undergraduate research project guidelines

Writing a Project Proposal

Main navigation, a good proposal describes....

• what you hope to accomplish
• why those objectives are important to your academic or artistic field
• how you intend to achieve your objectives

Your original project proposal is the core of your grant application. 

Detailed Proposal Requirements

• General guidelines for all grant proposals
• Additional specific guidelines for  Research, Arts/Design, and Senior Synthesis  project proposals -- please follow carefully!
• Ways to turn your good proposal into a great one
• Sample Project Proposals : Check out exemplars of past student project proposals.

Connect with Faculty Mentors and UADs

• Faculty Mentors should meet required eligibility criteria .
• Students should  schedule a meeting with their Undergraduate Advising Director (UAD)  as they write their proposal. UADs are well-versed with all VPUE Undergraduate Research Grants!

Watch a 3-minute overview of the VPUE Student Grant application process.

Watch a 2-minute video on how to write the critical dialogue section of a creative arts project proposal.

• StudySkills@Sheffield
• Research skills
• Research methods

How to plan a dissertation or final year project

Information on how to plan and manage your dissertation project.

What is research?

Research sometimes just means finding out information about a topic. However, research in an academic context refers to a more rigorous process that, when undertaken effectively, will lead to new insights or perspectives. 

The classic definition of academic research is that it leads to an original 'contribution to knowledge' in a particular field of inquiry by identifying an important question or problem and then answering or solving it in a systematic way.

The University of Sheffield prides itself on being a research-led university . Crucially, this means that teaching is informed by cutting-edge research in the academic field.

It also means that you are learning in an environment where you develop and use research skills as you progress. Your dissertation or final-year project is a chance to put all of this experience together and apply it to make your own contribution to knowledge in your own narrow and specific area of interest. 

It also presents a number of new challenges relating to the scale, scope and structure of a piece of work that is likely to be more substantial than any you have undertaken before. These resources will help you to break the process down and explore ways to plan and structure your research and organise your written work.

Dissertation Planning Essentials workshop: book here

Defining your project

A good research project will be as narrowly defined and specific as possible to allow you to explore the area as fully as possible within the time and space constraints that you are facing. But how do you go from a general area of interest to a fully-formed research project?

This Project Design Template will help you to work through this process. Access the template and read more about how to use it below.

Access the Project Design Template (google doc)

Your dissertation or final-year research topic

You may have lots of ideas of things you would like to explore in your project; you may not be sure where to start. Either way, writing down some relevant key words is a good first step to help you to identify the area(s) of interest. 

Once you have some key words in place, can you break them down further to identify any sub-topics of interest. For example if you are interested in sustainable building design, what is it about that topic that you would like to find out more about? The use of green walls? Natural light? Air circulation? Are you interested in civic buildings, schools or homes? Do you have a geographical area of focus in mind? 

Once you have your key words and sub topics in place, you can have a go at formulating them into a mission statement for your project setting out exactly what it is you want to achieve. For example, ‘This project will compare the use of natural air circulation design features in Chinese and British school buildings.’ 

Don’t forget, your mission statement is something that you can keep coming back to and tweaking as your project takes shape.

Relevant literature

How much do you need to read to develop your literature review? There is no simple answer to this question and the answer will depend on your project and its scope. However, you can help to answer that question yourself by identifying the key themes from the literature that you will need to include in your review. Aim for somewhere between 3-5 themes to help create a structured and focused literature review. 

Once you have your themes in place, you will need to identify the key texts that have informed your thinking. Try to aim for 3-5 sources per theme and make sure you have included the most influential and the most recent research within that list.

Book workshops on Dissertation Writing: Effective Paraphrasing, Summarising and Referencing, Writing Persuasive Introductions, Conclusions and Discussions, and Writing Effective Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences.

More information

Book a writing advisory service appointment for feedback on your work and advice on dissertation writing

make an appointment (student login required)

Your research

What is it that you want to find out, explore or test in your research? Most research projects will involve several research objectives that will allow you to fulfil your mission statement. Aim to begin with the broadest, most significant objective and try to keep the number of objectives manageable to maintain focus. 

What data or information will you need to collect in order to meet each objective? Remember that the data that you use for your research will need to be valid, sufficient, reliable and feasible within the timeframe. You can find out more about how to develop your research methodology in order to collect this information on our How to identify your research methods page.

• How to identify your research methods

Project planning

The key to completing a research project successfully is to invest time in planning and organising your project.

A student research project, whether a dissertation or a research placement, will usually involve tight timescales and deadlines. Given the wealth of tasks involved in a typical dissertation project, this can seriously limit the time available for actual data collection or research. 

