difference, an
d why is that important to be known. You will have to elaborate on both
of these later in the paper.
The next step in writing your proposal is to prove that that particular
piece of research has not been done yet. This section is usually called
Literature Review. Inside it, you have to enumerate and critically analy
ze an impressive list of boring bibliography. The conclusion you should
- objectively! - reach is that your idea of research has not been undert
aken yet. Even more, you use this opportunity to prove solid theoretical
knowledge in the field, and build the theoretical bases of your project
. One tip: don''t review all the articles and books in the fields even if
you mention them in the bibliography list; pay attention in your analys
is to those you will build on. Another one: avoid jargon when writing yo
ur RP. The chances are great that the person(s) who will read your and a
nother 1000 research proposals are not specialists in that very field -
niche you are examining. If you are applying for a grant with or foundat
ion or something similar, it might happen that those reading your paper
are not even professors, but recruiters, donors, etc. And even if they a
ctually are professors, one of the reasons busy people like them agree t
o undertake a huge, and sometimes voluntary, work, is the desire to meet
some diversity, some change from their work - so maybe they''ll read app
lications for another specialisation. The capacity to get your message a
cross in clear, easy-to-grasp concepts and phrases is one of the winning
papers'' most important ad
