英联邦的博士一般是3-4年，远少于北美的6-7年，因此Research Proposal的写作就相当于申请的敲门砖，一定要重视。整体看Research Proposal 对文科生的要求高于理科生。一般的院校（NUS CUHK HKU等）大概要求2页，比较好的学校要求5-20页不等（不同的导师要求不同），基本相当于一篇博士论文的开题报告。
It has a clear and explicit purpose.
It makes certain that you have a worthwhile research project - you have a good grasp of the relevant literature and the major issues, and that your methodology is sound.
It will show that you have the competence and work-plan to complete the research.
It includes sufficient information for us to evaluate the proposed study.
We can be certain we have the right staff expertise to supervise you.
Issue
All research proposals must address the question of what you plan to accomplish and why you want to and how you are going to do it.In preparing a research proposal, the first thing that you have to do is to decide what it really is that you want to know more about. The questions that you want to research have to viable as a research project and lead to the creation of new knowledge and understanding.
Title
concise and descriptive，开门见山。根据自己平时的兴趣和偏好，和自己的老师商量一下自己的研究方向，并选取具体的研究课题。（并不一定100%是未来的博士论文的题目，但是自己一定要有信心写好）
Background and Rationale
包括大背景、小背景和文献综述。非常重要的部分，整理国内外最新研究进展，根据不同的学科，时间纬度不一样。
Research Questions
也就是研究中你要解决的问题，研究对象。
Here you need to formulate your research questions clearly. You should have an answerable question that is clear and sufficiently well defined/focussed for you to do the research implied within an appropriate time frame.
Theoretical Framework
如何用理论得到你的假设。理论框架研究计划最重要的部分，使整个研究的支撑，就像是人的骨骼，这就要求你的理论功底要非常的扎实。
Methodology and Data
可能用到的方法和数据来源。
Time Schedule
各个部分的完成进度。
References
把相关的参考文献整理好，附在研究计划的最后，有些老师首先看这部分，看你究竟读了多少书。控制到1-3页，不要太少。
好学校对研究计划的研究比较严格，如果你的文献已经有了积累，最后大概1周之内就可以写完，然后找老师改，最好是找国外的老师或者博士生改。研究计划和简历一样需要多次修改，从理论和语法上减少错误，提高申请文书的质量。研究计划还可以用于套磁，给老师留下一个很好的印象。
本文摘自：http://www.yyedu.ca/html/xinwenzixun/liuxuezixun/2019/1013/169.html
远洋留学：http://www.yyedu.ca
