Introduction to Research Proposal : Road to Final Year Project (FYP)

Although this post is dedicated to the third and fourth semester students of LG 240, anyone who are anticipated to write their Final Year Project (FYP) are welcome to read on.




There will be a Research Methodology subject during the Fourth Semester where the lecturers expect you to have a topic in mind for your research proposal, which will be used for your FYP, which they expect you to think about since the first semester. . So that's why I'm writing this to help you prepare for the inevitable.

1. You need to have a topic that is related to the English Language and communication

Try to do some research that has become popular in the past 5 years, as most of your references will have to be around less than 10 years from its publication date. (In my case, my references should be in the 2007-2018 year range).

Examples of topics for research proposal:

• Language and technology
• Pragmatics
• Linguistic Elements
• Barriers in Communication
• Pronunciation
• Workplace Communication

2. Try to have 2 or 3 topics in mind . Better yet, make it 4 .

You need to come up with 3 proposed topics for your research proposal. From your topics, they will assign you to your respective supervisors.

Topic approval is purely on luck. Certain supervisors may accept your topic without any hiccups, some may require you tweak it a bit or narrow it down as your topic may be too general or reject it altogether (god forbid). If that happens, go cry first in a corner and then come back to fight the battle.Try to get to know your topic thoroughly as you may be asked about it.

3.  Be mindful of the time and requirements. 

Always, always try to make time to see your supervisor as you need their signature as part of the submission. Some of them may be too busy to meet your face-to-face but then again, try to remind  them of the subject requirements. I suggest to make both of your lives easier by having all the necessary documents in hand whenever an impromptu appointment comes by. 

In the end, always remember that the supervisor is there to guide you but the Research Methodology lecturers will be the ones that will assess your research proposal . 

In my next post, I'll share about what I've learnt in this class and hopefully it can give you a better insight on the process on writing a research paper .