Subject Guides: Advanced Criminology & Criminal Justice Research Guide: Your Thesis Proposal

Nadine Anderson, Behavioral Sciences and Women's & Gender Studies Librarian

she/her/hers

Contact:

4021 CASL/1153B ML
nfanders@umich.edu

Subjects: Anthropology, Behavioral and Biological Sciences, Criminal Justice, Faculty Resources, Food Studies, Integrative Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Women's & Gender Studies

Preparing your thesis proposal

For your Thesis Proposal, you will prepare a written document that includes an Introduction section and a Methods section.

Introduction: includes the problem to be studied, theory that is guiding the research/review of current literature, relevance of the work, and specific study hypothesis. Your introduction should demonstrate the expertise you've developed in your research area, but also be more than just a summary of the articles you've read. Your introduction should be a compelling narrative about the research trails you followed, how they build up to your study hypothesis, and why your research study is original and important.

1. Follow the steps outlined under Identify Research Gaps to identify a research gap in the literature

2. Go to Start Finding Sources, Search Databases, and Browse Journals to find journal articles for your research area.

3. Go to Analyze Your Articles and Use Your Sources to analyze and evaluate your sources and use them to build your hypothesis and arguments for your research study.

4. Use your Map of the Literature (scroll down to Step 3 from the landing page) to help structure your introduction and avoid unconscious plagiarism.

Step 1: Get started by considering your central thesis question of your proposed thesis study

Step 2: Identify the information that you want to use from your sources

What key information, issues, theories, approaches, evidence, and/or arguments will help you address and build your thesis study?

Step 3: Identify relationships, links, and common themes

What relationships and links do you see between the information you want to use from each of your sources?
What common themes and arguments can you build from the information and evidence in your sources?

Step 4: Arrange themes and arguments

How can you arrange your themes and arguments hierarchically and sequentially so that they logically build towards a compelling evidence-based about your proposed thesis study?

Research Methods: includes proposed subject recruitment, measures to be used, procedures to be follow, and proposed data analysis plan. These should be based on the methods used in the articles that you read and discussed in your Introduction section.