Professional Documents
Culture Documents
B.COM (HONS)
SECTION A
SESSION: 2012-16
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
GC UNIVERSITY LAHORE.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. THESIS PROPOSAL GUIDELINES ......................................................................................... 1
1.1. Research Topic ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1.1 Attributes of a good research topic........................................................................... 1
1.2. Introduction/ Background of the study ............................................................................. 1
1.3. Objectives of the study ..................................................................................................... 3
1.4. Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 3
1.5. Problem Statement ........................................................................................................... 3
1.6. Hypothesis ........................................................................................................................ 4
2. LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................. 5
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Data Collection Procedure (Sample selection and data sources) ...................................... 8
3.3 Research Method (Design) ................................................................................................ 9
4. CONTRIBUTION/ UTILIZATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS ......................................................... 10
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................. 10
Appropriateness:
is it worthwhile?
Will the proposed research provide fresh insights into the topic?
INTRODUCTION
Write out introduction to give a broad overview of scenario/background surrounding the title.
OBJECTIVES
Describe the overall aim(s) of the research:
The objectives of a research project summarize what is to be achieved by the study and
make sure the objectives support your research problem.
Objectives must identify the variables involved in research.
You may use a general focus question as a base from which you write a set of research
objectives.
Research objectives are likely to be more specific than research questions.
Personal objectives may be added to the list of research objectives:
Specific learning objectives (to learn how to use a particular statistical software etc.)
More general personal objectives (enhancing your career prospects through learning about
a new field of your specialism)
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In this section you also specify the research questions:
Express a relationship between variables.
More specific research questions you wish to address.
Make sure that your questions are researchable.
Your research questions must be a mirror image of your research objectives.
Avoid the research questions that will not generate new insight (understanding), it depends
upon the extent to which you have consulted the relevant literature.
Research question may not emerge until the research process has started.
Sr. #
RESEARCH IDEA
1.
2.
3.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The problem statement introduces the key problem that is addressed in the research project.
A problem statement is a clear, precise, and brief statement of the specific issues that a
researcher wishes to investigate.
There are three key criteria to assess the quality of the problem statement: It should be
Relevant, feasible, and interesting.
The problem statement is normally only one or two sentences long. Try to be as specific as
possible. This should include
HYPOTHESIS
A hypothesis is a statement about the relationship between the dependent and independent
variables.
The null hypothesis (H0) states that the two variables are independent of one another and the
alternative hypothesis (H1) states that they are associated with one another. The null hypothesis is
always stated first.
LITERATURE SURVEY
Give a brief review of recent relevant literature (along with references). The preliminary literature
review should be a critical analysis of major studies already conducted and other key contributions.
Your literature review must refer to the classical and most influential pieces of research in the topic
area.
A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and
researchers.
In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader
- What knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic?
- What their strengths and weaknesses are.
- How do they relate or not relate with your research.
The literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the
problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list
of the material available, or a set of summaries.
In other words, you cannot simply give a concise description of, for example, an article: you need
to select what parts of the research to discuss (e.g. the methodology, variables or relationship),
show how it relates to the other work (How are they similar? How are they different?) and show
how it relates to your work.
A literature review is a piece of discursive (a series of logical discussion) writing style, not
a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another.
It is usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning with the name of a researcher.
Organize the literature review into sections that present themes, identify trends including
relevant theory.
in other words,
for example,
moreover,
more importantly
although, nevertheless,
in addition,
however, instead,
yet,
in contrast,
in spite of,
To signal a conclusion:
thus,
therefore,
accordingly,
in conclusion, finally,
Being repetitive
so [informal],
All our students have found their literature search a time consuming process, which
take far longer than expected. Fortunately, time spent planning will be rapid in time
saved when searching the literature. As you start to plan your search, you need to
beware of information overload!
One of the easiest ways to avoid this is to start the main search for your critical review
with a clearly defined research question (s), objectives and outline proposal.
It is also possible to obtain definitions via the Internet. The online search engine
Google offers a define(by typing define:[enter term ]) that provides links to
websites providing definitions .
PLAGIARISM
Four common forms
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
You will justify your choice of method in the light of your research objectives. You may
divide your methodology section in two parts: data collection and research design.
REFERENCES
In this section, you are required to provide the full bibliographic information for each source you
have discussed. Follow the APA 6th Edition Style for references. References must be listed in
alphabetical order by author.
It is not necessary to try to impress your proposal reader with an enormous list of references. The
key literature sources to which you have referred that is directly informing your own proposal
should be all that is necessary.
APA Referencing
THIS IS A QUICK GUIDE TO THE APA REFERENCING STYLE (6TH EDITION)
The American Psychological Association reference style uses the Author-Date format.
Refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.)
for more information. Check the Library Catalogue for call number and location(s).
When quoting directly or indirectly from a source, the source must be acknowledged in the text by
author name and year of publication. If quoting directly, a location reference such as page number(s)
or paragraph number is also required.
