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The word count for research proposals is typically 1,000-1,500 words for Arts programmes and around 2,500 words for Birmingham Law School programmes. Each subject area or department will have slightly different requirements for your research proposal, such as word length and the volume of literature review required. It is a good idea to contact the department before you apply.
Typically, your research proposal should include the following information:
3. research context.
A well-written introduction is an efficient way of getting your reader’s attention early on. This is your opportunity to answer the questions you considered when preparing your proposal: why is your research important? How does it fit into the existing strengths of the department? How will it add something new to the existing body of literature?
It is unlikely that you will be able to review all relevant literature at this stage, so you should explain the broad contextual background against which you will conduct your research. You should include a brief overview of the general area of study within which your proposed research falls, summarising the current state of knowledge and recent debates on the topic. This will allow you to demonstrate a familiarity with key texts in the relevant field as well as the ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
The proposal should set out the central aims and key questions that will guide your research. Many research proposals are too broad, so make sure that your project is sufficiently narrow and feasible (i.e. something that is likely to be completed within the normal time frame for a PhD programme).
You might find it helpful to prioritise one or two main questions, from which you can then derive a number of secondary research questions. The proposal should also explain your intended approach to answering the questions: will your approach be empirical, doctrinal or theoretical, etc.?
How will you achieve your research objectives? The proposal should present your research methodology, using specific examples to explain how you are going to conduct your research (e.g. techniques, sample size, target populations, equipment, data analysis, etc.).
Your methods may include visiting particular libraries or archives, field work or interviews. If your proposed research is library-based, you should explain where your key resources are located. If you plan to conduct field work or collect empirical data, you should provide details about this (e.g. if you plan interviews, who will you interview? How many interviews will you conduct? Will there be problems of access?). This section should also explain how you are going to analyse your research findings.
A discussion of the timescale for completing your research would also beneficial. You should provide a realistic time plan for completing your research degree study, showing a realistic appreciation of the need to plan your research and how long it is likely to take. It is important that you are not over-optimistic with time frames.
The proposal should demonstrate the originality of your intended research. You should therefore explain why your research is important (for example, by explaining how your research builds on and adds to the current state of knowledge in the field or by setting out reasons why it is timely to research your proposed topic) and providing details of any immediate applications, including further research that might be done to build on your findings.
Please refer to our top tips page for further details about originality.
Read our top tips for writing a research proposal
One of the most important aspects of a thesis, dissertation or research paper is the correct formulation of the aims and objectives. This is because your aims and objectives will establish the scope, depth and direction that your research will ultimately take. An effective set of aims and objectives will give your research focus and your reader clarity, with your aims indicating what is to be achieved, and your objectives indicating how it will be achieved.
There is no getting away from the importance of the aims and objectives in determining the success of your research project. Unfortunately, however, it is an aspect that many students struggle with, and ultimately end up doing poorly. Given their importance, if you suspect that there is even the smallest possibility that you belong to this group of students, we strongly recommend you read this page in full.
This page describes what research aims and objectives are, how they differ from each other, how to write them correctly, and the common mistakes students make and how to avoid them. An example of a good aim and objectives from a past thesis has also been deconstructed to help your understanding.
Research aims.
A research aim describes the main goal or the overarching purpose of your research project.
In doing so, it acts as a focal point for your research and provides your readers with clarity as to what your study is all about. Because of this, research aims are almost always located within its own subsection under the introduction section of a research document, regardless of whether it’s a thesis , a dissertation, or a research paper .
A research aim is usually formulated as a broad statement of the main goal of the research and can range in length from a single sentence to a short paragraph. Although the exact format may vary according to preference, they should all describe why your research is needed (i.e. the context), what it sets out to accomplish (the actual aim) and, briefly, how it intends to accomplish it (overview of your objectives).
To give an example, we have extracted the following research aim from a real PhD thesis:
The role of diametrical cup deformation as a factor to unsatisfactory implant performance has not been widely reported. The aim of this thesis was to gain an understanding of the diametrical deformation behaviour of acetabular cups and shells following impaction into the reamed acetabulum. The influence of a range of factors on deformation was investigated to ascertain if cup and shell deformation may be high enough to potentially contribute to early failure and high wear rates in metal-on-metal implants.
Note: Extracted with permission from thesis titled “T he Impact And Deformation Of Press-Fit Metal Acetabular Components ” produced by Dr H Hothi of previously Queen Mary University of London.
Where a research aim specifies what your study will answer, research objectives specify how your study will answer it.
They divide your research aim into several smaller parts, each of which represents a key section of your research project. As a result, almost all research objectives take the form of a numbered list, with each item usually receiving its own chapter in a dissertation or thesis.
Following the example of the research aim shared above, here are it’s real research objectives as an example:
It’s worth noting that researchers sometimes use research questions instead of research objectives, or in other cases both. From a high-level perspective, research questions and research objectives make the same statements, but just in different formats.
Taking the first three research objectives as an example, they can be restructured into research questions as follows:
Hopefully the above explanations make clear the differences between aims and objectives, but to clarify:
Before we discuss how to write a clear set of research aims and objectives, we should make it clear that there is no single way they must be written. Each researcher will approach their aims and objectives slightly differently, and often your supervisor will influence the formulation of yours on the basis of their own preferences.
Regardless, there are some basic principles that you should observe for good practice; these principles are described below.
Your aim should be made up of three parts that answer the below questions:
The easiest way to achieve this would be to address each question in its own sentence, although it does not matter whether you combine them or write multiple sentences for each, the key is to address each one.
The first question, why , provides context to your research project, the second question, what , describes the aim of your research, and the last question, how , acts as an introduction to your objectives which will immediately follow.
Scroll through the image set below to see the ‘why, what and how’ associated with our research aim example.
Note: Your research aims need not be limited to one. Some individuals per to define one broad ‘overarching aim’ of a project and then adopt two or three specific research aims for their thesis or dissertation. Remember, however, that in order for your assessors to consider your research project complete, you will need to prove you have fulfilled all of the aims you set out to achieve. Therefore, while having more than one research aim is not necessarily disadvantageous, consider whether a single overarching one will do.
Each of your research objectives should be SMART :
In addition to being SMART, your research objectives should start with a verb that helps communicate your intent. Common research verbs include:
(Understanding and organising information) | (Solving problems using information) | (reaching conclusion from evidence) | (Breaking down into components) | (Judging merit) |
Review Identify Explore Discover Discuss Summarise Describe | Interpret Apply Demonstrate Establish Determine Estimate Calculate Relate | Analyse Compare Inspect Examine Verify Select Test Arrange | Propose Design Formulate Collect Construct Prepare Undertake Assemble | Appraise Evaluate Compare Assess Recommend Conclude Select |
Last, format your objectives into a numbered list. This is because when you write your thesis or dissertation, you will at times need to make reference to a specific research objective; structuring your research objectives in a numbered list will provide a clear way of doing this.
To bring all this together, let’s compare the first research objective in the previous example with the above guidance:
Research Objective:
1. Develop finite element models using explicit dynamics to mimic mallet blows during cup/shell insertion, initially using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum.
Checking Against Recommended Approach:
Q: Is it specific? A: Yes, it is clear what the student intends to do (produce a finite element model), why they intend to do it (mimic cup/shell blows) and their parameters have been well-defined ( using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum ).
Q: Is it measurable? A: Yes, it is clear that the research objective will be achieved once the finite element model is complete.
Q: Is it achievable? A: Yes, provided the student has access to a computer lab, modelling software and laboratory data.
Q: Is it relevant? A: Yes, mimicking impacts to a cup/shell is fundamental to the overall aim of understanding how they deform when impacted upon.
Q: Is it timebound? A: Yes, it is possible to create a limited-scope finite element model in a relatively short time, especially if you already have experience in modelling.
Q: Does it start with a verb? A: Yes, it starts with ‘develop’, which makes the intent of the objective immediately clear.
Q: Is it a numbered list? A: Yes, it is the first research objective in a list of eight.
1. making your research aim too broad.
Having a research aim too broad becomes very difficult to achieve. Normally, this occurs when a student develops their research aim before they have a good understanding of what they want to research. Remember that at the end of your project and during your viva defence , you will have to prove that you have achieved your research aims; if they are too broad, this will be an almost impossible task. In the early stages of your research project, your priority should be to narrow your study to a specific area. A good way to do this is to take the time to study existing literature, question their current approaches, findings and limitations, and consider whether there are any recurring gaps that could be investigated .
Note: Achieving a set of aims does not necessarily mean proving or disproving a theory or hypothesis, even if your research aim was to, but having done enough work to provide a useful and original insight into the principles that underlie your research aim.
Be realistic about what you can achieve in the time you have available. It is natural to want to set ambitious research objectives that require sophisticated data collection and analysis, but only completing this with six months before the end of your PhD registration period is not a worthwhile trade-off.
Each research objective should have its own purpose and distinct measurable outcome. To this effect, a common mistake is to form research objectives which have large amounts of overlap. This makes it difficult to determine when an objective is truly complete, and also presents challenges in estimating the duration of objectives when creating your project timeline. It also makes it difficult to structure your thesis into unique chapters, making it more challenging for you to write and for your audience to read.
Fortunately, this oversight can be easily avoided by using SMART objectives.
Hopefully, you now have a good idea of how to create an effective set of aims and objectives for your research project, whether it be a thesis, dissertation or research paper. While it may be tempting to dive directly into your research, spending time on getting your aims and objectives right will give your research clear direction. This won’t only reduce the likelihood of problems arising later down the line, but will also lead to a more thorough and coherent research project.
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Pitchai balakumar.
Pharmacology Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University, Semeling, 08100 Bedong. Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia
1 Department of Pharmacology, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
2 Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, USA
An interactive workshop on ‘The Critical Steps for Successful Research: The Research Proposal and Scientific Writing’ was conducted in conjunction with the 64 th Annual Conference of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress-2012 at Chennai, India. In essence, research is performed to enlighten our understanding of a contemporary issue relevant to the needs of society. To accomplish this, a researcher begins search for a novel topic based on purpose, creativity, critical thinking, and logic. This leads to the fundamental pieces of the research endeavor: Question, objective, hypothesis, experimental tools to test the hypothesis, methodology, and data analysis. When correctly performed, research should produce new knowledge. The four cornerstones of good research are the well-formulated protocol or proposal that is well executed, analyzed, discussed and concluded. This recent workshop educated researchers in the critical steps involved in the development of a scientific idea to its successful execution and eventual publication.
Creativity and critical thinking are of particular importance in scientific research. Basically, research is original investigation undertaken to gain knowledge and understand concepts in major subject areas of specialization, and includes the generation of ideas and information leading to new or substantially improved scientific insights with relevance to the needs of society. Hence, the primary objective of research is to produce new knowledge. Research is both theoretical and empirical. It is theoretical because the starting point of scientific research is the conceptualization of a research topic and development of a research question and hypothesis. Research is empirical (practical) because all of the planned studies involve a series of observations, measurements, and analyses of data that are all based on proper experimental design.[ 1 – 9 ]
The subject of this report is to inform readers of the proceedings from a recent workshop organized by the 64 th Annual conference of the ‘ Indian Pharmaceutical Congress ’ at SRM University, Chennai, India, from 05 to 06 December 2012. The objectives of the workshop titled ‘The Critical Steps for Successful Research: The Research Proposal and Scientific Writing,’ were to assist participants in developing a strong fundamental understanding of how best to develop a research or study protocol, and communicate those research findings in a conference setting or scientific journal. Completing any research project requires meticulous planning, experimental design and execution, and compilation and publication of findings in the form of a research paper. All of these are often unfamiliar to naïve researchers; thus, the purpose of this workshop was to teach participants to master the critical steps involved in the development of an idea to its execution and eventual publication of the results (See the last section for a list of learning objectives).
The two-day workshop was formatted to include key lectures and interactive breakout sessions that focused on protocol development in six subject areas of the pharmaceutical sciences. This was followed by sessions on scientific writing. DAY 1 taught the basic concepts of scientific research, including: (1) how to formulate a topic for research and to describe the what, why , and how of the protocol, (2) biomedical literature search and review, (3) study designs, statistical concepts, and result analyses, and (4) publication ethics. DAY 2 educated the attendees on the basic elements and logistics of writing a scientific paper and thesis, and preparation of poster as well as oral presentations.
The final phase of the workshop was the ‘Panel Discussion,’ including ‘Feedback/Comments’ by participants. There were thirteen distinguished speakers from India and abroad. Approximately 120 post-graduate and pre-doctoral students, young faculty members, and scientists representing industries attended the workshop from different parts of the country. All participants received a printed copy of the workshop manual and supporting materials on statistical analyses of data.
A research project generally comprises four key components: (1) writing a protocol, (2) performing experiments, (3) tabulating and analyzing data, and (4) writing a thesis or manuscript for publication.
A protocol, whether experimental or clinical, serves as a navigator that evolves from a basic outline of the study plan to become a qualified research or grant proposal. It provides the structural support for the research. Dr. G. Jagadeesh (US FDA), the first speaker of the session, spoke on ‘ Fundamentals in research process and cornerstones of a research project .’ He discussed at length the developmental and structural processes in preparing a research protocol. A systematic and step-by-step approach is necessary in planning a study. Without a well-designed protocol, there would be a little chance for successful completion of a research project or an experiment.