As an early stage of the planning process, have a go at breaking your project down into its constituent parts: i.e. all of the tasks that you will need to complete between now and the deadline. How long will each of them take? For example:

Using Generative AI for planning

You may want to consider using a Generative AI tool to help with the planning process. The key things to consider in your approach to planning with GenAI are the following:

• Provide as much detail as possible about your schedule and requirements when you are designing your initial prompt.
• Be sure to build some contingency time into the plan to allow for unforeseen eventualities.
• You may need to use multiple prompts to refine and tweak the output to generate a plan that works for you.
• You will need to sense check the output to ensure that it is realistic and meets your needs.

Generative AI can help you to plan an overall schedule for your project and/or break down individual tasks. The following prompts may give you some inspiration for how to use GenAI to plan your dissertation project:

[PROMPT] I am a [final year undergraduate] student planning a dissertation project. I have an intermediate deadline for my literature review on [15th April 2025]. The word count for the literature review is [3000 words]. I will be on holiday from [1 April-11 April 2025]. I would like to spend [7] hours per week on this. Create a plan to help me meet this deadline. 

[PROMPT] I am a [masters] student planning a dissertation project. My research will involve [a survey] with a goal of receiving [100 responses]. I need to have this data by [20 May]. What key stages do I need to include in my planning process?

Visit How to use Generative AI for productivity for further information.

Project management

Once you have an idea of the tasks involved in your project and the rough timescales that you intend to work towards, you will need to make sure that you have a strategy in place to monitor your progress and stay on track. 

You might want to consider using one or more of the following strategies to manage your time on your dissertation project.

A simple timeline can be a clear visual way to keep track of tasks and organise them chronologically. 

Try using a large sheet of paper with a timeline drawn across the middle horizontally. Add tasks and deadlines to post-it notes and arrange them along the timeline, overlapping where the tasks allow it. 

Stick your timeline on the wall behind your desk and cross off tasks as you complete them, or move them around and add to them if your plans change or new tasks arise along the way. 

Gantt charts

A Gantt chart provides a more structured visual representation of your project and its milestones. 

Identify tasks in order down the left-hand side of the chart, identify deadlines and colour in the corresponding number of days or weeks that you anticipate the task will take. 

A Gantt chart will allow you to identify high priority ‘blocker’ tasks that need to be completed before subsequent tasks can be ‘unlocked’. For example, your ethics review will need to be complete before you are able to move onto data collection. 

You can access a free Gantt chart template via Google sheets.

Access a free Gantt chart template (Google Sheets)

Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a powerful tool to help manage your time on an independent research project. The following steps will help you to make the most of your calendar to organise the individual tasks relating to your project:

• Add the milestones that you have identified to the top bar of your calendar. 
• Block out any existing or planned other commitments in your calendar to help you to keep track of how much time you have available to devote to your project.
• Plan ahead and identify blocks of time that you can spend working on your dissertation, aiming to keep this as protected project time.
• Using your task list and your milestones, identify what specifically you intend to use each block of time to work on and add it to the event in your calendar. 

Planning ahead and committing this time to your dissertation will help you to sense check the time you have available and stick to your plan.

Trello is a simple and accessible online tool that allows you to identify and colour code tasks, set yourself deadlines and share your project plan with collaborators

You can use Trello to create a project ‘workflow’ with tasks allocated to the following sections:

• Low priority: the tasks that are coming up in the future but which you don’t need to worry about right now.
• High priority: the tasks that you will need to start working on soon or as a matter of urgency.
• In progress: the tasks that you are actively working on now. Try to keep the number of in-progress tasks to a minimum to maintain your focus.
• Under review: you may need to share progress with your supervisor or want to review things yourself. Keep tasks here until you feel they are complete.
• Complete: tasks that are now finished and will need no further attention.

Over the course of a project like a dissertation, you will hopefully see all of your tasks move from low priority through the workflow to the point of completion. You can see an example Dissertation Planning Trello board here and some guidance for students on using Trello (Linked In Learning).

View an example Trello board Access guidance on using Trello (LinkedIn Learning)

Working with your supervisor

Your supervisor will be your first point of contact for advice on your project and to help you to resolve issues arising. 

Remember, your supervisor will have a busy schedule and may be supervising several students at once. Although they will do their best to support you, they may not be able to get back to you right away and may be limited in their availability to meet you. 

There are a number of things that you can do to make the most out of the relationship. Some strategies to consider include:

• Share plans/ideas/work-in-progress with your supervisor early 
• Plan for meetings, sketch out an informal agenda 
• Write down your main questions before the meeting. Don’t leave without answers!
• Be receptive to feedback and criticism
• Take notes/record the meeting on a smartphone (with your supervisor’s permission!)

To find out more about how to get the most out of working with your supervisor, explore our interactive digital workshop.