IN-TEXT
Direct quotation use quotation marks around the quote and include page numbers
Samovar and Porter (1997) point out that "language involves attaching meaning to symbols"
(p.188).
Alternatively, Language involves attaching meaning to symbols" (Samovar & Porter, 1997,
p.188).
Indirect quotation/paraphrasing no quotation marks
Attaching meaning to symbols is considered to be the origin of written language (Samovar &
Porter, 1997).
N.B. Page numbers are optional when paraphrasing, although it is useful to include them (Publication Manual,
p. 171).
IN A REFERENCE LIST
1. Book with one author
IN-TEXT CITATION
(King, 2000) or
King (2000) compares
Frame ...
2. Book with two to five authors (see Library APA referencing webpage for six or more
authors)
Krause, K.-L., Bochner, S., & Duchesne, S. (2006). Educational
(Krause, Bochner, &
psychology for learning and teaching (2nd ed.). South Melbourne,
Duchesne, 2006)
Vic., Australia: Thomson.
then
N.B. Use & between authors names, except when paraphrasing in text.
When a work has three, four or five authors, cite all authors the first time,
(Krause et al., 2006)
and in subsequent citations include only the first author followed by et al.
may be abbreviated in
subsequent citations if they
are readily recognisable.
(Helber, 1995) or
Helber (1995) compares
luxury resorts ...
N.B. Include the page numbers of the chapter after the book title.
5. Conference paper online - (see Library APA referencing webpage for alternative formats)
Bochner, S. (1996, November). Mentoring in higher education: Issues
to be addressed in developing a mentoring program. Paper presented
(Bochner, 1996) or
at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference,
According to Bochner
Singapore. Retrieved from
(1996) ...
http://www.aare.edu.au/96pap/bochs96018.txt
6. Course handout/Lecture notes
Salter, G. (2007). Lecture 3: SPLS205-07A [PowerPoint slides].
(Salter, 2007)
Hamilton, New Zealand: University of Waikato.
N.B. Put format in square brackets - e.g. [PowerPoint slides] [Lecture notes]
7. Film (see Library APA referencing webpage for music and other media)
Zhang, Y. (Producer/Director). (2000). Not one less [Motion picture].
China: Columbia Pictures.
(Zhang, 2000)
N.B. For films, DVDs or videorecordings use [Motion picture] in square
brackets. Give the country of origin and the name of the motion picture
studio.
8. Journal article academic/scholarly (electronic version) with DOI (see also Library APA
referencing webpage)
Hohepa, M., Schofield, G., & Kolt, G. S. (2006). Physical activity:
(Hohepa, Schofield, &
What do high school students think? Journal of Adolescent Health,
Kolt, 2006)
39(3), 328-336.
then subsequently, if 3-5
doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.12.024
N.B. A capital letter is used for key words in the journal title. The journal
title and volume number are italicised, followed by the issue number in
brackets (not italicised).
authors
N.B. Undergraduates: Give the name of the database. Researchers: Give the
URL of the journal homepage. e.g. Retrieved from
http://ucpressjournals.com/journal.asp?j=aeq
(Goodwin, 2002) or
Goodwin (2002) defends ...
(Hartevelt, 2007)
14. Newspaper article (Database like Newztext Plus) (also see Library referencing webpage for
Internet version)
Cumming, G. (2003, April 5). Cough that shook the world. The New
(Cumming, 2003)
Zealand Herald. Retrieved from Newztext Plus database.
15. Newspaper article with no author
Report casts shadow on biofuel crops. (2007, October 16). Waikato
Times, p. 21.
N.B. Article title comes first. In the text, abbreviate title and use double
quotation marks.
APPENDIX
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
The general instructions for thesis proposal are given below:
I.
SPACING
The line spacing for the text of the proposal should be one and one-half (1.5), with the
exception of the topic, captions, table or figure headings, extensive quotations, and entries
in the References section where single spacing should be used.
II.
FONT SIZE
Use a font size of 12. The only allowable exceptions to this font size are captions (not
smaller than 9 point) and headings (not larger than 20 points). Use of italics is restricted to
foreign words, book or periodical titles, taxonomic names, letters used as statistical
symbols or algebraic variables, test scores and scales.
III.
ALIGNMENT
Full justification alignment is acceptable for the body of the text. Orphans (headings or
sub-headings located at the bottom of a page that are not followed by text) and Widows
(short lines ending a paragraph at the top of a page) should be avoided.
IV.
OVERALL PRESENTATION
The proposal that is submitted must be free from errors. All corrections should be made
before the final copy is printed. Overstrikes, cross-outs, handwritten additions or
corrections, and use of corrections fluid are not acceptable in the final copy.
V.
BINDING OF PROPOSAL
The Proposal should be submitted without binding but staple with one pin at the top left
corner.