The first and the foremost difficult task in research is to identify a topic for investigation. The research topic is the keystone of the entire scientific enterprise. It begins the project, drives the entire study, and is crucial for moving the project forward. It dictates the remaining elements of the study [ Table 1 ] and thus, it should not be too narrow or too broad or unfocused. Because of these potential pitfalls, it is essential that a good or novel scientific idea be based on a sound concept. Creativity, critical thinking, and logic are required to generate new concepts and ideas in solving a research problem. Creativity involves critical thinking and is associated with generating many ideas. Critical thinking is analytical, judgmental, and involves evaluating choices before making a decision.[ 4 ] Thus, critical thinking is convergent type thinking that narrows and refines those divergent ideas and finally settles to one idea for an in-depth study. The idea on which a research project is built should be novel, appropriate to achieve within the existing conditions, and useful to the society at large. Therefore, creativity and critical thinking assist biomedical scientists in research that results in funding support, novel discovery, and publication.[ 1 , 4 ]
Elements of a study protocol
The next most crucial aspect of a study protocol is identifying a research question. It should be a thought-provoking question. The question sets the framework. It emerges from the title, findings/results, and problems observed in previous studies. Thus, mastering the literature, attendance at conferences, and discussion in journal clubs/seminars are sources for developing research questions. Consider the following example in developing related research questions from the research topic.
Hepatoprotective activity of Terminalia arjuna and Apium graveolens on paracetamol-induced liver damage in albino rats.
How is paracetamol metabolized in the body? Does it involve P450 enzymes? How does paracetamol cause liver injury? What are the mechanisms by which drugs can alleviate liver damage? What biochemical parameters are indicative of liver injury? What major endogenous inflammatory molecules are involved in paracetamol-induced liver damage?
A research question is broken down into more precise objectives. The objectives lead to more precise methods and definition of key terms. The objectives should be SMART-Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-framed,[ 10 ] and should cover the entire breadth of the project. The objectives are sometimes organized into hierarchies: Primary, secondary, and exploratory; or simply general and specific. Study the following example:
To evaluate the safety and tolerability of single oral doses of compound X in normal volunteers.
To assess the pharmacokinetic profile of compound X following single oral doses.
To evaluate the incidence of peripheral edema reported as an adverse event.
The objectives and research questions are then formulated into a workable or testable hypothesis. The latter forces us to think carefully about what comparisons will be needed to answer the research question, and establishes the format for applying statistical tests to interpret the results. The hypothesis should link a process to an existing or postulated biologic pathway. A hypothesis is written in a form that can yield measurable results. Studies that utilize statistics to compare groups of data should have a hypothesis. Consider the following example:
All biological research, including discovery science, is hypothesis-driven. However, not all studies need be conducted with a hypothesis. For example, descriptive studies (e.g., describing characteristics of a plant, or a chemical compound) do not need a hypothesis.[ 1 ]
Another important section to be included in the protocol is ‘significance of the study.’ Its purpose is to justify the need for the research that is being proposed (e.g., development of a vaccine for a disease). In summary, the proposed study should demonstrate that it represents an advancement in understanding and that the eventual results will be meaningful, contribute to the field, and possibly even impact society.
A literature search may be defined as the process of examining published sources of information on a research or review topic, thesis, grant application, chemical, drug, disease, or clinical trial, etc. The quantity of information available in print or electronically (e.g., the internet) is immense and growing with time. A researcher should be familiar with the right kinds of databases and search engines to extract the needed information.[ 3 , 6 ]
Dr. P. Balakumar (Institute of Pharmacy, Rajendra Institute of Technology and Sciences, Sirsa, Haryana; currently, Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University, Malaysia) spoke on ‘ Biomedical literature: Searching, reviewing and referencing .’ He schematically explained the basis of scientific literature, designing a literature review, and searching literature. After an introduction to the genesis and diverse sources of scientific literature searches, the use of PubMed, one of the premier databases used for biomedical literature searches world-wide, was illustrated with examples and screenshots. Several companion databases and search engines are also used for finding information related to health sciences, and they include Embase, Web of Science, SciFinder, The Cochrane Library, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Scopus, and Google Scholar.[ 3 ] Literature searches using alternative interfaces for PubMed such as GoPubMed, Quertle, PubFocus, Pubget, and BibliMed were discussed. The participants were additionally informed of databases on chemistry, drugs and drug targets, clinical trials, toxicology, and laboratory animals (reviewed in ref[ 3 ]).
Referencing and bibliography are essential in scientific writing and publication.[ 7 ] Referencing systems are broadly classified into two major types, such as Parenthetical and Notation systems. Parenthetical referencing is also known as Harvard style of referencing, while Vancouver referencing style and ‘Footnote’ or ‘Endnote’ are placed under Notation referencing systems. The participants were educated on each referencing system with examples.
Dr. Raj Rajasekaran (University of California at San Diego, CA, USA) enlightened the audience on ‘ bibliography management ’ using reference management software programs such as Reference Manager ® , Endnote ® , and Zotero ® for creating and formatting bibliographies while writing a manuscript for publication. The discussion focused on the use of bibliography management software in avoiding common mistakes such as incomplete references. Important steps in bibliography management, such as creating reference libraries/databases, searching for references using PubMed/Google scholar, selecting and transferring selected references into a library, inserting citations into a research article and formatting bibliographies, were presented. A demonstration of Zotero®, a freely available reference management program, included the salient features of the software, adding references from PubMed using PubMed ID, inserting citations and formatting using different styles.
The workshop systematically instructed the participants in writing ‘ experimental protocols ’ in six disciplines of Pharmaceutical Sciences.: (1) Pharmaceutical Chemistry (presented by Dr. P. V. Bharatam, NIPER, Mohali, Punjab); (2) Pharmacology (presented by Dr. G. Jagadeesh and Dr. P. Balakumar); (3) Pharmaceutics (presented by Dr. Jayant Khandare, Piramal Life Sciences, Mumbai); (4) Pharmacy Practice (presented by Dr. Shobha Hiremath, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru); (5) Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry (presented by Dr. Salma Khanam, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru); and (6) Pharmaceutical Analysis (presented by Dr. Saranjit Singh, NIPER, Mohali, Punjab). The purpose of the research plan is to describe the what (Specific Aims/Objectives), why (Background and Significance), and how (Design and Methods) of the proposal.
The research plan should answer the following questions: (a) what do you intend to do; (b) what has already been done in general, and what have other researchers done in the field; (c) why is this worth doing; (d) how is it innovative; (e) what will this new work add to existing knowledge; and (f) how will the research be accomplished?
In general, the format used by the faculty in all subjects is shown in Table 2 .
Elements of a research protocol
Biostatistics is a key component of biomedical research. Highly reputed journals like The Lancet, BMJ, Journal of the American Medical Association, and many other biomedical journals include biostatisticians on their editorial board or reviewers list. This indicates that a great importance is given for learning and correctly employing appropriate statistical methods in biomedical research. The post-lunch session on day 1 of the workshop was largely committed to discussion on ‘ Basic biostatistics .’ Dr. R. Raveendran (JIPMER, Puducherry) and Dr. Avijit Hazra (PGIMER, Kolkata) reviewed, in parallel sessions, descriptive statistics, probability concepts, sample size calculation, choosing a statistical test, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and ‘ P ’ values, parametric and non-parametric statistical tests, including analysis of variance (ANOVA), t tests, Chi-square test, type I and type II errors, correlation and regression, and summary statistics. This was followed by a practice and demonstration session. Statistics CD, compiled by Dr. Raveendran, was distributed to the participants before the session began and was demonstrated live. Both speakers worked on a variety of problems that involved both clinical and experimental data. They discussed through examples the experimental designs encountered in a variety of studies and statistical analyses performed for different types of data. For the benefit of readers, we have summarized statistical tests applied frequently for different experimental designs and post-hoc tests [ Figure 1 ].
Conceptual framework for statistical analyses of data. Of the two kinds of variables, qualitative (categorical) and quantitative (numerical), qualitative variables (nominal or ordinal) are not normally distributed. Numerical data that come from normal distributions are analyzed using parametric tests, if not; the data are analyzed using non-parametric tests. The most popularly used Student's t -test compares the means of two populations, data for this test could be paired or unpaired. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to compare the means of three or more independent populations that are normally distributed. Applying t test repeatedly in pair (multiple comparison), to compare the means of more than two populations, will increase the probability of type I error (false positive). In this case, for proper interpretation, we need to adjust the P values. Repeated measures ANOVA is used to compare the population means if more than two observations coming from same subject over time. The null hypothesis is rejected with a ‘ P ’ value of less than 0.05, and the difference in population means is considered to be statistically significant. Subsequently, appropriate post-hoc tests are used for pairwise comparisons of population means. Two-way or three-way ANOVA are considered if two (diet, dose) or three (diet, dose, strain) independent factors, respectively, are analyzed in an experiment (not described in the Figure). Categorical nominal unmatched variables (counts or frequencies) are analyzed by Chi-square test (not shown in the Figure)
The legitimate pursuit of scientific creativity is unfortunately being marred by a simultaneous increase in scientific misconduct. A disproportionate share of allegations involves scientists of many countries, and even from respected laboratories. Misconduct destroys faith in science and scientists and creates a hierarchy of fraudsters. Investigating misconduct also steals valuable time and resources. In spite of these facts, most researchers are not aware of publication ethics.
Day 1 of the workshop ended with a presentation on ‘ research and publication ethics ’ by Dr. M. K. Unnikrishnan (College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal). He spoke on the essentials of publication ethics that included plagiarism (attempting to take credit of the work of others), self-plagiarism (multiple publications by an author on the same content of work with slightly different wordings), falsification (manipulation of research data and processes and omitting critical data or results), gift authorship (guest authorship), ghostwriting (someone other than the named author (s) makes a major contribution), salami publishing (publishing many papers, with minor differences, from the same study), and sabotage (distracting the research works of others to halt their research completion). Additionally, Dr. Unnikrishnan pointed out the ‘ Ingelfinger rule ’ of stipulating that a scientist must not submit the same original research in two different journals. He also advised the audience that authorship is not just credit for the work but also responsibility for scientific contents of a paper. Although some Indian Universities are instituting preventive measures (e.g., use of plagiarism detecting software, Shodhganga digital archiving of doctoral theses), Dr. Unnikrishnan argued for a great need to sensitize young researchers on the nature and implications of scientific misconduct. Finally, he discussed methods on how editors and peer reviewers should ethically conduct themselves while managing a manuscript for publication.
Research outcomes are measured through quality publications. Scientists must not only ‘do’ science but must ‘write’ science. The story of the project must be told in a clear, simple language weaving in previous work done in the field, answering the research question, and addressing the hypothesis set forth at the beginning of the study. Scientific publication is an organic process of planning, researching, drafting, revising, and updating the current knowledge for future perspectives. Writing a research paper is no easier than the research itself. The lectures of Day 2 of the workshop dealt with the basic elements and logistics of writing a scientific paper.
Dr. Amitabh Prakash (Adis, Auckland, New Zealand) spoke on ‘ Learning how to write a good scientific paper .’ His presentation described the essential components of an original research paper and thesis (e.g., introduction, methods, results, and discussion [IMRaD]) and provided guidance on the correct order, in which data should appear within these sections. The characteristics of a good abstract and title and the creation of appropriate key words were discussed. Dr. Prakash suggested that the ‘title of a paper’ might perhaps have a chance to make a good impression, and the title might be either indicative (title that gives the purpose of the study) or declarative (title that gives the study conclusion). He also suggested that an abstract is a succinct summary of a research paper, and it should be specific, clear, and concise, and should have IMRaD structure in brief, followed by key words. Selection of appropriate papers to be cited in the reference list was also discussed. Various unethical authorships were enumerated, and ‘The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship’ was explained ( http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html ; also see Table 1 in reference #9). The session highlighted the need for transparency in medical publication and provided a clear description of items that needed to be included in the ‘Disclosures’ section (e.g., sources of funding for the study and potential conflicts of interest of all authors, etc.) and ‘Acknowledgements’ section (e.g., writing assistance and input from all individuals who did not meet the authorship criteria). The final part of the presentation was devoted to thesis writing, and Dr. Prakash provided the audience with a list of common mistakes that are frequently encountered when writing a manuscript.
The backbone of a study is description of results through Text, Tables, and Figures. Dr. S. B. Deshpande (Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India) spoke on ‘ Effective Presentation of Results .’ The Results section deals with the observations made by the authors and thus, is not hypothetical. This section is subdivided into three segments, that is, descriptive form of the Text, providing numerical data in Tables, and visualizing the observations in Graphs or Figures. All these are arranged in a sequential order to address the question hypothesized in the Introduction. The description in Text provides clear content of the findings highlighting the observations. It should not be the repetition of facts in tables or graphs. Tables are used to summarize or emphasize descriptive content in the text or to present the numerical data that are unrelated. Illustrations should be used when the evidence bearing on the conclusions of a paper cannot be adequately presented in a written description or in a Table. Tables or Figures should relate to each other logically in sequence and should be clear by themselves. Furthermore, the discussion is based entirely on these observations. Additionally, how the results are applied to further research in the field to advance our understanding of research questions was discussed.
