Step By Step Guide on How to Write a Concept Paper for Research
1.
2. Step By Step Guide On How To Write A
Concept Paper For Research
Writing a concept paper serves as an efficient way to present the introduction
and basic concept of any thesis/project, etc. that a doctoral student or student
group wishes to pursue. However, often the students/student groups may have
no knowledge on how to write a concept paper, how it is helpful, what is its
purpose, etc. This article serves to tell how to write a concept paper for research
and provides essential tips to keep in mind while writing a concept paper. But
first, you should know what a concept paper is. A concept paper has the purpose
of being a prologue to a full research paper. The paper is expected to be
relatively short, and most are 2 to 5 pages long. An academic concept paper has
one objective: to attract potential sponsors and possibly get them to fund your
project or adopt your idea. A phd concept paper essentially saves time as the
review/thesis panel may decide against sponsoring your project.
3. Steps to Write a Concept Paper
Officially, there are no steps or set of rules that one needs to keep in mind when
writing a concept paper. However, writing a paper that is concise and
passionately explains your thesis/project is important. To ensure this, certain
steps should be adhered to. The steps to be followed when writing a concept
paper are given below:
● Create a rough structure of the paper and decide where to start and how to
finish your paper.
● Decide on a sponsor or the sponsors you would approach with your
paper. Choose a sponsor whose mission coincides with the ideas
discussed in your project.
● Now, you need to start writing your paper. As a start, it is advisable to
outline the problem or idea that your project focuses on. Place it into
appropriate context and elaborate on why it is important. This allows your
sponsors to recognize the basic concept of your project.
● Once you have stated your problem/idea, you need to explain your
reason or reasons for venturing into the project. This is called presenting
your rationale to the panel.
4. ● Upon establishing the purpose of your project, you need to define how
your project would work and explain your hypothesis or the basics
involved with your method. Include a timeline for your project as well.
This helps the sponsor understand your project better.
● After this, provide a general but well-structured analysis on the initial
budget required for your project. This analysis helps justify the need to
fund your project and allows the sponsor to decide whether your project
has scope or not.
● Include contact info at the end of the paper so that the sponsors can reach
out to you. Include your email, phone number, home address, etc.
● Proofreading your concept paper multiple times is necessary. This helps
identify and consequently rectify your errors if any.
● If you are a group of students, establish the role of each student before
writing the paper. Decide on which student writes the paper, who does the
research involved, who contacts the sponsors, etc. Defining the role of
each person will reduce confusion and increase overall efficiency.
Tips for Efficient Writing
Clear and ardent concept paper writing is imperative if you want your sponsors
to fund your project. An idea, no matter how innovative, is rendered useless if it
isn’t properly explained. Given below are some tips to ensure that you write a
paper that convinces the sponsor to fund your project:
● Start your paper with an attention-grabbing fact or statement that is
related to the problem or idea your project focuses on. This helps ignite
interest in the sponsors in the beginning.
● Emphasizing the uniqueness of your project helps you stand out among
competitors in front of your sponsors and gives you a distinct advantage.
● Giving detailed examples on how you would review your project at
different stages would show your sponsors that you are serious about
your project. This would lend credibility to your paper as well.
● Ending with a project summary helps the sponsor retrospect and put each
component of your project into perspective.
● The concept paper should be neat and tidy.
● The language of the paper is very important. It should indicate that you
are confident in your project. Another vital factor is the vocabulary you
5. use. For general organizations, usage of scientific terminology should be
reduced and key concepts must be properly explained. However, for
sponsors such as a scientific institution, using technical jargon is better.
Strict devotion to these tips would drastically increase the chances of the
sponsors approving your project.
You can look on more informations about
concept papers here:
http://www.conceptpaper.org/