Research Proposal

One Page Pre-Proposal due October 27(Click here for description of assignment)

Proposal Drafts due November 14 (Complete draft!)

Final Drafts due December 01(Final turned in with edited copies from TA and student colleague)

A technical proposal for a research project is required for all students. The subject of the study is your choice but it must be related in some way to salmon life history, behavior, ecology, etc. I encourage graduate students to use this as a way to get feedback on a preliminary thesis topic but I do not want a proposal developed elsewhere to be used here. This is an extremely useful intellectual and practical exercise but requires special thought and organization. Do not underestimate the time needed to do this properly! As with the research paper, this must be double-spaced. Agencies often request proposals in their own, often arcane, formats. Please use the following structure and logical progression, which could be modified for most agencies.

All work is expected to be your own! If you have any questions about citations, quotes, or plagiarism contact the TA or refer to this University website: http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm

1. TITLE PAGE. Your name and the proposal's title; as with a paper, this is very important.

2. ABSTRACT. Similar to a research paper, this encapsulates the proposal study and is best written last.

3. BACKGROUND or NEED. What is the general information gap that you seek to fill and why is it important? Remember, you are asking some agency to part with their money so you'd better have a good justification. Not all questions are important enough to justify the money needed to answer them. This section roughly corresponds to the INTRODUCTION of a research paper and should start general and get more specific.

4. OBJECTIVE. What is the specific objective of this study and how does in fit into the overall NEED. This is the analog of the last paragraph of the research paper's introduction (see above) but should be highlighted in its own short section.

5. PROCEDURES. What will you actually do? Agencies seem to demand increasing detail so think this section out carefully. Be sure that the procedures will collect the information needed to address the objective. This corresponds to the METHODS section of a research paper.

6. EVALUATION. When the data are collected, how will they be evaluated? If the proposal is really sound, you should be able to describe all possible outcomes of the study and interpret them. The higher the possibility of getting un-interpretable outcomes, the poorer the prospects of funding.

7. REFERENCES. Use the format of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences in citing papers and providing references. A copy of the Instructions to Authors has been placed on reserve. Pay attention to details!

8. BUDGET. This crucial section best reflects how carefully the project has been thought out. To make a budget, you must really think through the methods. For example, how many field seasons or replicates will be required? How many people are needed to do the work (don't neglect analysis and writing phases). You must construct a budget listing staff, equipment, supplies, travel and other direct expenses as well as indirect costs (overhead). I want you to appreciate how costly research is and how this university operates.