Dr. Peush Sahni (All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) spoke on effectively ‘ structuring the Discussion ’ for a research paper. The Discussion section deals with a systematic interpretation of study results within the available knowledge. He said the section should begin with the most important point relating to the subject studied, focusing on key issues, providing link sentences between paragraphs, and ensuring the flow of text. Points were made to avoid history, not repeat all the results, and provide limitations of the study. The strengths and novel findings of the study should be provided in the discussion, and it should open avenues for future research and new questions. The Discussion section should end with a conclusion stating the summary of key findings. Dr. Sahni gave an example from a published paper for writing a Discussion. In another presentation titled ‘ Writing an effective title and the abstract ,’ Dr. Sahni described the important components of a good title, such as, it should be simple, concise, informative, interesting and eye-catching, accurate and specific about the paper's content, and should state the subject in full indicating study design and animal species. Dr. Sahni explained structured (IMRaD) and unstructured abstracts and discussed a few selected examples with the audience.
The next lecture of Dr. Amitabh Prakash on ‘ Language and style in scientific writing: Importance of terseness, shortness and clarity in writing ’ focused on the actual sentence construction, language, grammar and punctuation in scientific manuscripts. His presentation emphasized the importance of brevity and clarity in the writing of manuscripts describing biomedical research. Starting with a guide to the appropriate construction of sentences and paragraphs, attendees were given a brief overview of the correct use of punctuation with interactive examples. Dr. Prakash discussed common errors in grammar and proactively sought audience participation in correcting some examples. Additional discussion was centered on discouraging the use of redundant and expendable words, jargon, and the use of adjectives with incomparable words. The session ended with a discussion of words and phrases that are commonly misused (e.g., data vs . datum, affect vs . effect, among vs . between, dose vs . dosage, and efficacy/efficacious vs . effective/effectiveness) in biomedical research manuscripts.
The appropriateness in selecting the journal for submission and acceptance of the manuscript should be determined by the experience of an author. The corresponding author must have a rationale in choosing the appropriate journal, and this depends upon the scope of the study and the quality of work performed. Dr. Amitabh Prakash spoke on ‘ Working with journals: Selecting a journal, cover letter, peer review process and impact factor ’ by instructing the audience in assessing the true value of a journal, understanding principles involved in the peer review processes, providing tips on making an initial approach to the editorial office, and drafting an appropriate cover letter to accompany the submission. His presentation defined the metrics that are most commonly used to measure journal quality (e.g., impact factor™, Eigenfactor™ score, Article Influence™ score, SCOPUS 2-year citation data, SCImago Journal Rank, h-Index, etc.) and guided attendees on the relative advantages and disadvantages of using each metric. Factors to consider when assessing journal quality were discussed, and the audience was educated on the ‘green’ and ‘gold’ open access publication models. Various peer review models (e.g., double-blind, single-blind, non-blind) were described together with the role of the journal editor in assessing manuscripts and selecting suitable reviewers. A typical checklist sent to referees was shared with the attendees, and clear guidance was provided on the best way to address referee feedback. The session concluded with a discussion of the potential drawbacks of the current peer review system.
Posters have become an increasingly popular mode of presentation at conferences, as it can accommodate more papers per meeting, has no time constraint, provides a better presenter-audience interaction, and allows one to select and attend papers of interest. In Figure 2 , we provide instructions, design, and layout in preparing a scientific poster. In the final presentation, Dr. Sahni provided the audience with step-by-step instructions on how to write and format posters for layout, content, font size, color, and graphics. Attendees were given specific guidance on the format of text on slides, the use of color, font type and size, and the use of illustrations and multimedia effects. Moreover, the importance of practical tips while delivering oral or poster presentation was provided to the audience, such as speak slowly and clearly, be informative, maintain eye contact, and listen to the questions from judges/audience carefully before coming up with an answer.
Guidelines and design to scientific poster presentation. The objective of scientific posters is to present laboratory work in scientific meetings. A poster is an excellent means of communicating scientific work, because it is a graphic representation of data. Posters should have focus points, and the intended message should be clearly conveyed through simple sections: Text, Tables, and Graphs. Posters should be clear, succinct, striking, and eye-catching. Colors should be used only where necessary. Use one font (Arial or Times New Roman) throughout. Fancy fonts should be avoided. All headings should have font size of 44, and be in bold capital letters. Size of Title may be a bit larger; subheading: Font size of 36, bold and caps. References and Acknowledgments, if any, should have font size of 24. Text should have font size between 24 and 30, in order to be legible from a distance of 3 to 6 feet. Do not use lengthy notes
After all the presentations were made, Dr. Jagadeesh began a panel discussion that included all speakers. The discussion was aimed at what we do currently and could do in the future with respect to ‘developing a research question and then writing an effective thesis proposal/protocol followed by publication.’ Dr. Jagadeesh asked the following questions to the panelists, while receiving questions/suggestions from the participants and panelists.
The panelists and audience expressed a variety of views, but were unable to arrive at a decisive conclusion.
At the end of this fast-moving two-day workshop, the participants had opportunities in learning the following topics:
Overall, the workshop was deemed very helpful to participants. The participants rated the quality of workshop from “ satisfied ” to “ very satisfied .” A significant number of participants were of the opinion that the time allotted for each presentation was short and thus, be extended from the present two days to four days with adequate time to ask questions. In addition, a ‘hands-on’ session should be introduced for writing a proposal and manuscript. A large number of attendees expressed their desire to attend a similar workshop, if conducted, in the near future.
We gratefully express our gratitude to the Organizing Committee, especially Professors K. Chinnasamy, B. G. Shivananda, N. Udupa, Jerad Suresh, Padma Parekh, A. P. Basavarajappa, Mr. S. V. Veerramani, Mr. J. Jayaseelan, and all volunteers of the SRM University. We thank Dr. Thomas Papoian (US FDA) for helpful comments on the manuscript.
The opinions expressed herein are those of Gowraganahalli Jagadeesh and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Food and Drug Administration
Source of Support: Nil
Conflict of Interest: None declared.
Research proposals that are written by graduate students or academic researchers typically follow a similar format consisting of headings and sections that explain the purpose of the research, specify the scope and scale of the study, and argue for its importance in contributing to the scientific literature. Knowing how to write a research proposal checklist is crucial to getting your dissertation or thesis project accepted.
Although the research proposal sections may vary depending on whether it is a grant, doctoral dissertation , conference paper, or professional project, there are certainly some sections in common. This article will cover sections you will often see in research proposals, explain their purpose, and provide a sample research proposal template.
Let’s take a look at each section of a research proposal:
The research proposal sections and headings above resemble a fully edited and published academic journal article, which you probably can recognize if you are a new PhD or master’s graduate student who is just starting out reading peer-reviewed academic journal articles.
However, the purpose of each heading in a research proposal is quite different from that of a final article.
Purpose : To explain briefly, in a few words, what the research will be about.
What you should do: Give your research proposal a concise and accurate title. Include the name of your faculty mentor (and his/her academic department).
Note : Title pages for research proposals are generally standardized or specified and provide or summarize basic administrative information, such as the university or research institution. Titles should be concise and brief enough to inform the reader of the purpose and nature of the research.
Purpose: To provide an overview of the study, which you will expand on in detail in later sections of the research proposal.
What you should do: Provide a brief overview of your project. Include the goals of your research proposal and clearly specify the research questions you want to address. Explain the hypotheses you want to test.
Note : A good summary should emphasize the problems the applicant intends to solve, identify the solution to the problems, and specify the objectives and design of the research. It should also describe the applicant’s qualifications and budget requirements.
Overall purpose.
Purpose: To state the overall goal of the work in a clear, concise manner.
What you should do : Summarize your problem for someone who is scientifically knowledgeable but potentially uninformed regarding your specific research topic.
Note : The aim or purpose of a research proposal should be results-oriented as opposed to process-oriented. For example, the result of a research study may be “To determine the enzyme involved in X” while the process is “to perform a protein electrophoresis study on mice expressing Y gene.” There should be at least three objectives per proposal.
Purpose : To demonstrate the relationship between the goals of the proposed study and what has already been established in the relevant field of study.
What you should do : Selectively and critically analyze the literature. Explain other researchers’ work so that your professor or project manager has a clear understanding of how you will address past research and progress the literature.
Note : One of the most effective ways to support your research’s purpose and importance is to address gaps in the literature, controversies in your research field, and current trends in research. This will put into context how your dissertation or study will contribute to general scientific knowledge. Learn how to write a literature review before writing this section.
Purpose : To state precisely what the study will investigate or falsify.
What you should do : Clearly distinguish the dependent and independent variables and be certain the reader understands them. Make sure you use your terms consistently. Whenever possible, use the same nomenclature.
Note : A research question presents the relationship between two or more variables in the form of a question, whereas a hypothesis is a declarative statement of the relationship between two or more variables. Knowing where to put the research question in a science paper is also crucial to writing a strong Introduction section.
Purpose : To define the meanings of the key terms used in the research.
What you should do: Align your term and nomenclature usage throughout your entire research proposal. Clearly define abbreviations and make sure they are understandable to scientists from other disciplines.
Note : Different scientific fields of study often use different terms for the same thing. Further, there are language consistency issues that should be considered. In organic chemistry, there are international standards for naming compounds, but common names are still regularly used, e.g., acetic acid versus ethanoic acid.
Purpose: To break down the steps of your research proposal.
What you should do: Explain how you will achieve your research goals specified earlier using terms that a general reader can understand. Explain your approach, design, and methods.
Note : Your research proposal should explain the broad scope of your research to other researchers in your field. This section represents the most important part of a research proposal and is therefore the primary concern of reviewers. Knowing how to explain research methodology for reproducibility is important to explaining your methodology to dissertation or thesis advisors and committees.
Purpose: To demonstrate awareness of any study limitations, potential problems, and barriers to answering the research question, and how to deal with them
What you should do: Thoroughly head off any criticisms before they can torpedo your research proposal. Explain that any limitations or potential conflicts will only delay your research or alter/narrow its scope; they will not fundamentally degrade the importance of your research.
Note : Any research proposal or scientific study will have limitations in its scope and execution. Sometimes it may be a key procedure that is problematic or a material you cannot readily obtain. Discussing limitations is key to demonstrating you are an adept and experienced researcher worth approving.
Required resources and budget.
Purpose: To list what resources your research may require and what costs and timelines may affect your completion.
What you should do: Think as a businessperson. Breakdown what resources are available at your institution or university as well as the required resources you still need. These can be materials, machinery, lab equipment, and computers. Resources can also be human: expertise to perform a procedure and other kinds of collaboration.
Note : This section underscores why your funding institution or academic committee should fund your university, laboratory team, or yourself for this particular research.
Purpose: To state how participants will be advised of
the overall nature and purpose of the study and how informed consent will
be obtained.
What you should do: Consult with your academic institution, PhD advisor, and laboratory colleagues. Do not gloss over this part since it has legal consequences.
Note : Often, these types of legal disclaimers are well established and readily available in template format from your research institution or university. Just obtain the proper clearance and permission and have the legal authority at your institution check it over.
Proposed timeline.
Purpose: To give a projected timeline for planning, completing, verifying, and reporting your research.
What you should do: Approach this part with a project management style. In an organized fashion, set out a specific timeline for how long each part of your research will take. Identify bottlenecks and specify them.
Note: Savvy time management is something that comes with lots of research experience. Ask your professor or colleagues if you have questions about how long certain procedures will take.
Purpose: To provide detailed bibliographic and reference citations.
What you should do: Use an online citation machine ( APA citation machine , MLA citation machine , Chicago citation machine , Vancouver citation machine ) that can instantly organize your references in any format. Make sure you do this as you go, not saving it for the last when you have lost track.
Note: The bibliographic format used varies according to the research discipline. Consistency is the main consideration; whichever style is chosen should be followed carefully throughout the entire paper.
Purpose : To include any extra materials or information.
What you should do: Add letters of endorsement or collaboration and reprints of relevant articles if they are not available electronically. In addition to the above, you may want to include data tables, surveys, questionnaires, data collection procedures, clinical protocols, and informed consent documents.
Notes : Many writers tend to attach supporting documents to support their research proposal. But remember, more is not always better. Be sure to only include information that strengthens your case, not simply make it longer.
Note : Savvy time management is something that comes with lots of research experience. Ask your professor or colleagues if you have questions about how long certain procedures will take.
Whether your research is academic (PhD or master’s graduate student) or professional (competing for government or private funding), how you organize your research proposal sections is one of the first things evaluators will notice. Many academic reviewers will simply scan and check for key section headings. If any headings are missing or strangely written, they may instantly give the reviewer a bad impression of your proposal.
One tip before submitting or even writing your research proposal is to search for the best journal to publish your research in and follow the guidelines in the Guide for Authors section, as well as read as many articles from that journal as possible to gain an understanding of the appropriate style and formatting.
So make sure to use some of our resources, such as our FREE APA citation generator and research proposal checklist , or contact us to ask about professional proofreading services , including academic editing and manuscript editing for academic documents.
And check our guide on the editing process to learn more about how language editing for manuscripts can enhance your writing and increase your chances of publication.
What is the scope of a study, what is a research scope example, what is the purpose of the research scope, what considerations are relevant to the research scope, how do i write the scope in a report.
The scope of a research project is one of the more important yet sometimes understated aspects of a study. The scope of the study explains what the researchers are examining and what environment they are studying.
