Research Proposals: The Introduction

The introduction to your research proposal must develop background on the problem or subject you intend to discuss, briefly define and describe the subject with enough clarity to help the reader understand it, and then announce the purpose of the proposal itself.

This section of your proposal should be 2-3 paragraphs in length

Para 1: Develop Background

  • Spend your introductory paragraph laying the groundwork for the problem or subject with specific details. In other words, you’re providing background. Please note that the intro for the Informational Report is quite a bit longer than the one produced for the Recommendation Report!

Sample Para 1 for a Recommendation Report

Virginia Tech offers undergraduate and graduate programs of study to over 33,000 students; in Fall 2017, the university accepted a freshman class of over 6,800 students, many of whom joined the more than 9,000 students living on campus. In addition to the many students who live and walk around campus at all hours of the day, the university also employs over 7,000 professors, faculty, and service staff members. People are always arriving to campus early, and many of them do not leave until late in the evening.

Sample Para 1-4 for an Informational Report for Non-Expert Readers

In 2012, humanity broke reality.

With the turning on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, we smacked it just well enough to completely change the way we look at our universe and existence.

By now, you’ve probably at least heard of the Higgs boson particle (its discovery did award two scientists the Nobel Prize in physics) but perhaps you don’t know how important it is. While it is important, it’s actually not the most important thing about the discovery.

The particle itself is an extremely interesting and monumental find, but it was just a means to an end to prove the existence of the Higgs Field. The existence of the Higgs Field is crucial to understanding the very building blocks of our entire universe. Without it, there would literally be no matter—there would be nothing.

Para 2: Define and Describe the Problem or Subject

  • Define and describe the problem or subject you intend to study in the report. If you are producing a technical report, it should be a focused problem and as solvable as you can make it. If you are writing an informational report for non-expert readers, define the subject as neatly as you can and describe it in brief.
  • Use concrete examples and details to describe the problem or subject.

Sample Para 2 for a Recommendation Report

With the large number of people regularly entering, leaving, and moving around campus, the need for safety both during the day and at night is paramount. Many students, residents of, and visitors to campus have noticed a significant lack of lighting in certain areas, such as parking garages, as well as a slow response to maintenance for broken lights. In order to ensure the well-being and safety of individuals on and around campus after dark, we believe that the university should dedicate resources to implement more lighting in areas of need.

Sample Para 5-7 for an Informational Report for Non-Expert Readers

So what exactly is the Higgs Field? What does it do? The Higgs Field can be best described as an invisible jelly that the entire universe is swimming in. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, you can’t hear it. But, certain interactions with this invisible jelly gives all elementary particles mass. In simpler terms, the Higgs Field gives atoms mass. It makes matter tangible. So how did we even go about discovering a completely invisible and intangible field?

Experimental Particle Physicist James Beacham illustrates this experiment with an analogy involving a bridge, a rock, and a river:

Imagine, if you will, that you’re standing on a tall bridge on a cool summer night. You’re with a good friend who tells you that there is a river down below. You can’t hear the river, when you look down all you can see is brown, which could just be dirt or mud. Naturally, you don’t believe them, so to put their claim to the test, you toss a rock down from the bridge and in a few seconds, you hear it hit water and see a small splash.

In this analogy, the “rock” was the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the “splash” was the Higgs boson particle, and the “river” was the Higgs Field.

Para 3: End with Purpose Statement

  • Spell out exactly what you want to study in your recommendation report.
  • Make sure you use the introductory clause (shown in bold in the examples).
  • Notice how the two samples mention the two different types of reports, depending upon which one the writer(s) will be producing.

Sample Para 3 for Recommendation Report

For our recommendation report in this course, our group would like to propose the installation and maintenance of additional lighting in areas of campus that people often indicate are too dark, such as the North End and Perry Street garages and locations near the Duck Pond.

Sample Para 8 for Informational Report for Non-Expert Readers

For my informational report for non-expert readers, I would like to research and write about the Higgs boson particle, its discovery, and what it does and could potentially mean in the future.