Launch the Supervisor/Supervisee Relationships interactive workshop

• Read other dissertations from students in your department/discipline to get an idea of how similar projects are organised and presented. 
• Break your project down into its constituent parts and treat each chapter as an essay in its own right.
• Choose a topic that interests you and will sustain your interest, not just for a few days, but for a few months!
• Write up as you go along - writing can and should be part of all stages of the dissertation planning and developing process. 
• Keep good records – don’t throw anything out!
• If in doubt, talk to your supervisor.
• How to write a literature review
• How to gain ethical approval

Further resources

• University of Sheffield Library Research Skills for Dissertations Library Guide

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A student’s guide to undergraduate research

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Originally written by Shiwei Wang for Nature journal in March 2019.

Participating in original research during your undergraduate studies can greatly expand your learning experience. However, finding the project can be a challenging task, so here’s a short but comprehensive guide that can help you get the most out of an undergraduate research opportunity.

Choose the right lab

Learn to think like a scientist. A lot of people start their undergraduate research by glancing at the faculty list and e-mailing multiple professors whose work seems interesting. Although this might get you a position somewhere, it is not the most effective approach. Before looking at labs, dive into the science to find out which areas fascinate you. Read a lot, go to talks, and talk to your professors not just about their classes, but about science in general as well.

Subscribe to e-mail newsletters from journals such as Nature and Science. Try to read research highlights and science news regularly. Podcasts and articles by, for example, Nature, Science, Scientific American or Quanta can also be interesting sources of information. Follow academics, journals and universities on Twitter. Start your undergraduate research by learning more about science, thinking like a scientist and working out what you love.

Look for questions, not subjects. You might have chosen a major to study, but don’t let this limit your search for research labs. Modern labs are interdisciplinary and very different from what you do in undergrad labs. Instead of limiting your search to your department, try to look at labs in all related departments. Choose labs on the basis of the questions they’re trying to answer.

Mentoring is as important as research. Contact group members to learn about your prospective laboratory’s environment. Are the group members close? Is the lab friendly or competitive and condescending? Is the lab head hands-off or hands-on? The size of the group is also important. If you join a small group, you’ll have a higher chance of being mentored directly by your principal investigator, whereas in a big group, you are more likely to be mentored by a postdoctoral researcher or graduate student.

Reach out with confidence. Once you’ve determined that the research programme interests you and the group dynamic is healthy, send the principal investigator an e-mail. Make sure to explain why you’re interested in working in the lab and that you have spoken to other lab members. Be patient if they don’t reply. If you don’t receive a response after a week or so, send a second e-mail or reach out in other ways, such as by asking group members to enquire for you.

Get the most out of the experience

Start your research with reading, and keep on reading. Usually, the principal investigator will assign you a mentor and a project. Ask for literature to read: learning about the state of the field and why the work is important will help you to push the project forward. Read about your field as well as other, totally unrelated fields. As an undergraduate, you have the freedom to change your major and your future plans. Make sure to strike a balance between reading and conducting experiments. It’s hard to do both at the same time, but it will make you a better scientist.

Set specific goals for yourself and let your mentors know. Think about what you want from your research and how much time you are willing to put in. Besides learning the techniques, do you want to learn how to analyse results and design experiments? Do you want to learn how to write proposals by applying for undergraduate research grants? Do you want to improve your presentation skills by going to conferences? Do you want to potentially finish a project for publication? Working out what you want to achieve will help you to direct your time effectively.

Research takes time. Don’t blame yourself if experiments don’t work or the project is not moving forward as fast as you expected. Science is about failing and trying again. Getting used to and coping with frustration is part of the learning curve of research.

Find a healthy balance. University is already a lot of work, and research will only take up more time. When planning your schedule, try to allocate large blocks of time (whole afternoons or individual days) to research. Rushing through a procedure could be unsafe and will often produce useless results. Always plan extra time for experiments. Consider working less in the lab during exam weeks so you don’t get overwhelmed. Talk to your mentor about your schedule and feelings regularly, so that you can arrange experiments at times that suit you, and you can keep on top of your mental health.

Find financial support. If you wish to do research at your own institution over the summer, your institution might offer funding to cover your expenses. If you want to go to another university, you can apply for funding from that institution’s undergraduate research programme, or from foundations, companies or academic societies. For example, the US National Science Foundation offers a Research Experiences for Undergraduates programme. Universities, foundations and academic societies might also offer grants to cover your travel expense to various conferences. Don’t let money limit what you want to do. Talk to senior students or professors, or search online to find all the opportunities!

Always think about the big picture. Your undergraduate research doesn’t define what you’re going to do after your degree. Keep reading and taking classes outside your comfort zone. Explore and learn as much as possible. Working out what you love is the best preparation you can get for the rest of your career.

Read the full article on the Nature website.

To find a research opportunity at Johns Hopkins University, visit the Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research website .