This article explains the general purpose of the research scope, how it informs the broader study at hand, and how it can be incorporated in a research paper to establish the necessary transparency and rigor for your research audience.
Scientific knowledge very rarely, if ever, produces universal axioms. The boiling point of water changes depending on the amount of pressure in the air and, by extension, the altitude you are at relative to sea level when you boil water. What looks like polite behavior in a given culture may look rude in another. The definition of beauty is bound to change as people get older.
Similarly, research findings that aren't contextualized are less persuasive. If you are reading a study that looks at interactional patterns between parents and their children, it's important to have a clear sense of the theoretical lens , data collection , and analysis in order to determine the extent to which the findings are applicable across contexts.
In a nutshell, the scope tells you what the researchers are looking at and are not looking at. It provides the context necessary to understand the research, how it was conducted, and what findings it generated.
Conversely, establishing the bounds of the scope also clarify what research inquiries are not addressed in the study, ensuring that the study's argumentation is clearly grounded in the theory, data, and analysis.
Let's imagine an example of a research study examining best practices for mental health. The research design centers on a survey study with a target population of college students with part-time jobs in addition to their coursework.
The researchers can focus on any number of things affecting mental health, including lifestyle factors such as sleep, socioeconomic factors such as income, and even influences further afield like the political alignment of friends and family.
Certainly, any of these things can have a profound impact on one's mental health. But when there are so many things to examine, it's necessary to narrow down what the research project at hand should examine.
The scope of the study can come down to any number of things, including the researchers' interest, the current state of theoretical development on the subject of mental health, and the design of the study, particularly how the data is collected. It might even boil down to influences like geographical location, which can determine the kind of research participants involved in the study.
All of these factors can inform an explicit description of the scope, which might look like this if found in the methodology section of a paper:
"In this study, the researchers focused on surveying college students over four months, roughly the same time frame as a semester at a university in the United States. Surveys were distributed to all college students, but this paper will narrow the data analysis to those students who reported having part-time jobs. This refined lens aligns with our interest in examining work-related factors contributing to negative mental health outcomes, as established in previous studies."
The above example of a study's scope highlights what the researchers focused on during the study and while analyzing the data. The researchers chose to study a narrow subset of their data to generate insights most applicable to their research interests. The researchers might also analyze the proportion of students that reported having part-time jobs to give a broader description of the study body, but they clearly focus on understanding the mental health of students with part-time jobs.
Moreover, the narrow scope allows the researchers to focus on a small number of elements in the relationship between mental health and work, which allows the researchers to make deeper contributions to this specific part of the conversation around students' mental health.
Defining the scope of the study benefits both the researcher and their audience. Ultimately, establishing transparency in a research project focuses the data collection and analysis processes and makes the findings more compelling and persuasive.
Describing the scope can clarify what specific concepts should be used and examined during the course of the study. A good scope can keep the researcher focused on what data to collect and what ancillary developments, however interesting or useful, should be discarded or left to another study. Setting a clear scope can greatly help researchers maintain a coherent fit between their research question, collected data, and ultimate findings. Journal editors and reviewers often reject papers for publication because of a lack of fit between these important elements, which highlights the value of a clear research scope for conducting rigorous research.
In logistical terms, a well-defined scope also ensures the feasibility of a study by limiting the researcher's lens to a small but manageable set of factors to observe and analyze during the course of the study. Conversely, an unfocused study makes the collection of data a significant challenge when the researcher is left to document as much as possible, potentially gathering all kinds of data that may not be relevant to a given research question , while not gathering enough of the appropriate data that can address a research inquiry.
The research audience also requires an understanding of the scope of the study to determine the relevance of the findings to their own research inquiry. Readers of research bring their own assumptions and preconceived notions about what to look at in a given context. A well-written scope, on the other hand, gives readers clear guidance on what to look for in the study's analysis and findings.
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Besides the research area being studied, the scope of a study has a clear description of most of the following aspects. Understanding what makes rigorous research and what readers of research look for in a well-crafted study will be useful for describing the scope of a research project.
The kind of research participants you are including in a study informs what theories are relevant and how the study should be designed. Are you researching children, young adults, or older professionals? Do they belong to a specific culture or community? Are they connected or related to each other in some way or do they just happen to belong to the same demographic?
Because qualitative, social science research seldom yields universal theories, it's important to narrow the scope of a study down to a specific set of the population. The more specific the scope, the more that the findings and resulting theoretical developments can be appropriately contextualized and thus inform how other researchers can build on those insights.
The geographical location covered by the study provides a necessary context for any study in the social sciences. Even if you narrow the targeted population to a specific demographic, what is true for that population in one country or region may not be true for another.
As a result, a scope that describes the location of the study explains where the findings are most relevant and where they might be relevant for further study.
If you are conducting observational or ethnographic research , it may seem like you are facing a firehose when it comes to collecting data. Even interviews , focus groups , and surveys can provide a torrent of data, much of which may not be relevant to your inquiry if the study design isn't refined.
Without a sufficiently defined scope that identifies what aspects of the world you are looking at, the data you collect may become unmanageable at best. When crafting your study, develop the scope to determine the specific topics and aspects worth exploring.
In academic publishing , reviewers and editors need a clear understanding of the scope of the study in a manuscript when evaluating the research. Despite its importance, however, the scope doesn't necessarily have its own explicit section in a research paper.
That said, you can describe the study's scope in key areas of your research writing. Here are some of the important sections in a typical research paper for academic writing where a description of the scope is key.
Any study disseminated for academic publishing requires a thorough understanding of the current research and existing theories that are relevant to your study. In turn, the literature review also defines the aspects of the phenomenon or concepts that you can study for the purpose of theoretical development.
Rely on the key theories in the literature review to define a useful scope that identifies key aspects of the theoretical framework that will inform the data collection and analysis .
A well-crafted problem statement generally sets the stage for what knowledge is missing and what novel and interesting insights can be uncovered in new research. As a result, a clear understanding of the research scope helps define the problem that a new research project seeks to address.
When incorporating a problem statement in your research paper, be sure to explicitly detail the rationale for problematizing the phenomenon you are researching.
Research questions define the relationships between the relevant concepts or phenomena being explored, and thus provide evidence of a scope that has been thoughtfully planned. Use the wording of your research question to highlight what is the central focus and, thus, the scope of the study.
At minimum, the scope of the study should narrow the focus of data collection and data analysis to the study of certain concepts relevant to addressing the given research question. Qualitative research methods can often result in open-ended data collection that can yield many insights, only a few of which may directly address the research inquiry.
Narrowing the collection of data to a set of relevant criteria can help the researcher avoid any unnecessary rabbit holes that might complicate the later analysis with irrelevant information.
Research scope and limitations go hand in hand because, together, they define what is studied within a research project and what is not. Moreover, a good description of the study's scope can also provide direction, by way of the description of limitations, about what inquiries other researchers could pursue next.
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Research/Study Research/Study
Special Programs Abortion Rights & Reproductive Health
Written by Charis Hoard & Jasmine Geonzon
Research contributions from Audrey McCabe
Published 06/24/24 1:30 PM EDT
At least 34 of the over 100 partner organizations of Project 2025, a comprehensive transition plan to guide the next GOP presidential administration, have spread misinformation about contraceptive methods or championed limiting access to contraception, largely on religious grounds.
Helmed by the right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 lays out conservative policy priorities for if Donald Trump were to return to the White House. The guidelines set in its “ Mandate for Leadership ” include numerous attacks on reproductive rights policy, including a proposal to rewrite Title X, which helps fund low-cost contraception, sexually transmitted infection testing, and prenatal care to low-income communities.
In a review of Project 2025 coalition partners, we found that dozens have expressed their disapproval of and intent to restrict contraceptive care access.
Some organizations, such as the American Family Association, have falsely referred to emergency contraception like Plan B as “abortifacients” and called for contraception to be made available only to married couples.
Organizations including The Heritage Foundation have falsely claimed birth control has detrimental impacts on future fertility.
Many of these groups have criticized the removal of moral exemptions to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate requiring employers to provide coverage of birth control and pushed for continued religious exemptions.
Some coalition partners have also fearmongered about the safety of contraception, calling this crucial health care “one of the great scourges … of all time.”
Below are details on the anti-contraception arguments made by 34 Project 2025 partner organizations. For the full report on Project 2025's attack on reproductive rights, click here .
The heritage foundation, alliance defending freedom, american association of pro-life obstetricians and gynecologists, the american conservative, american cornerstone institute, american family association, america first legal, american legislative exchange council, american principles project , americans united for life, california family council, center for family and human rights , center for renewing america, claremont institute, concerned women for america , discovery institute, eagle forum, ethics and public policy center, family policy alliance, family research council , first liberty institute, the frederick douglass foundation, the heartland institute, independent women’s forum , intercollegiate studies institute, dr. james dobson family institute, liberty university, media research center, national center for public policy research, students for life of america, susan b. anthony pro-life america, tea party patriots, texas public policy foundation, turning point usa.
The Heritage Foundation’s Emma Waters falsely claimed that hormonal birth control could harm the future fertility of those who use it because “birth control actually tells your body that it’s pregnant all the time.” “For women who have been on birth control for a long time, it can impact your fertility. There are cases of women who have been on birth control for a decade or more, and then they go off of it and are ready to start a family with their partner and then find that it’s a lot harder than they thought,” Waters said. “What happens is birth control actually tells your body that it’s pregnant all the time. And so rather than functioning in a normal state of the potential to become pregnant and then not, it just tells your body that it’s constantly pregnant. And so then after a decade or more of that, when you’re actually trying to get pregnant, it doesn’t work right for your body because it’s like, ‘Oh, well we’ve been in this state for a decade. You want us to do something different now?’” According to Cleveland Clinic, most hormonal birth control methods have not been found to harm future fertility. [The Heritage Foundation, Heritage Explains , 7/19/23 ; The Washington Post, 3/21/24 ; Cleveland Clinic, 1/16/23 ]
Alliance Defending Freedom counsel Rory Gray defended a Minnesota pharmacist who refused to dispense emergency contraception, asserting that the religious views of the pharmacist means he “cannot provide or facilitate the use of any potential abortion-causing drugs.” As CNN reported, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has clarified that emergency contraception “does not prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb and does not cause an abortion.” Gray suggested that the “devout Christian” pharmacist was being denied his “constitutionally protected freedom to act consistent with his beliefs at work.” [CBS News, 3/19/24 ; CNN, 12/23/22 ]
In 2014, ADF announced that it would represent the anti-abortion group March for Life in a lawsuit over the ACA’s preventive services mandate. According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the mandate would force March for Life to act in contradiction to its anti-abortion mission by making it provide insurance coverage for “drugs and devices that can prevent or dislodge the implantation of a human embryo after fertilization” such as emergency contraception and IUDs. Kevin Theriot, senior counsel at the ADF, said that the group’s “legal fight for March for Life is a fight for the rights of pro-life organizations everywhere.” [Alliance Defending Freedom, 9/4/14 ; The Charlotte Lozier Institute, 7/18/14 ]
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists has falsely claimed that “the IUD has been well documented to act after fertilization, causing embryo death” and that “IUDs clearly can cause the death of embryos both before and after implantation.” According to the Guttmacher Institute, IUDs do not cause “embryo death” after fertilization, but instead prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, which is not considered an abortion by medical standards. “A contraceptive method, by definition, prevents pregnancy by interfering with ovulation, fertilization or implantation. Abortion ends an established pregnancy, after implantation,” Guttmacher wrote. “This scientific definition of pregnancy—which reflects the fact that most fertilized eggs naturally fail to implant in the uterus—is also the legal definition, and has long been accepted by federal agencies … and by U.S. and international medical associations.” [American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 1/15/20 ; Guttmacher Institute, 12/9/14 ]
In a 2013 NPR story, AAPLOG’s Donna Harrison falsely suggested that ella, a brand of emergency contraception, “kills embryos before they implant, and it kills embryos after they implant." Harrison, who currently leads the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (the organization suing the FDA over mifepristone), also stated that ella’s chemical similarity to mifepristone, sometimes referred to as RU-486, means that “an equal dose of ella and RU-48 … cause equal actions.” According to ella, its pill only prevents ovulation from occurring; ella “can not cause an abortion and it will not have any effect in a case where an egg has already been fertilised.” [NPR, 2/21/13 ; ella, accessed 4/12/24 ]
