Dr. Dan Lipori's Website: Preparing a Prospectus

Preparing a Prospectus

Many professors (including myself) ask for a prospectus to be turned in describing your research project before the topic is approved. A prospectus normally tells the teacher three main items: 1. What you are doing. 2. Why you are doing it. 3. How are you going to do it. For the first section the student should give a brief description of their topic. Within the text the professor should be able to tell that you have completed some preliminary research and the topic you have chosen can be completed in the amount of time left and with the resources available at your school. Section two states your interest in this particular topic and why you are attracted to it. The final section asks you to describe how you expect the final paper to look. List what the main sections of the paper will be and how in depth the sections will be. Granted your paper might change as you continue your research but this lets the professor know that you have thought this process out. And do not forget to include your current bibliography of sources.

Prospectus May Include:

WHAT

Scope of the Problem
Hypothesis
Definitions
Assumptions
Limitations

WHY (Justification)

Significance of Topic
Review of Related Research

HOW

Procedures/Methods
Organization
Results/Conclusions expected
Bibliography

You do not need to include all of the items listed above. Each prospectus will be a little different depending on the topic and type of research that will be conducted. But you should have something under each of the three large sections (what, why how). I expect a prospectus to be 3-5 pages of text, NOT including the bibliography page. I would expect a minimum of three sources for your prospectus (and it really should be more!).

A prospectus should be written in prose, NOT in outline form.