#2 Scholarship Hunter's Survival : How to Write Research Proposal for University Enrollment. Sample is available!
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Nowadays, Pursuing education is essential for all mankind all over the world, we deserve education for better life and future. Of course, university tuition is not cheap at all, did not include books, research, accommodation and money during your study, when you started to calculate, you will blown up with the numbers and directly close your book and try to forget! but how could we give up? Luckily, scholarship announcements are everywhere and universities which offer free tuition or loans even easier to find.
As citizen of third world countries who comes from medium-low family economic conditions, some people prefer to find sponsor like scholarship to fund their study. Eventually, it is not easy to get scholarship. Scholarship committee require high quality of people who able to finish their study on time and will utilize their knowledge for the sake of their country right after their finish their study. In order to reach these kind of people, scholarship committee give several requirement such as GPA, English Proficiency, GRE/GMAT, Preference from Professor, motivation letter and others.
After, we discussed about motivation letter, another important requirement in scholarship and university enrollment that we will talk today is research proposal. If you are applying a research master program instead of course work, you will definitely need research proposal, this is preparation for master program or bachelor but if you are applying for phD course, unfortunately this trivial research will not be so useful for you, but feel free to read to get some inspiration!
Tips and Tricks to Write Research Proposal
Find topic of research, if you are finding your prospective university and course, you can start to make 3000 words essay that talks about your research which will you conduct during your study period, the brief and clear one is recommended. Find a topic that relevant to your study and you put interest on it. You can start to find problem around your field and begin to work with hypothesis.
Find literature and sources, After finding a topic or problem which is needed to solve, we can continue to find journals, articles related to your topic. It could be books, news, articles or even to re-assure you can consult with professors. Sources will help you to expand your theme, give you inspiration and give you right procedure of methods that probably need some improvement with the fittest of yours.
Draft, Having themes and sources, now it's time to write drafts, point out of the problem, aim of research, sample and population, the MOST IMPORTANT is METHOD, find right method for your project will easier you during work. In addition, we could try to compile it into two pages of essay and do not forget to cite.
Find professors that work in the same field of your prospective research, it probably the best idea to find it earlier and initiate correspondent regarding your project. If they seem interested with the project, they could recommend you to committee or even better you can receive Letter of acceptance (LoA).
This is sample of my previous research proposal. I did not mention the specific university that I have applied, but basically it was educational research, next time I will post sample of research proposal for science. I hope it could be useful for you! :)
We will determine that education is not only problem in a country but also become major crisis in all over the world. Because Education is one of major parts affected the most in new generations. It appears that physical facilities in the school setting go a long way to motivate students to learn (Akomolafe, et.al, 2016).
I am planning to conduct research about school facilities, spesifically my future thesis would discuss about the relation among school facilities (physical), level of motivation and academic performance of students. The questions of measurement to physical facilities including school buildings, classrooms, library, laboratories, toilet facilities and other materials and infrastructure that motivate student toward learning process, also how far is it affect on their motivation to study and performance in grade.
The aim of this research is to encouraging policymakers and educators should be given physical facilities as priority and also support OECD’s PISA survey 2015 data. In addition comparison between two different countries regarding physical facilities could encourage Indonesia as low ranks on OECD’s PISA Survey 2015 that shown global school standard rank to improve their lack facilities and adapt Australian system that is clasffied as High ranking in Science, Math and Student Performance. The question of this research is “Does physical facilities in school affect on level of motivation and student achievement?. Futhermore comparison between two cities produce another question, Is there any difference physical facilities between Melbourne and Banda Aceh and how is affect level of motivation and student achievement?.
The condition of school facilities especially in secondary schools today should appear as a great concern to educators and policymakers. School facilities have a measurable impact on the achievement of our children. From kindergarten through high school, the environment in which our students learn affects their performance and ultimately their future (CIS Oregon, 2016).
Inadequate physical activities have some adverse effect on student’s interest to learn (Akomolafe, et.al, 2016)
Furthermore we all know the consequences that come when the unprepared students of today struggle to join the workforce tomorrow. They would insist to face the global stream with or without enough preparation. The study will adopt ex-post facto design, it was considered because it examines the cause and effect relationship between one variable and the other. It will describe the relationship between school facilities and academic performance.
The population consist of high school students in two cities in Australia and South-west Asia: Melbourne and Banda Aceh. The subject plan to comprised 200 senior secondary students from cities over continent, the sampled cities are Melbourne and Banda Aceh. The reason why I choose divergent cities from completely distant location is literate on OECD’s PISA survey 2015 that shown global school standard rank. This survey encourage me to drawing a concept from the point of view of physical facilities in high school.
Based on the map’s survey Melbourne, Australia was classified as high ranking and Banda Aceh, Indonesia was classified as low ranking (www.oecd.org/pisa, 2015)
The use of internet questionnaire to elicit information from respondents on the impact of physical school facilties. self-designed questionnaire would be made as inventory of data from respondent that would be validated by help of experts in educational research, educational management and professor in Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) also relation from my previous work in Banda Aceh. The questions of measurement to physical facilities including school buildings, classrooms, library, laboratories, toilet facilities and other materials and infrastructure that motivate student toward learning process, also how far is it affect on their motivation to study and performance in grade.
The reliability of the instrument was determined using test re-test methods and Pearson Product moment was used to test the hypothesis with 0,05 level of significance. Because the samples spread into distances, internet questionnaire is the best way to gain information and with some helps from national and international contacts of the program’s staff of University of Melbourne and previous project that Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) has been conducted.
Moreover, I believe Master of Education (Educational Management): Research, Course code: 960EB University of Melbourne, Australia could provide me advance facilities and experts to guide me in my major of study to conduct this research. I realize this research sounds ambitious for beginner like me but I know I could have tremendous improvement if I get a chance to study in University of Melbourne, I will able to participate in one of the research group and acquire in depth knowledge of global education management and familiarity with relevant research methodology and practical experience while conducting my own project.
I understand the project still in raw concepts and there is a some parts that need to revise. Moreover it would be an owner to me to if Master of Education (Educational Management): Research, University of Melbourne, Australia consider my project plan “The impact of school facilities on student’s level of motivation and academic performance in high school in Melbourne, Autralia and Banda Aceh, Indonesia”. I hope my research intent will be considered favorably. Thank you very much.
Reference
Akiri. A.A. 2013. Effects of Teachers’s Effectiveness on Student’s Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools; Delta State-Nigeria. Journal of Educational and Social Research 3(3). MCSER Publisher: Rome.
Akomofale, C.O, et al. 2016. The Impact of Physical Facilities on Student’s Level of Motivation and Academic Performance in Senior Secondary Schools in South West Nigeria. Journal of Education and Practice 7 (4) : 38-42.
Blazer, C. 2012. The Impact of School Buildings on Learning. Information Capsules Research Services 1204.
CisforOregon. School Facilities and Student Achievement. A project of Innovation Partnership. Center For Innovative School Facilities. Available at : https://www.osba.org. Accessed June, 2016.
Hijazi, S.T. and S.M.M. Raza Naqvi. 2006. Factors affecting students’s performance: A Case of Private College. Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology 3(1).
Mushtaq, I and Shabana Nawaz Khan. 2012. Factors Affecting Student’s Academic Performance. Global Journal of Management and Business Research 12(9). Global Journal INC: USA.
Program for International Student Assessment. 2015. PISA Database Survey 2015. Available at : http://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/. Accessed June 2017.
Schneider, M. 2002. “Do school Facilties Affect Acedemic Outcomes?”. National Clearing house for Educational Facilities. National Institute of Building Science.