A 2018 report from Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) detailed some of the misinformation spread by AAPLOG, including the well-debunked false claim “that Plan B emergency contraception causes abortion.” The Guttmacher Institute explained in 2014 that studies produced after Plan B’s FDA approval “have led to the conclusion that [Plan B] does not cause changes to the endometrium (uterine lining) that would hamper implantation.” The FDA updated Plan B’s label to reflect this research in 2022. [Reproductive Freedom for All, accessed 4/5/24 ; Guttmacher Institute, 12/9/14 ; Reuters, 12/23/22 ]
A 2023 piece from the right-wing magazine The American Conservative argued that there is “an undeniable connection between free-and-easy birth control and the unraveling of American order.” Reacting to news of the FDA green-lighting the first contraceptive pill allowed to be sold over the counter, the author fearmongered, “The FDA’s move here will make children, trafficking victims, and anyone else with limited agency more available for sex than ever before.” It also cited the contraception-protecting the Supreme Court decision protecting contraception in Griswold v. Connecticut as an example of “which terrible SCOTUS precedent should be overturned next.” [The American Conservative, 7/15/23 ]
Another piece from the magazine warned readers, “Don’t believe it when people say Plan B isn’t abortifacient.” The piece said the medication’s prevention of a fertilized egg implanting in the uterus is akin to abortion “for people who believe life begins at conception.” [The American Conservative, 12/8/11 ]
In an opinion piece for The Washington Times, American Cornerstone Institute’s founder and former Trump official Ben Carson called the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision that allows employers to decline to cover contraception on religious grounds “fortunate.” Carson praised the court, writing that the court majority “still thinks that religious beliefs and personal choice have a valid place in American society,” and argued, “Legally requiring the side opposed to a form of birth control to be financially responsible for its distribution to any employee who wants it is distinctly un-American and abusive to the concept of freedom of religion.” [The Washington Times, 7/8/14 ]
An article published by the American Family Association falsely conflated contraceptive methods like the IUD and Plan B pill as “abortifacients.” The article hit science educator Bill Nye for supposedly suggesting he “thinks fertilized eggs aren’t humans,” noting that his “argument that personhood begins at the point of implantation … would serve as an argument to support the use of abortifacients (pills, like Plan B morning-after pill, or devices like the IUD – designed to stop a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb).” [American Family Association, 2/19/18 ; Guttmacher Institute, 12/9/14 ]
NPR's Terry Gross said then-conservative radio host Bryan Fischer advocated for making “contraception available only to married couples” during his time as director of issues analysis for the American Family Association. In an article he wrote for U.S. News & World Report, Fischer said Plan B’s over-the-counter availability has “created a predator’s paradise,” claiming that “a predator, thanks to this dangerous decision, can now take advantage of a vulnerable teenage girl and then send her into the local Walgreen's to cover his own criminal tracks.” Fischer has been credited for shifting Republican Party officials, particularly Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential run, further right on issues like contraception, which were previously seen as uncontroversial. [NPR, 6/14/12 ; U.S. News & World Report, 5/3/13 ]
America First Legal in March celebrated “a massive victory in our lawsuit against the Biden admin for attempting to provide birth control to minor children without parental consent.” America First Legal provided counsel for a parent who argued that the availability of birth control to minors through the federal program Title X “nullifies his right to consent to his children's medical care, infringing on his state-created right.” [Twitter/X, 3/15/24 ; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Deanda v. Becerra , accessed 3 /12/24 ]
America First Legal provided counsel in a lawsuit that challenges the ACA provision guaranteeing insured Americans’ access to preventive services without a copay. The plaintiffs represented by America First Legal argued that the ACA’s contraceptive mandate goes against their religious beliefs because it includes medications enabling “homosexual behavior, drug use, or sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman.” [NPR, 8/9/22 ; Protect Our Care, 3/31/23 ]
American Legislative Exchange Council said the ACA’s contraceptive mandate “dilutes [the] fundamental right” to “religious profession and worship.” [American Legislative Exchange Council, 11/13/15 ]
American Principles Project President Terry Schilling raised concern over the possibility of the Biden administration requiring anti-abortion employers provide contraception in their health coverage plans. Fox News reported that the Biden administration is considering repealing a moral exception to the coverage rule but maintaining a religious exemption. Schilling “said it is unclear how far the Biden administration would be able to use its proposed rule against organizations who oppose contraception on moral grounds as opposed to religious grounds” and quoted him saying, “ It is frightening to consider how this rhetorical loophole could and likely will be abused. ” [Fox News, 1/31/23 ]
In a piece about college campuses beginning to dispense the Plan B pill via vending machines, Schilling claimed that “we’ve been teaching kids that the worst possible sexually transmitted disease” is “pregnancy, as if the worst thing in the world anyone could get as a surprise is a baby.” Schilling argued, “Most of us weren’t planned, and some of us weren’t even wanted, but these factors don’t change the status of our human dignity.” [Washington Examiner, 6/6/23 ]
In 2012, The New York Times wrote that Charmaine Yoest, then-president and CEO of Americans United for Life, “believes that embryos have legal rights and opposes birth control, like the IUD, that she thinks ‘has life-ending properties.’” The Times also reported that Yoest does not support increasing access to contraceptives as a means of reducing abortion rates. [The New York Times Magazine, 11/2/12 ]
In 2015, Reuters quoted then-Americans United for Life staff counsel Mailee Smith as saying “IUDs are a life-ending device.” Reuters reported that Americans United for Life supported a “religious challenge to contraceptives coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare law” and that Smith argued, “The focus of these cases is that requiring any life-ending drug is in violation of the Religious Freedom Act.” [Reuters, 12/1/15 ]
In a profile of the organization, The Washington Post described Americans United for Life’s attorneys as aiming “to be a resource for state legislatures on seemingly every issue under the ‘pro-life’ banner: access to abortion, contraception, stem cell research, bioethics, assisted suicide and end-of-life decisions.” [The Washington Post, 5/31/19 ]
Last year, the California Family Council released an article arguing that the FDA is “playing games with women’s health” by saying that Plan B “cannot cause abortions.” The piece read, “Women deserve to know exactly what a drug they are taking is capable of. Some women may innocently think they’re not ending a human life, but merely preventing ovulation.” [California Family Council, 1/4/23 ]
In a 2014 essay for Crisis Magazine, Center for Family and Human Rights President Austin Ruse wrote, “Contraception is one of the great scourges not just of our time but of all time.” Ruse described his decades-long experience “fighting contraception” and fearmongered about a “few hundred stories about the evils of contraception.” [Crisis Magazine, 2/28/14 ]
Writing for The Federalist, Center for Renewing America policy director Paige Hauser identified “the advent of the birth control pill and the legalization of abortion” as “major fault lines,” along with no-fault divorce, in stoking the sexual revolution in a piece titled “Mike Johnson is right: No-fault divorce destroys kids, sex, and society.” [The Federalist, 11/13/23 ]
In 2020, the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed an amicus brief in support of a Catholic organization attempting to reverse a court decision that would require the group to provide birth control to employees. Claremont’s John Eastman and Tom Caso wrote in the brief that the First Amendment “reflects the founding generation’s view that the duty one owes to the Creator is both prior to and higher than any duty owed to government.” [The Claremont Institute, 3/12/20 ]
An article from the Claremont Institute condemned a sex education video shown at a middle school in Idaho, complaining that presentations about contraception “included information about the abortifacient Plan B.” [The Claremont Institute, 1/19/23 ]
A recent article published by the Claremont Institute criticized Plan B, saying a “deep and widespread misunderstanding of pregnancy risk, ovulation, and overall fertility” has led the public to change its view of the medication “from a last resort in true emergencies into a ‘better safe than sorry’ precautionary measure.” The author also chastised “the transformation of Plan B into a TikTok accessory or a vending-machine trinket.” [The Claremont Institute, 2/20/24 ]
In 2019, Concerned Women for America issued a call to action condemning a piece of state legislation that would make birth control available over the counter at pharmacies in Iowa. An op-ed released by the organization criticized contraception, drawing attention to “potentially long-lasting detrimental health effects,” and suggested that the “collateral damage of SF 513 [the legislation] could be women’s health.” [Concerned Women for America, 3/31/19 ]
CWA attacked a mandate in the ACA requiring employers to provide employees with contraception-covering health plans as “bureaucratic overreach” and stated, “The Obama Administration failed to respect the conscience rights of religious employers.” [Concerned Women for America, 11/15/18 ]
The Discovery Institute published a piece titled “Birth control pretext for destroying religious liberty.” In it, Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism, argued against the ACA's contraceptive mandate, arguing that “once a legal precedent is established, one day there could be a free abortion rule, a free IVF rule, or a free sex-change operation rule.” [Discovery Institute, 4/1/23 ]
Another piece from Smith reads, “To a disturbing degree, healthcare public policy is becoming a means of imposing a secularist, anti–sanctity-of-life ideology on all of society.” Smith lamented what he called a “culture of death” in the medical field and mentioned “studies that indicate” Plan B “might act as an abortifacient.” [Discovery Institute, 7/22/16 ]
In response to a House bill offering federal birth control protections, an Eagle Forum blog claimed that “the left has expanded the term ‘contraception’ to include abortion-inducing drugs.” The Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 8373) “forces all medical professionals to dispense contraceptive drugs regardless of their beliefs,” the blog said, adding, “Now, the left has expanded the term ‘contraception’ to include abortion-inducing drugs. Pills such as RU-486, Plan B, and mifepristone were only created within the last few decades to terminate a pregnancy.” According to Scientific American, when the Supreme Court failed to defer to the medical standard that pregnancy begins after implantation it gave anti-choice legislatures the ability to legally declare contraception methods like Plan B abortifacients. [Eagle Forum, 7/21/22 ; Scientific American, 6/8/22 ]
In 2012, Eagle Forum founder and anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly called the ACA's contraception mandate “draconian.” “If the Obama Administration's contraceptive mandate remains intact, then liberals will continue to demand that Americans pay for objectionable items and services that are not really medical care,” Schlafly said. “We call on all Americans to urge President Obama to back down from this draconian mandate.” [Eagle Forum, 3/1/12 ]
Writing for an anti-abortion journal, Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Alexandra DeSanctis characterized oral contraception as a “supposed panacea” that medical professionals prescribe “with little concern for its many side effects.” “Those who draw attention to the negative effects of birth control are typically dismissed as at best over-zealous religious conservatives or at worst crusaders to ban birth control,” she wrote, adding, “But within the past decade, conversation has begun to shift, and it seems as if a new generation might be waking up to the harms of both the sexual revolution and the pill that enabled it.” [Human Law Review, 9/7/23 ]
Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow David Gortler wrote a Newsweek column titled “Over-the-counter birth control pills won’t improve America’s public health.” In the article, Gortler also argued that “no prescription-grade hormone has ever been proposed as a long-term, daily, OTC product” and tied the use of birth control to various types of cancer and mental health disorders. “If approved by the FDA, making hormonal contraceptives available without medical supervision will be another in a list of recent unscientific federal public health decisions,” Gortler claimed. [Newsweek, 6/29/23 ]
The Family Policy Alliance has amplified claims that the ACA’s contraception mandate forced religious organizations to cover “abortion-inducing drugs.” “When the Obama Administration attempted to force nuns to provide contraception and Christian-owned company Hobby Lobby to cover abortion-inducing drugs, it became clear that more work needed to be done in the area of religious freedom,” the group’s website reads. [Family Policy Alliance, accessed 4/3/24 ]
FPA has also expressed support for organizations that had “deep moral concerns” about providing contraceptive care in employer-issued insurance plans. In March 2023, the organization launched an initiative to fight the Biden administration’s enforcement of the ACA’s contraception mandate, claiming that the rule “completely undermines the moral fabric of many faithful organizations, including overtly pro-life groups, that serve women, children, and the public.” [Family Policy Alliance, 3/30/23 ]
The Family Research Council amplified Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) claim that birth control pills can “cause abortions.” The organization also claimed that emergency contraception pills like Plan B and ella can induce abortions. “Not all forms of birth control cause abortions. However, some do, including the notorious ‘morning-after pill’ Plan B and a newer, lesser-known FDA-approved drug called Ella (also known as ulipristal acetate or Ella-One)," an FRC blog read. “The FDA misleadingly labels Ella a more effective ‘Emergency Contraception.’ Like Plan B, Ella can cause an abortion by preventing a fertilized egg (embryo) from implanting in the uterus.” [Family Research Council, 10/15/20 ; ella, accessed 4/12/24 ]
FRC's Mary Szoch: “Birth control has led to the objectification of women — to women being used as mere tools for men’s gratification.” Birth control “has also led to the devaluing, and even hatred of, the natural consequence of sex — children,” Szoch continued in a quote posted to FRC’s X account. [Twitter/X, 1/6/24 ]
In 2013, First Liberty Institute filed a federal lawsuit against CVS Pharmacy for terminating a Texas nurse practitioner who sought “a religious accommodation from prescribing any medication that could intentionally end the development or life of an unborn child.” [First Liberty Institute, 1/11/23 ]
First Liberty Institute has stated its opposition to contraceptive care access and abortion on the basis of religious freedom and in 2014 filed a lawsuit on behalf of two nonprofit ministries seeking an exemption from the ACA’s contraception mandate. In a case summary on its website, the nonprofit legal firm argued that the mandate was forcing “nonprofit ministries to violate their conscience and provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducting drugs.” [First Liberty Institute, accessed 4/3/24 ]
In an amicus brief filed to the Supreme Court, the foundation alleged, citing Justice Clarence Thomas, that “modern abortion advocacy arose out of the birth control movement, which was ‘developed alongside the American eugenics movement.’” [U.S. Supreme Court, Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , Brief of Amicus Curiae, accessed 4/3/24 ; U.S. Supreme Court, Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc. , 5/28/19 ]
The Heartland Institute’s Ashley Bateman fearmongered about the safety of hormonal contraceptives, claiming that they have been found to act as a “chemical abortifacient” by “[preventing] implantation of a fertilized egg.” [The Federalist, 7/21/23 ; Guttmacher Institute, 12/9/14 ]
Independent Women’s Forum’s Hadley Heath Manning on birth control: “Despite its benefits to society, and particularly to women, widespread use of contraception has in my view come with a cost, facilitating a culture of cheap sex.” “This, along with the relatively high typical-use failure rates of the most traditionally popular forms of birth control, has disproportionately harmed women,” Heath Manning wrote in a New York Times guest essay. She did not mention that birth control’s effectiveness is directly tied to correct use of the medication. [The New York Times, 9/13/14 , 6/24/23 ]
