Prepare Your Proposal

"IRDL offers an unparalleled opportunity for professional development and personal growth." — 2015 IRDL Scholar

There are two steps to completing your submission: 

1. Complete the application form.
2. Complete the application document.

Prepare the following to be uploaded as a single PDF document as your application document:

1. One-page cover letter of why you are applying. Please reflect on what you specifically hope to gain from participation in the institute.
2. A proposal of the project you would like to focus on while a scholar of the institute. Your proposal must address the components listed in the Research Proposal Content document (see below for criteria) (Maximum 8 double-spaced pages, not including references, appendices, or instruments). Your proposal must be in APA format.
3. CV
4. A signed letter from your director or dean (or supervisor, if you are a director or dean), addressing the following specific topics:
   1. An awareness that during the Summer Research Workshop, your librarian will be finalizing a research proposal for a study they will be conducting during the coming academic year. You will support, as appropriate for your institution, time to complete the work. In our experience, a successful IRDL project has required a half-day per week of research time granted.
   2. Any available resources the scholar will have to complete the work (examples: access to research consultant, statistical consultant, specialized software).
   3. Permission granted to be on leave, released from all regular work duties for the entirety of the Summer Research Workshop (May 27-31, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and June 3-7, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.).
      

      * Please address your letter to:

      IRDL Project Co-directors, Marie Kennedy and Kristine Brancolini
      Loyola Marymount University
      William H. Hannon Library
      1 LMU Drive
      Los Angeles CA 90045

5. Merge all of the documents into one PDF file; please organize your documents so they are in the order listed here. Create an account at the LMU Digital Commons website and upload your application document.

Research Proposal Content

IRDL participants are expected to develop a research proposal during the summer workshop. You should choose a research topic that is of interest to you and develop a proposal based on that. Your proposal is part of your application process; if selected as a scholar, during the workshop you will revise your proposal to the point that it is close to ready to launch when you return to your home institution.

For purposes of this Institute, we define research as follows:

The process of arriving at dependable solutions to problems/questions/hypotheses through the planned and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data: it may be applied or theoretical in nature and use quantitative or qualitative methods. (This definition does not include library research that is limited to activities such as compiling bibliographies and searching catalogs).

A research proposal is a description of how you will conduct a research study to solve a problem. It specifies what the problem is, what you will do to tackle it, how you will do it, and how you will interpret the results. In specifying what will be done it also gives criteria for determining whether it is done.

The first step of writing a research proposal is to formulate the research question. You are free to choose a research question within the broad area of library and information science (with a social science focus) whose answer will result in better practice. The focus of the Institute is on practitioner-oriented research, which should produce original information that can be either applied directly to practice in the field or to further theoretical development.

N.B.: Your proposal must be written in APA format. A Microsoft Word template for this style is available at the MS Office website

Your proposal, including the abstract, should not exceed 8 double-spaced pages. References, appendices, and instruments are not included in the 8-page limit.

Abstract

Up to 200 words.

Section 1

Introduction to the problem.

• A brief introduction of your research topic – what your research topic is about. This introduction will provide your audience the background information on the topic you are studying.
• A brief statement of the research problem – what the problem is that needs to be solved. Problem statement points out the area that has problems and can be improved by the results of your proposed study. Basically, you are telling people what you think needs to be "worked on" in the area of your research topic.
• Your research question – what the question is that you seek to answer via your proposed study. You need to formulate your research question based on your research problem, and present it in the question format with a question mark at the end.

Section 2

A brief review of the research literature on your study variables and their relationships. Such literature includes studies presenting theories, empirical data and methodology about the variables in the research question. The purpose of the literature review is to identify studies that have been done on your research topic and identify the gap in the literature that can be filled by your proposed study. The literature review should be organized topically/thematically and should not be organized by article.

Section 3

Precise statement of methodology and analytic techniques, include:

• Study population;
• Sampling design;
• Data collection instruments or description of existing data (if using data that has already been gathered);
• Data analysis techniques.

Section 4

Project schedule. Keep in mind that the project you propose should be able to be completed within one calendar year from leaving the summer workshop. The project schedule should provide expected completion dates for all major stages in the project, possibly including the completion of the thorough literature review, design of instrument (e.g. questionnaire), Human Subject Committee review, data collection, data analysis, completion of the rough draft, etc.

Section 5

Significance of the work (and who it will directly benefit).

Section 6

Summary

Section 7

References

Attachments

If applicable, attach survey questionnaires, interview guides, cover letters (to get informed consent from your study participants if your study involves human subjects), usability study instructions and all other supporting material.

Note: A good source of information on proposal writing is Proposals that Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals by Lawrence Locke. A good source of information on writing is On Writing Well by W. Zinsser.