FORMAT FOR WRITING A ResearchPROPOSAL-PROF ADEPOJU (USL)
The following Guidelines/ format should be adopted:
1. Title page: This should be written in a very similar way to the final thesis except that the word “thesis” shall be replaced by “proposal” i.e.
Botanical Characterization, Drug Indications and Sustainability Assessment of Traditional Oral Herb Formulations in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
BY
Marian Tarawally
BEING A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES,
FACULTY OF PURE AND APPLIED SCIENCES
FOURAH BAY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE,
FREETOWN; SIERRA LEONE
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE.
SEPTEMBER, 2019
2. Certification Page: Write it to present the proposal and provide spaces for the signatures of Supervisor and Head of Department.
3. Dedication: Write it to as you desire (A page of its own).
4. Acknowledgements: As you desire (A page of its own).
5. Table of Contents (one or more pages)
List of Tables
List of Figures
These last TWO are not compulsory for a proposal but you can put them if they apply to your work.
Summary
This one is similar in content to Abstract (whereby you summarize the whole work from the start to the end in only about 500 words or less). It is called Summary because the work has not been carried out.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1.2-------
1.3-------
1.4-------
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1-------
2.2-------
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS
3.1-------
3.2-------
CHAPTER FOUR
EXPECTED RESULTS AND CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE
4.1------
4.2------
Select each aspect of your proposed work and briefly state the expected results/observations
4.4------
As the last segment of chapter four, make a list of the possible contributions to knowledge from the proposed work.
HINTS ON HOW TO WRITE CHAPTERS ONE TO FOUR OF THE PROPOSAL
CHAPTER ONE
➢ The title of the chapter is Introduction, which should be capitalized at the top central part of the page
➢ Introduction is perhaps the most important aspect of a proposal. It should capture all the concepts and information on the proposed Research title. It can be divided into sections:
e.g. : Medicinal plants (what are they?); identification of medicinal plants; fraud (i.e. intentional); adulterations (intentional or otherwise); misrepresentation of medicinal plants; types and effects of fraud, of adulterations, and of misrepresentation of medicinal plants [All these should be written with relevant literature cited all along.]
All these can come up under:
1.1Background information
1.2Statement of the problem
Note: you need to take us into literature to detect a good gapwhich your research hopes to fill up.
This is the second section under Introduction. Here you should carefully and systematically present the problems of you have identified or the gap that is existing in this area of study that you intend to solve/fill. This section will show the worth of the proposed research.
1.3Research questions: This section is optional. If you intend to include it, you look carefully at each of the problems identified and formulate some scientific questions that borderone’s minds from the problems e.g.
➢ Do medicinal herb sellers in Nigeria practice fraud and contribute to misrepresentations of herbs?
➢ Are the herb sellers aware of the implications of fraud and misrepresentations with respect to medicinal herbs?
➢ What proportions of the medicinal herb dealers in Sierra Leone are misrepresented?
1.4Objectives: On the basis of problems identified and the research questions bordering your mind, you will now state your aim (which is usually one) and then make a list of your (specific) objectives thereafter.
After selecting your objectives, chapter one ends.
CHAPTER TWO
➢ The title of this chapter is literature review which again should be capitalized and centralized at the top of the page. The content is the methodical presentation of information from the literature review.
➢ There are three main aspects to a good literature review:
o The theoretical framework
o The conceptual framework
o The empirical framework. In science, you can address these three aspects separately but usually may be addressed together.
o The theoretical framework addresses the theory of the “elements” involved in your Research Topic. E.g. you can address issues such as medicinal plants; complementary and alternative medicine; Frauds in phytomedicine, adulteration of herbs; Plant identification; tools for medicinal plant identification; identification of medicinal plants etc. Each of these can be presented as separate section s i.e. 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc, or may be combined in groups to make each section.
o The conceptual framework addresses the various means/ways by which the theories are approached. In science it is not desirable to treat concepts as separate entities after the theories; rather it is better to address the concepts under each theory immediately after presenting the theory. For example, after you present the theory of medicinal plants and cite literature to support these, you can immediately proceed to the different concepts about the issue of medicinal plants i.e. diverse opinions and beliefs (also citing relevant literature); you then proceed to the next theory and so on.
o Empirical framework addresses or presents the various research efforts by individuals and groups on each of the theoretical issues (especially those relating directly to the work at hand). Again, in science you don’t need to wait to finish with theories and concepts before you begin with Empirical issues. It is better to addresses these issue along with the other two. For example, after presenting “Frauds in Phytomedicine”, you can discuss some of the concepts of fraud from people’s perspectives and then proceed to present works that have been carried out on fraud with respect to medicinal herbs. Note that you have to give a brief of each result obtained by such researchers (e.g. from the research articles you have downloaded). If you carry out literature review this way, you would have been seen to exhaustively discuss theories, concepts and past research efforts on your topic. As the last section of the chapter, you can then clearly discuss the gap or loop hole that warrants filling and this will point out the significance of your study.
CHAPTER THREE
➢ The title of this chapter is Materials and methods.
➢ Here you should first identify which areas you intend to touch on the proposed work. Make these into sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, etc, and address each of them vividly how you intend to carry out the work. Do not leave out any information on what you intend to do including the statistical analyses where possible.
The steps in the paper that was given to you or the ones you might have downloaded, may be useful as hints here:
➢ Where, how, what information are you collecting? What material will you use to collect it? What will you do with the information? Etc.
➢ Interaction with herb sellers: who, where, when, what will you ask them? What instrument? (Interview, questionnaire? etc.)
➢ State the technique you intend to use for comparison (e.g. statistical, pictorial etc.)
➢ State what you intend to draw out of the comparison.
➢ State what you intend to conclude from the comparison.
CHAPTER FOUR
➢ See information presented in the guideline (no 4)
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