The IWF filed amicus briefs to the Supreme Court that sided with religious groups’ efforts to oppose the ACA’s contraception mandate. [Ms., 8/17/24 ]
Th Intercollegiate Studies Institute published a book review asserting that “the sexual free-for-all made possible by abortion (and perhaps contraception) harms both men and women.” The review also states that widespread access to abortion and contraceptive care has “turned sex into a kind of sport, detached from its natural consequences of pregnancy, childbirth, and (one hopes) family life.” [Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 5/30/23 ]
The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute sought an exemption to the ACA's contraceptive mandate, arguing that it violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. [Alliance Defending Freedom, 3/28/19 ]
Liberty University sought an exemption from the ACA's contraception mandate, arguing that the mandate was a violation of its religious freedoms. [United Press International, 12/2/13 ]
Media Research Center defended a group that spread misinformation about birth control pills on TikTok. After TikTok removed posts from a group marketing a “detox vitamin regime” to “wean” oneself off hormonal birth control, Media Research Center speculated that the platform was shilling for the pharmaceutical industry and its various ploys to exploit women. “Think about it, women needing to detox from a drug [oral birth control] may make them stay on it longer to avoid having to wean themselves off,” the site wrote. “That brings in more money for big pharma. Similarly, when women are on ‘the pill,’ they could become more depressed, then boom, more money for anti-depressants and therapies. Women may fall in love with less masculine men, which makes society weaker. Women may not be able to get pregnant on their own as a result of the drug, so ... more money goes to IVF.” [NewsBusters, 3/27/24 ; Cleveland Clinic, 7/7/22 ]
Media Research Center on National Network of Abortion Funds passing out emergency contraceptives at an Olivia Rodrigo concert: “If you don’t think this is a blatant and targeted attack to not only brainwash young girls into thinking abortion is normal and casual but also to continue killing babies, your eyes must be shut.” [NewsBusters, 3/15/24 ]
A 2012 National Center for Public Policy Research blog argued that the ACA's contraception mandate was “unconstitutional” and “defies the religious liberty predicate that this nation is founded upon.” The blog also asserted that the mandate “threatens our long-held belief that all Americans may worship and serve God free from governmental interference.” [National Center for Public Policy Research, 2/1/12 ]
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said IUDs and birth control pills should not be legal. During a 2017 interview with MSNBC host Joy Reid, Hawkins claimed that IUDs “put women at risk and they kill children.” According to The Washington Post, fearmongering by anti-choice organizations has caused an increase in patients coming to doctors believing misconceptions about the safety of birth control, despite the low prevalence of rare adverse side effects. [Reveal News, 10/8/22 ; The Washington Post, 3/21/24 ]
On its website, SFLA falsely claims that some forms of birth control — including birth control pills, IUDs, and emergency contraceptives — are “abortifacient.” The organization has also amplified the debunked claim that Plan B, a pill used to prevent ovulation from occurring, is “capable of ending the life of a conceived human.” [Students for Life of America, accessed 4/2/24 , accessed 4/2/24 ; CNBC, 12/24/22 ; Guttmacher Institute, 12/9/14 ]
Dr. Ingrid Skop, director of medical affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s research arm, claimed that a birth control drug called Opill was an “abortifacient” — it is not — and she was tapped by the state of Texas to be an “expert witness” in a lawsuit filed by Texas women denied abortions due to the state’s abortion bans. [ABC News, 7/20/23 ; Ms. Magazine, 8/17/23 ; Guttmacher Institute, 12/9/14 ]
In 2016, an SBA-PLA spokesperson confirmed that the organization opposed certain forms of contraception, including IUD coils and the morning after pill. According to The Telegraph, Susan B. Anthony List, the lobbying branch of SBA-PLA, is “opposed to some kinds of birth control – namely, IUD coils and the morning after pill – because in both instances, there’s a chance they could prevent a fertilised egg from implanting. It’s a strict reading of Roman Catholic teaching that would make many practising Catholics uncomfortable.” [The Telegraph, 9/26/16 ]
A 2014 press release from the organization suggested that “IUDs and so-called ‘morning after pills’ have been shown to occasionally prevent newly created embryos from implanting in the uterine wall, therefore facilitating early abortion.” The statement decried “the most popular emergency contraceptives,” claiming they “can cause the death of embryos.” [Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 1/16/14 ; Guttmacher Institute, 12/9/14 ]
Tea Party Patriots’ website on its opposition to the ACA's contraception mandate: “This is about everyone’s right to practice their religion without the government stepping in and telling them what to do.” In 2014, the group organized a rally in front of the Supreme Court to voice its support for craft supplies chain Hobby Lobby, the company that took its fight for a religious exemption from the ACA’s contraception mandate to the court. Co-opting the language used by reproductive rights activists, the Tea Party Patriots called the event the “Freedom of Choice” rally. [Mother Jones, 3/25/14 ]
A policy analyst associated with the Texas Public Policy Foundation voiced opposition to the ACA's contraceptive mandate, arguing that it was an “attempt to narrow the definition of religious liberty.” The Texas Public Policy Foundation described the mandate as “an attempt to narrow the definition of religious liberty, and if successful would further confine dissent over these kinds of issues to houses of worship, effectively banning it from the public square.” [Politico, 7/23/2013 ; First Things, 2/14/13 ]
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk: “Birth control, like, really screws up female brains, by the way.” He continued: “Every single one of you need to make sure that your loved ones are not on birth control. It increases depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation.” Kirk seemed to blame birth control for women being less conservative. “Abortion’s obviously part of it, but they’ve been sold a lie through culture, through media, through even some of their parents that you basically have to go pursue this corporate trajectory, and that men are always the problem, and suppress your biological impulses,” he said. Kirk also claimed that birth control “creates very angry and bitter young ladies and young women.” [The Arizona Republic, 3/3/24 ]
Turning Point USA host Alex Clark has repeatedly spread misinformation about the safety of birth control, describing it as “poison.” Clark has also fearmongered about birth control causing cancer and has argued that birth control can “induce an abortion” and cause fertility issues. [Media Matters, 2/14/23 ]
Responsibilities*.
This position will work with and report directly to the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan-Flint. The focus of this position is to support the Vice Provost with her research by reviewing archive documents as part of her Inclusive History Project at UM-Flint.
Projects would include, but are not limited to:
University of Michigan-Flint - Plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The University of Michigan-Flint's DEI plan can be found at: https://www.umflint.edu/dei/?
The University of Michigan-Flint exhibits its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through enacting fair practices, policies, and procedures particularly in support of the equitable participation of the historically underserved. UM-Flint recognizes the value of diversity in our efforts to provide equitable access and opportunities to all regardless of individual identities in support of a climate where everyone feels a sense of belonging, community, and agency.
Diversity is a core value at University of Michigan-Flint. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working and learning environment for all students, staff, and faculty. The University of Michigan-Flint seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Michigan, to maintain the excellence of the University, and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning for the purpose of becoming global citizens in a connected world.
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Job openings are posted for a minimum of three calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the fourth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.
The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
Undergraduate courses.
Composition courses that offer many sections (ENGL 101, 201, 277 and 379) are not listed on this schedule unless they are tailored to specific thematic content or particularly appropriate for specific programs and majors.
Tuesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Sharon Smith
ENGL 151 serves as an introduction to both the English major and the discipline of English studies. In this class, you will develop the thinking, reading, writing and research practices that define both the major and the discipline. Much of the semester will be devoted to honing your literary analysis skills, and we will study and discuss texts from several different genres—poetry, short fiction, the novel, drama and film—as well as some literary criticism. As we do so, we will explore the language of the discipline, and you will learn a variety of key literary terms and concepts. In addition, you will develop your skills as both a writer and researcher within the discipline of English.
In this section of English 201, students will use research and writing to learn more about problems that are important to them and articulate ways to address those problems. The course will focus specifically on issues related to the mind, the body and the relationship between them. The topics we will discuss during the course will include the correlation between social media and body image; the efficacy of sex education programs; the degree to which beliefs about race and gender influence school dress codes; and the unique mental and physical challenges faced by college students today. In this course, you will be learning about different approaches to argumentation, analyzing the arguments of others and constructing your own arguments. At the same time, you will be honing your skills as a researcher and developing your abilities as a persuasive and effective writer.
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 1-1:50 p.m.
Gwen Horsley
English 201 will help students develop the ability to think critically and analytically and to write effectively for other university courses and careers. This course will provide opportunities to develop analytical skills that will help students become critical readers and effective writers. Specifically, in this class, students will:
Students will improve their writing skills by reading essays and applying techniques they witness in others’ work and those learned in class. This class is also a course in logical and creative thought. Students will write about humankind’s place in the world and our influence on the land and animals, places that hold special meaning to them or have influenced their lives and stories of their own families and their places and passions in the world. Students will practice writing in an informed and persuasive manner, in language that engages and enlivens readers by using vivid verbs and avoiding unnecessary passives, nominalizations and expletive constructions.
Students will prepare writing assignments based on readings and discussions of essays included in "Literature and the Environment " and other sources. They may use "The St. Martin’s Handbook," as well as other sources, to review grammar, punctuation, mechanics and usage as needed.
Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-10:45 a.m.
Paul Baggett
For generations, environmentalists have relied on the power of prose to change the minds and habits of their contemporaries. In the wake of fires, floods, storms and droughts, environmental writing has gained a new sense of urgency, with authors joining activists in their efforts to educate the public about the grim realities of climate change. But do they make a difference? Have reports of present and future disasters so saturated our airwaves that we no longer hear them? How do writers make us care about the planet amidst all the noise? In this course, students will examine the various rhetorical strategies employed by some of today’s leading environmental writers and filmmakers. And while analyzing their different arguments, students also will strengthen their own strategies of argumentation as they research and develop essays that explore a range of environmental concerns.
S17 Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:45 p.m.
S18 Tuesday and Thursday 2-3:15 p.m.
Jodi Andrews
In this composition class, students will critically analyze essays about food, food systems and environments, food cultures, the intersections of personal choice, market forces and policy and the values underneath these forces. Students will learn to better read like writers, noting authors’ purpose, audience organizational moves, sentence-level punctuation and diction. We will read a variety of essays including research-intensive arguments and personal narratives which intersect with one of our most primal needs as humans: food consumption. Students will rhetorically analyze texts, conduct advanced research, reflect on the writing process and write essays utilizing intentional rhetorical strategies. Through doing this work, students will practice the writing moves valued in every discipline: argument, evidence, concision, engaging prose and the essential research skills for the 21st century.
Michael S. Nagy
English 221 is a survey of early British literature from its inception in the Old English period with works such as "Beowulf" and the “Battle of Maldon,” through the Middle Ages and the incomparable writings of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Gawain - poet, to the Renaissance and beyond. Students will explore the historical and cultural contexts in which all assigned reading materials were written, and they will bring that information to bear on class discussion. Likely themes that this class will cover include heroism, humor, honor, religion, heresy and moral relativity. Students will write one research paper in this class and sit for two formal exams: a midterm covering everything up to that point in the semester, and a comprehensive final. Probable texts include the following:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday noon-12:50 p.m.
April Myrick
A survey of the history of literature written for children and adolescents, and a consideration of the various types of juvenile literature. Text selection will focus on the themes of imagination and breaking boundaries.
Randi Anderson
In English 240 students will develop the skills to interpret and evaluate various genres of literature for juvenile readers. This particular section will focus on various works of literature at approximately the K-5 grade level. We will read a large range of works that fall into this category, as well as information on the history, development and genre of juvenile literature.
Readings for this course include classical works such as "Hatchet," "Little Women", "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and "Brown Girl Dreaming," as well as newer works like "Storm in the Barn," "Anne Frank’s Diary: A Graphic Adaptation," "Lumberjanes," and a variety of picture books. These readings will be paired with chapters from "Reading Children’s Literature: A Critical Introduction " to help develop understanding of various genres, themes and concepts that are both related to juvenile literature and also present in our readings.
In addition to exposing students to various genres of writing (poetry, historical fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, picture books, graphic novels, etc.) this course will also allow students to engage in a discussion of larger themes present in these works such as censorship, race and gender. Students’ understanding of these works and concepts will be developed through readings, research, discussion posts, exams and writing assignments designed to get students to practice analyzing poetry, picture books, informational books and transitional/easy readers.
Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:45 p.m.
This course provides a broad, historical survey of American literature from the early colonial period to the Civil War. Ranging across historical periods and literary genres—including early accounts of contact and discovery, narratives of captivity and slavery, poetry of revolution, essays on gender equality and stories of industrial exploitation—this class examines how subjects such as colonialism, nationhood, religion, slavery, westward expansion, race, gender and democracy continue to influence how Americans see themselves and their society.
