Creating A High-Quality Dissertation Proposal In Sociology
When working on a Sociology Ph.D. there are some basic principles you need to follow to write a great dissertation proposal. Your department and advisor may have very specific requirements, but following the following principles should help you create a high-quality sociology dissertation proposal:
- Basics and General Advice
- Creating the Proposal Title
- Writing the Abstract Section
- Creating the Introduction and Background
- Statement of the Dissertation Problem
- Writing the Review of Literature
- Creating the Methodology Section
- Bibliography and References
When working on your project you should start by first creating a research and writing schedule, even for the first stage when you are first writing your dissertation proposal. Start freewriting and keep in mind that no one but you will need to look at these ideas. Get started to help develop a writing routine you can carry with you as you move through each stage.
At this point of the project you only need to submit a working title. You and your advisor may decide to change this at a later stage when you have more information and have conducted a larger portion of your research.
Sociology will require an abstract section that is slightly different from those in other disciplines. This is basically an overview of the major sections in your project. You may want to look at a sample proposal in your discipline to get an idea of what is required in a sociology dissertation.
The introduction and background section of this document is important in that it puts your project in conversation with other similar topics. Your graduate advisor will use your brief introduction to formulate any questions about what your work will mean in the greater context of the discipline.
This section generally follows the introduction and only requires about a sentence or two in which you state what the problem you are attempting to solve, or in other words the purpose of your research work. You may want to meet with your advisor before formally submitting this to ensure the purpose of your work meets graduate requirements.
This section is a simple but critical look at the existing resource materials you are intended on researching because of their significance to your topic. You aren’t likely to have read many of the works listed here, but you should have some idea of what they are about and how they fit into your project.
Depending on the kind of work you will be doing you should include a methodology section that mentions you will be conducting a survey, collecting and reviewing data, analyzing and interpreting existing data, etc. Again, you might need to consult with your advisor before formally submitting your proposal.
Lastly, you should include a bibliography or list of references you plan on consulting, whether or not you intend on including them in your final dissertation. This lets your advisor know the extent in which you have thought out your project and shows that you plan on doing a comprehensive work.
Search dissertation samples
How we work
We are not a custom writing service - we are a team of professional freelance and
editors, who have successfully completed their degrees. We know how hard it is to conduct research and actually write a solid dissertation - sometimes it takes years. Our goal is to ease your burden.