Required Texts
Steven Wingate
Students will explore the various forms of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction and poetry) not one at a time in a survey format—as if there were decisive walls of separation between then—but as intensely related genres that share much of their creative DNA. Through close reading and work on personal texts, students will address the decisions that writers in any genre must face on voice, rhetorical position, relationship to audience, etc. Students will produce and revise portfolios of original creative work developed from prompts and research. This course fulfills the same SGR #2 requirements ENGL 201; note that the course will involve a research project. Successful completion of ENGL 101 (including by test or dual credit) is a prerequisite.
Jodilyn Andrews
This course introduces students to the craft of writing, with readings and practice in at least two genres (including fiction, poetry and drama).
Amber Jensen, M.A., M.F.A.
This course explores creative writing as a way of encountering the world, research as a component of the creative writing process, elements of craft and their rhetorical effect and drafting, workshop and revision as integral parts of writing polished literary creative work. Student writers will engage in the research practices that inform the writing of literature and in the composing strategies and writing process writers use to create literary texts. Through their reading and writing of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, students will learn about craft elements, find examples of those craft elements in published works and apply these elements in their own creative work, developed through weekly writing activities, small group and large group workshop and conferences with the instructor. Work will be submitted, along with a learning reflection and revision plan in each genre and will then be revised and submitted as a final portfolio at the end of the semester to demonstrate continued growth in the creation of polished literary writing.
Tuesday 6-8:50 p.m.
Danielle Harms
Techniques, materials and resources for teaching English language and literature to middle and secondary school students. Required of students in the English education option.
Thursdays 3-6 p.m.
This course introduces students to contemporary works by authors from various Indigenous nations. Students examine these works to enhance their historical understanding of Indigenous peoples, discover the variety of literary forms used by those who identify as Indigenous writers, and consider the cultural and political significance of these varieties of expression. Topics and questions to be explored include:
Possible Texts
Tuesdays 2-4:50 p.m.
Jason McEntee
Do you have an appreciation for, and enjoy watching, movies? Do you want to study movies in a genre-oriented format (such as those we typically call the Western, the screwball comedy, the science fiction or the crime/gangster, to name a few)? Do you want to explore the different critical approaches for talking and writing about movies (such as auteur, feminist, genre or reception)?
In this class, you will examine movies through viewing and defining different genres while, at the same time, studying and utilizing different styles of film criticism. You will share your discoveries in both class discussions and short writings. The final project will be a formal written piece of film criticism based on our work throughout the semester. The course satisfies requirements and electives for all English majors and minors, including both the Film Studies and Professional Writing minors. (Note: Viewing of movies outside of class required and may require rental and/or streaming service fees.)
In this workshop-based creative writing course, students will develop original fiction based on strong attention to the fundamentals of literary storytelling: full-bodied characters, robust story lines, palpable environments and unique voices. We will pay particular attention to process awareness, to the integrity of the sentence, and to authors' commitments to their characters and the places in which their stories unfold. Some workshop experience is helpful, as student peer critique will be an important element of the class.
Wednesday 3-5:50 p.m.
With the publication of Horace Walpole’s "The Castle of Otranto " in 1764, the Gothic officially came into being. Dark tales of physical violence and psychological terror, the Gothic incorporates elements such as distressed heroes and heroines pursued by tyrannical villains; gloomy estates with dark corridors, secret passageways and mysterious chambers; haunting dreams, troubling prophecies and disturbing premonitions; abduction, imprisonment and murder; and a varied assortment of corpses, apparitions and “monsters.” In this course, we will trace the development of Gothic literature—and some film—from the eighteenth-century to the present time. As we do so, we will consider how the Gothic engages philosophical beliefs about the beautiful and sublime; shapes psychological understandings of human beings’ encounters with horror, terror, the fantastic and the uncanny; and intervenes in the social and historical contexts in which it was written. We’ll consider, for example, how the Gothic undermines ideals related to domesticity and marriage through representations of domestic abuse, toxicity and gaslighting. In addition, we’ll discuss Gothic texts that center the injustices of slavery and racism. As many Gothic texts suggest, the true horrors of human existence often have less to do with inexplicable supernatural phenomena than with the realities of the world in which we live.
Flexible Scheduling
Nathan Serfling
Since their beginnings in the 1920s and 30s, writing centers have come to serve numerous functions: as hubs for writing across the curriculum initiatives, sites to develop and deliver workshops and resource centers for faculty as well as students, among other functions. But the primary function of writing centers has necessarily and rightfully remained the tutoring of student writers. This course will immerse you in that function in two parts. During the first four weeks, you will explore writing center praxis—that is, the dialogic interplay of theory and practice related to writing center work. This part of the course will orient you to writing center history, key theoretical tenets and practical aspects of writing center tutoring. Once we have developed and practiced this foundation, you will begin work in the writing center as a tutor, responsible for assisting a wide variety of student clients with numerous writing tasks. Through this work, you will learn to actively engage with student clients in the revision of a text, respond to different student needs and abilities, work with a variety of writing tasks and rhetorical situations, and develop a richer sense of writing as a complex and negotiated social process.
Engl 572.s01: film criticism, engl 576.st1 fiction.
In this workshop-based creative writing course, students will develop original fiction based on strong attention to the fundamentals of literary storytelling: full-bodied characters, robust story lines, palpable environments and unique voices. We will pay particular attention to process awareness, to the integrity of the sentence and to authors' commitments to their characters and the places in which their stories unfold. Some workshop experience is helpful, as student peer critique will be an important element of the class.
Thursdays 1-3:50 p.m.
This course will provide you with a foundation in the pedagogies and theories (and their attendant histories) of writing instruction, a foundation that will prepare you to teach your own writing courses at SDSU and elsewhere. As you will discover through our course, though, writing instruction does not come with any prescribed set of “best” practices. Rather, writing pedagogies stem from and continue to evolve because of various and largely unsettled conversations about what constitutes effective writing and effective writing instruction. Part of becoming a practicing writing instructor, then, is studying these conversations to develop a sense of what “good writing” and “effective writing instruction” might mean for you in our particular program and how you might adapt that understanding to different programs and contexts.
As we read about, discuss and research writing instruction, we will address a variety of practical and theoretical topics. The practical focus will allow us to attend to topics relevant to your immediate classroom practices: designing a curriculum and various types of assignments, delivering the course content and assessing student work, among others. Our theoretical topics will begin to reveal the underpinnings of these various practical matters, including their historical, rhetorical, social and political contexts. In other words, we will investigate the praxis—the dialogic interaction of practice and theory—of writing pedagogy. As a result, this course aims to prepare you not only as a writing teacher but also as a nascent writing studies/writing pedagogy scholar.
At the end of this course, you should be able to engage effectively in the classroom practices described above and participate in academic conversations about writing pedagogy, both orally and in writing. Assessment of these outcomes will be based primarily on the various writing assignments you submit and to a smaller degree on your participation in class discussions and activities.
Thursdays 3–5:50 p.m.
Katherine Malone
This course explores the rise of the New Woman at the end of the nineteenth century. The label New Woman referred to independent women who rebelled against social conventions. Often depicted riding bicycles, smoking cigarettes and wearing masculine clothing, these early feminists challenged gender roles and sought broader opportunities for women’s employment and self-determination. We will read provocative fiction and nonfiction by New Women writers and their critics, including authors such as Sarah Grand, Mona Caird, George Egerton, Amy Levy, Ella Hepworth Dixon, Grant Allen and George Gissing. We will analyze these exciting texts through a range of critical lenses and within the historical context of imperialism, scientific and technological innovation, the growth of the periodical press and discourse about race, class and gender. In addition to writing an argumentative seminar paper, students will complete short research assignments and lead discussion.
In this course, we will explore the voices of female authors and characters in contemporary literature of war. Drawing from various literary theories, our readings and discussion will explore the contributions of these voices to the evolving literature of war through archetypal and feminist criticism. We will read a variety of short works (both theoretical and creative) and complete works such as (selections subject to change): "Eyes Right" by Tracy Crow, "Plenty of Time When We Get Home" by Kayla Williams, "You Know When the Men are Gone" by Siobhan Fallon, "Still, Come Home" by Katie Schultz and "The Fine Art of Camouflage" by Lauren Johnson.
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Published on September 24, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on March 27, 2023.
The introduction to a research paper is where you set up your topic and approach for the reader. It has several key goals:
The introduction looks slightly different depending on whether your paper presents the results of original empirical research or constructs an argument by engaging with a variety of sources.
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Step 1: introduce your topic, step 2: describe the background, step 3: establish your research problem, step 4: specify your objective(s), step 5: map out your paper, research paper introduction examples, frequently asked questions about the research paper introduction.
The first job of the introduction is to tell the reader what your topic is and why it’s interesting or important. This is generally accomplished with a strong opening hook.
The hook is a striking opening sentence that clearly conveys the relevance of your topic. Think of an interesting fact or statistic, a strong statement, a question, or a brief anecdote that will get the reader wondering about your topic.
For example, the following could be an effective hook for an argumentative paper about the environmental impact of cattle farming:
A more empirical paper investigating the relationship of Instagram use with body image issues in adolescent girls might use the following hook:
Don’t feel that your hook necessarily has to be deeply impressive or creative. Clarity and relevance are still more important than catchiness. The key thing is to guide the reader into your topic and situate your ideas.
Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:
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This part of the introduction differs depending on what approach your paper is taking.
In a more argumentative paper, you’ll explore some general background here. In a more empirical paper, this is the place to review previous research and establish how yours fits in.
After you’ve caught your reader’s attention, specify a bit more, providing context and narrowing down your topic.
Provide only the most relevant background information. The introduction isn’t the place to get too in-depth; if more background is essential to your paper, it can appear in the body .
For a paper describing original research, you’ll instead provide an overview of the most relevant research that has already been conducted. This is a sort of miniature literature review —a sketch of the current state of research into your topic, boiled down to a few sentences.
This should be informed by genuine engagement with the literature. Your search can be less extensive than in a full literature review, but a clear sense of the relevant research is crucial to inform your own work.
Begin by establishing the kinds of research that have been done, and end with limitations or gaps in the research that you intend to respond to.
The next step is to clarify how your own research fits in and what problem it addresses.
In an argumentative research paper, you can simply state the problem you intend to discuss, and what is original or important about your argument.
In an empirical research paper, try to lead into the problem on the basis of your discussion of the literature. Think in terms of these questions:
You can make the connection between your problem and the existing research using phrases like the following.
Although has been studied in detail, insufficient attention has been paid to . | You will address a previously overlooked aspect of your topic. |
The implications of study deserve to be explored further. | You will build on something suggested by a previous study, exploring it in greater depth. |
It is generally assumed that . However, this paper suggests that … | You will depart from the consensus on your topic, establishing a new position. |
Now you’ll get into the specifics of what you intend to find out or express in your research paper.
The way you frame your research objectives varies. An argumentative paper presents a thesis statement, while an empirical paper generally poses a research question (sometimes with a hypothesis as to the answer).
The thesis statement expresses the position that the rest of the paper will present evidence and arguments for. It can be presented in one or two sentences, and should state your position clearly and directly, without providing specific arguments for it at this point.
The research question is the question you want to answer in an empirical research paper.
Present your research question clearly and directly, with a minimum of discussion at this point. The rest of the paper will be taken up with discussing and investigating this question; here you just need to express it.
A research question can be framed either directly or indirectly.
If your research involved testing hypotheses , these should be stated along with your research question. They are usually presented in the past tense, since the hypothesis will already have been tested by the time you are writing up your paper.
For example, the following hypothesis might respond to the research question above:
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The final part of the introduction is often dedicated to a brief overview of the rest of the paper.
In a paper structured using the standard scientific “introduction, methods, results, discussion” format, this isn’t always necessary. But if your paper is structured in a less predictable way, it’s important to describe the shape of it for the reader.
If included, the overview should be concise, direct, and written in the present tense.
Full examples of research paper introductions are shown in the tabs below: one for an argumentative paper, the other for an empirical paper.
Are cows responsible for climate change? A recent study (RIVM, 2019) shows that cattle farmers account for two thirds of agricultural nitrogen emissions in the Netherlands. These emissions result from nitrogen in manure, which can degrade into ammonia and enter the atmosphere. The study’s calculations show that agriculture is the main source of nitrogen pollution, accounting for 46% of the country’s total emissions. By comparison, road traffic and households are responsible for 6.1% each, the industrial sector for 1%. While efforts are being made to mitigate these emissions, policymakers are reluctant to reckon with the scale of the problem. The approach presented here is a radical one, but commensurate with the issue. This paper argues that the Dutch government must stimulate and subsidize livestock farmers, especially cattle farmers, to transition to sustainable vegetable farming. It first establishes the inadequacy of current mitigation measures, then discusses the various advantages of the results proposed, and finally addresses potential objections to the plan on economic grounds.
The rise of social media has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the prevalence of body image issues among women and girls. This correlation has received significant academic attention: Various empirical studies have been conducted into Facebook usage among adolescent girls (Tiggermann & Slater, 2013; Meier & Gray, 2014). These studies have consistently found that the visual and interactive aspects of the platform have the greatest influence on body image issues. Despite this, highly visual social media (HVSM) such as Instagram have yet to be robustly researched. This paper sets out to address this research gap. We investigated the effects of daily Instagram use on the prevalence of body image issues among adolescent girls. It was hypothesized that daily Instagram use would be associated with an increase in body image concerns and a decrease in self-esteem ratings.
The introduction of a research paper includes several key elements:
and your problem statement
Don’t feel that you have to write the introduction first. The introduction is often one of the last parts of the research paper you’ll write, along with the conclusion.
This is because it can be easier to introduce your paper once you’ve already written the body ; you may not have the clearest idea of your arguments until you’ve written them, and things can change during the writing process .
The way you present your research problem in your introduction varies depending on the nature of your research paper . A research paper that presents a sustained argument will usually encapsulate this argument in a thesis statement .
A research paper designed to present the results of empirical research tends to present a research question that it seeks to answer. It may also include a hypothesis —a prediction that will be confirmed or disproved by your research.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Caulfield, J. (2023, March 27). Writing a Research Paper Introduction | Step-by-Step Guide. Scribbr. Retrieved June 28, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-paper/research-paper-introduction/
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The St. Luke’s Campus of the Mohawk Valley Health System will not become a commercial office campus, a research-and-development hub, a recreation center or another major medical facility.
Those ideas have been ruled out as infeasible or not supported by the local market by the Reimagine St. Luke’s design team.
But, that leaves lots of ideas on the table.
Consider, for example, a pedestrian bridge over Champlin Avenue linking Utica University to a small cluster of shops and a restaurant, perhaps Utica Coffee or even Chick-fil-A, but something fun.
Housing —single family homes or cottages or multiple-family units, but nothing more than three stories tall — would go up with a playground between the houses and the wetlands on the site’s northwest corner with trails on the site leading to the wetlands.
And, a hotel, needed in part for Utica University visitors, and a YMCA-type fitness and community center with an indoor pool and child care would go up, too.
That plan was designed by a small group of residents during a neighborhood redesign workshop on Wednesday evening, the third workshop hosted so far by the Reimagine St. Luke's team, at the Mohawk Valley Health System Center for Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Services on the St. Luke’s Campus.
MVHS, Oneida County, Mohawk Valley EDGE and the Town of New Hartford are teaming up on the project to create a master plan for the redevelopment of the 53-acre site which closed (except for the rehabilitation center) after the Wynn Hospital opened in downtown Utica in November.
The partners hired Fu Wilmers Design to lead a team of consultants to gather public input and develop a reuse strategy for the land, which will be sold to a developer.
About 50 people turned out for the workshop at which they were asked to work in small groups to lay out a design plan on large maps of the campus.
Ralph Lorraine, of Whitesboro, presented the Utica Coffee/pedestrian bridge/fitness and community center plan to the group at the end of the exercise.
“What we learned,” he said, “is we have a lot of ideas. And then we kind of came up with something.”
For Lorraine personally, the most important part of redevelopment is to create something nice and something different, something like the places he sees when he travels where housing and all kinds of other amenities are integrated.
No one wants townhouses standing in a row, he said.
“We’re building,” Lorraine stated, “a neighborhood.”
Another group presented a plan with a good bit of overlap. This group’s plan, presented by New York Mills resident Steve King who came with his wife Bobbi, also called for a pedestrian bridge over Champlin with retail space at the end of it. But this plan located the bridge across from the Ralph F. Strebel Student Center on the UU campus, not at the intersection between Champlin and the entrance to the St. Luke’s Campus.
This plan also included boardwalks leading into and in a circle through the wetlands to make exploration easier while protecting the site’s ecology. It put higher density housing toward the property’s border with The House of the Good Shepherd and lower density housing by a town green suitable for a farmer’s market.
The plan also included space for recreation —whether that be outdoor performances, tennis or pickleball — and a hotel.
Lots of other ideas were introduced by different groups: a dog park, a humane society with a training center, an urgent care center, an art gallery, a distillery (or a venue for things like weddings) in the existing glass-and-steel Energy Center and solar panels over a parking area, possibly to power the site.
The consultants leading the session also shared some of what of what they’ve learned so far from previous community input and from their research.
Here’s some of what they know.
The original 9.5 acres of wetlands have grown so that the wetlands and the 100-foot buffer around them recommended by the state now take up about 25 acres or 45% of the site. That leaves about 29 acres to develop.
They estimate that the site can handle about 30,000 square feet of retail space, or about four to six small stores or restaurants.
Neither the main building nor the Allen Calder wing have any historical significance or pose any archeological concerns. The wing has some structural issues and an environmental assessment turned up some concerns in the main part of the hospital. A Phase 2 environmental assessment will take place. The cost of reuse would also be prohibitively expensive.
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Although no final decision has made, planners are moving forward on the assumption that the entire hospital will be demolished.
Public input has shown that the community is interested in these goals:
So far, 480 people have responded so far to a still-active online visual survey with photographs depicting possible features and asking respondents to select what they’d like to see in the master plan.
The five most popular items were:
Other ideas supported by a majority of survey respondents included: community amenities (illustrated with a photo of an adult fitness park); outdoor dining; parking; family destination; town center streets; winter market; seasonal activities and festivals; pavilions; cottages; and nighttime attractions.
Clustered townhouses got the fewest votes, followed by parking behind buildings.
The fourth and final community workshop will take place in September, ending the project.
Before that, the team will develop concept plan alternatives, technical memos, and recommendations and developer solicitations.
Nicholas Hickens, master’s student at the Department of Family Medicine, is a recipient of the 2024 RI-MUHC Fiera Capital Awards for Equity Diversity and Inclusion in Health Care Research for his project titled Promoting effective use of patient self-reported measures in HIV care: Analysis of clinical recommendations and patient experience . These awards recognize the academic excellence of medical and health science students from racialized groups.
The allocation of scientific funding has not always been equitable. Historically, some groups have been underfunded or marginalized, including researchers from Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities. To address this critical funding gap, Fiera Capital Corporation (Fiera Capital) partnered with the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) to create the Fiera Capital Awards for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Health Care Research, which launched in 2022.
Nicholas Hickens is a healthcare professional of Caribbean descent with experience in various research and health-related initiatives, including working for the Public Health Agency of Canada. He has a background in applied human nutrition, biochemistry, and biological and applied sciences. He is a McCall MacBain and Rhodes Trust Foundation finalist scholar and a candidate in the Family medicine program at McGill University. He is currently supervised by Dr. Bertrand Lebouche. His research interests include chronic diseases and infections in primary care, optimizing and managing healthcare systems, public health ethics, decolonizing healthcare, and empowering the well-being of marginalized and vulnerable populations.
Congratulations Nicholas!
To see the full list of recipients, please visit: https://muhcfoundation.com/news/fiera-capital-and-the-muhc-foundation-announce-the-winners-of-the-awards-for-academic-excellence-in-health-care-research
Related articles:
https://healthenews.mcgill.ca/bipoc-change-champions-in-conversation-with-nicholas-hickens-masters-student-in-family-medicine/
https://www.mcgill.ca/familymed/article/meet-grads-2023-nicholas-hickens
Department of family medicine.
COMMENTS
Methodology - the methods you will use for your primary research. Findings and results - presenting the data from your primary research. Discussion - summarising and analysing your research and what you have found out. Conclusion - how the project went (successes and failures), areas for future study.
Research proposal examples. Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We've included a few for you below. Example research proposal #1: "A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling Constraint Management".
Research Project is a planned and systematic investigation into a specific area of interest or problem, with the goal of generating new knowledge, insights, or solutions. It typically involves identifying a research question or hypothesis, designing a study to test it, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions based on the findings.
Planning research projects is a time-honoured intellectual exercise: one that requires both creativity and sharp analytical skills. The purpose of this Guide is to make the process systematic and easy to understand. ... Your own research project should include something like this, even if it's a high-school term paper. In the research ...
Here's an example outline of a research plan you might put together: Project title. Project members involved in the research plan. Purpose of the project (provide a summary of the research plan's intent) Objective 1 (provide a short description for each objective) Objective 2. Objective 3.
A research design is a strategy for answering your research question using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about: Your overall research objectives and approach. Whether you'll rely on primary research or secondary research. Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects. Your data collection methods.
The proposal outlines the context, relevance, purpose, and plan of your research. As well as outlining the background, problem statement, and research questions, the proposal should also include a literature review that shows how your project will fit into existing work on the topic. The research design section describes your approach and ...
Step 1: Find the right supervisor. Step 2: Don't be shy, ask! Step 3: Select the right topic. Step 4: Keep your plan realistic. Step 5: Prepare a project timeline. Step 6: Write, write and write. 1. Find the right supervisor. My professor asked a faculty member to become my supervisor.
A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question. Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative, descriptive, longitudinal, experimental, or correlational. What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.
Briefly put, these are the things you should have on your checklist: 1) Have an idea, 2) turn that idea into a question, and anticipate new questions, 3) identify resources, 4) establish what has already been done (literature review), 5) brainstorm around focused topic, 6) organise ideas, 7) write outline, 8) start filling in the.
The proposal is a detailed plan or 'blueprint' for the intended study, and once it is completed, the research project should flow smoothly. Even today, many of the proposals at post-graduate evaluation committees and application proposals for funding are substandard. ... Tips for preparation of a good research proposal include; 'be ...
Typically, your research proposal should include the following information: 1. Title. You should have a clear working title for your research, made up of key words that are relevant to your project. It should give an indication of the intent of your project, directing attention explicitly to the central issue that you will address.
A quality example of a research proposal shows one's above-average analytical skills, including the ability to coherently synthesize ideas and integrate lateral and vertical thinking. Communication skills. The proposal also demonstrates your proficiency to communicate your thoughts in concise and precise language.
The research aim focus on what the research project is intended to achieve; research objectives focus on how the aim will be achieved. Research aims are relatively broad; research objectives are specific. Research aims focus on a project's long-term outcomes; research objectives focus on its immediate, short-term outcomes.
The two-day workshop was formatted to include key lectures and interactive breakout sessions that focused on protocol development in six subject areas of the pharmaceutical sciences. This was followed by sessions on scientific writing. ... The idea on which a research project is built should be novel, appropriate to achieve within the existing ...
earch project are also provided.A key feature of a good research project is that it has never been done before; that is, it is in some way original in the sense that it is not aiming to find out something. ople in the field already know. The proj. t also needs to be worth doing. It is, then, important to consider the value and relevance of the ...
research project is a scientific endeavor to answer a research question. Research projects may include: Case series. Case control study. Cohort study. Randomized, controlled trial. Survey. Secondary data analysis such as decision analysis, cost effectiveness analysis or meta-analysis. Each resident must work under the guidance of a faculty mentor.
There are seven elements that your plan should include: the project background, the research goals, the detailed research questions, the key performance indicators or KPIs, the methodology, the ...
What you should do: Provide a brief overview of your project. Include the goals of your research proposal and clearly specify the research questions you want to address. Explain the hypotheses you want to test. Note: A good summary should emphasize the problems the applicant intends to solve, identify the solution to the problems, and specify ...
Ultimately, establishing transparency in a research project focuses the data collection and analysis processes and makes the findings more compelling and persuasive. Describing the scope can clarify what specific concepts should be used and examined during the course of the study. A good scope can keep the researcher focused on what data to ...
The guidelines set in its " Mandate for Leadership " include numerous attacks on reproductive rights policy, including a proposal to rewrite Title X, which helps fund low-cost contraception ...
Project 2025. Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, is a collection of conservative policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government in the event of a Republican Party victory in the 2024 presidential election. [2] [3] Established in 2022, the project has been most notable ...
Responsibilities*. This position will work with and report directly to the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan-Flint. The focus of this position is to support the Vice Provost with her research by reviewing archive documents as part of her Inclusive History Project at UM-Flint. Projects would include, but are not ...
With AI expanding the world of data like never before, finding ways of leveraging it without ethical or security concerns is key. Enter synthetic data, an exciting privacy-enhancing technology re-emerging in the age of AI. It replicates the patterns and trends in sensitive datasets but does not contain specific information that could be linked to individuals or compromise organizations or ...
Two IIT team members were honored with prestigious awards at the 2024 IT Recognition Awards, and a Q+A session was held with Research Data Services Director Gabe McMahan. Open recruitments include positions for an Academic Application Administrator and a User Support Specialist III, with applications accepted until June 30th.
Tuesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Sharon Smith. ENGL 151 serves as an introduction to both the English major and the discipline of English studies. In this class, you will develop the thinking, reading, writing and research practices that define both the major and the discipline. Much of the semester will be devoted to honing your ...
Table of contents. Step 1: Introduce your topic. Step 2: Describe the background. Step 3: Establish your research problem. Step 4: Specify your objective (s) Step 5: Map out your paper. Research paper introduction examples. Frequently asked questions about the research paper introduction.
The fourth and final community workshop will take place in September, ending the project. Before that, the team will develop concept plan alternatives, technical memos, and recommendations and ...
Nicholas Hickens, master's student at the Department of Family Medicine, is a recipient of the 2024 RI-MUHC Fiera Capital Awards for Equity Diversity and Inclusion in Health Care Research for his project titled Promoting effective use of patient self-reported measures in HIV care: Analysis of clinical recommendations and patient experience. These awards recognize the academic excellence of ...
The project location issue came up during the meeting when commissioners voted 20-1 to use $2 million previously committed for the Del Webb Southern Harmony plan for another project. Only Commissioner Joshua James opposed using the $2 million instead to help fund a nearly $9.5 million public health and safety building on the Plainview ...