Write Your PhD Proposal in 1 Day Using These AI Prompts

Writing a research proposal is not just an academic checkbox. It's an audition for your ideas and people mess it up really badly. An audition where the panel are skeptical, angry, and probably hung over. Therefore, you need to put your best foot forward. And the good news is AI can help. So, today we're going to go over the exact five prompts that you can use to make sure that your research proposal is hitting the mark on every single one. Now, your university

may have a proposal outline. Here is USC, University of Southern California. They've got a great outline. Look at all of this. You even got this from Oxford University's geology or geography, whatever. Are they the same thing? I don't know. Then they've got here, guides to writing a research proposal. Importantly, it's this one. It makes certain that you have a worthwhile research project and you have a good grasp of the relevant literature and the major issues and that your methodology

is sound. It's this one that we really need to make sure we are completely clear on, but also that we are communicating to the panel that we know exactly what's going on and why we are the right people to do it. So, here are the five things that you really need to make sure you are making a home run.

is sound. It's this one that we really need to make sure we are completely clear on, but also that we are communicating to the panel that we know exactly what's going on and why we are the right people to do it. So, here are the five things that you really need to make sure you are making a home run.

Bosch, American smile. Ding. All right. So, in good academic fashion, I decided that I would do a presentation for you. Look at this. There is. This is my presentation. Key components of a strong research proposal by Dr. Poopy Pants Stapleton. That's me. I'm not sure the last time I pooped. I know. I tell a lie. I do know actually. I was 21. I ate a Burger King from a um service station on the way back from London to Plymouth and it was my 21st birthday and my mom

said to me, "You're 21 and still pooping yourself." Anyway, that's what happened. When did you last poo yourself? Let me know in the comments. All right. So, the first thing is you need a clear problem statement and research question clearly. You can't just go in and be like, "Oh, I'm going to dabble over here. I'm going to dabble over here." No. Because the reviewer is not going to like that. So, you need to make sure that this is covered. It needs to be specific and

focused on a single issue. Don't just be like, "Oh, I'll try here. I'll try here." Even though right get this in the future after you get this sort of like grant or after you get accepted you will actually dabble in other areas but for the proposal they need you to be crystal clear like you've got a magical crystal ball and you're like oh yeah that's what I'm going to do and that's what we're going to achieve that's what they like certainty then feasible obviously

significant to your field and aligned with a broader research objective and these are the three wise that I think you really really need to have answered and completely clear in your research proposal. They need to know why me. This one here, can I do a little here? I'm going to turn on the pen. Why me? Firstly, why you? Why are you the person that I'm going to sneeze? Am

I? It's coming. Bollocks. It went away. All right, then. So the first one is why me? Why you? Why are you the right person to be tackling this research question? That is so very important because there's loads of people applying for grant funding and for PhD projects. It's your specific skills that can enable you to do this uh amazing project. Okay, the next one. Why now? So it could be that is a horrible circle. Why now? Because you need to make them clear on why now is the right

opportunity. Is there a recent paper that gives you an insight that thinks it's possible? Have you got new equipment? Has the field moved on to the point where it is now possible to do something that wasn't possible in the past? Why now is so very important. And the last one, why? Oh, I split this over two lines. That's rubbish. Why them? Why are you going to be doing it in that research department or university? Is there the right skills? Are there the right um equipment? All of that sort of

opportunity. Is there a recent paper that gives you an insight that thinks it's possible? Have you got new equipment? Has the field moved on to the point where it is now possible to do something that wasn't possible in the past? Why now is so very important. And the last one, why? Oh, I split this over two lines. That's rubbish. Why them? Why are you going to be doing it in that research department or university? Is there the right skills? Are there the right um equipment? All of that sort of

stuff. Do I get is and are around the you get it? You need to make clear why them. Why is it that this sort of like holy trinity of things coming together make sure that you have the perfect opportunity to succeed. And remember, you're trying to convince this person, look at him, reviewer two, he's alone, he's divorced, he's sad, and he's got that big red pen that's going to say, "No, this needs major rethinking." Uh-uh. Forget that. you're convincing this guy. Keep that guy in the back of

stuff. Do I get is and are around the you get it? You need to make clear why them. Why is it that this sort of like holy trinity of things coming together make sure that you have the perfect opportunity to succeed. And remember, you're trying to convince this person, look at him, reviewer two, he's alone, he's divorced, he's sad, and he's got that big red pen that's going to say, "No, this needs major rethinking." Uh-uh. Forget that. you're convincing this guy. Keep that guy in the back of

your head when you're writing because it's that skept skeptical, horrible, hung over, divorced person that h is really ultimately going to be the person looking over your research proposal. All right, then let's get on to the next one. Oh, I forgot I was giving you a prompt for everyone. All right, so this is the prompt I would use. I'm going to put a link to where you can find these prompts. It will be on academiainsider.com, but ultimately this is it. I'm writing a research proposal

on and then you put your topic. Please help me refine my problem. Identify potential gaps in the current literature. Suggest three to five re focused research questions and that's important. Explain why this research is timely and significant now and help me articulate why I'm uniquely positioned to conduct this study. Put what you've got in or if you're not sure give it like what you've got run this and I can assure you that it will become clear to you what your clear problem statement

and research question should be. use chat GPT or any sort of like large language model and even a deep research model um to make sure that your research question is chef's kiss good. So the next thing you need to do is make sure that your literature review is awesome and here we need to make sure it hits these things. So we need to make sure that we compare and contrast major theories and methodologies. We need to identify gaps or limitations in the current research. We need to establish a

theoretical framework for your study and also show how your research extends or challenges current understanding. People like a little bit of sort of like drama in the science world. If you don't think something is correct, you don't have to shy away when you're doing a research proposal from saying this is rubbish, you can poop on it as much as you want, but remember the five C's. Your five C's in your literature review must be hit. And it gives the sort of like reviewer

confidence that you know what you're doing. You've done it rigorously. You've done it deeply and this is what it looks like. So you need to site your relevant sources. Obviously compare arguments and findings. You can't just say this person found this. You always need to say this person found this and it was backed up by this or it was um these people disagreed with what they were saying. All of that. Just make sure that you know subconsciously the person who's

reviewing your project proposal goes, "Oh, they've really gone deep here. They've really compare and contrasted. You get the idea. So, contrast different approaches. Obviously, there are many ways to skin a cat, which is a horrible saying. I love animals. Why that one? I don't know. But, um, contrast different approaches and say why your approach is the best. Critique methodologies and conclusions. Don't shy away from being critical about other people's work in

your research proposal. That is what makes it an important part of research to be doing. All right. Then the next thing, connect existing literature to your research. Obviously, you just need to make sure you've looked at all of the past um uh literature and you've connected it to what you're doing. Now, there are sort of like tools that can do it for you, but in my experience, the best deep research tool is Gemini deep research. I think it's largely free as well. Anyway, but now prompt compare

literature review. So, here we've got I need to conduct a literature review on that. Please help me identify key themes and debates. suggest how to organize, highlight potential gaps and provide a structure that shows how the existing literature connects to my research. Then you can put your research question in there. Perfect. Use deep research tools like Gemini chat GPT. Um, and you can also sort of like use Manis AI and other like aentic. Oh, and Gen Spark is good

literature review. So, here we've got I need to conduct a literature review on that. Please help me identify key themes and debates. suggest how to organize, highlight potential gaps and provide a structure that shows how the existing literature connects to my research. Then you can put your research question in there. Perfect. Use deep research tools like Gemini chat GPT. Um, and you can also sort of like use Manis AI and other like aentic. Oh, and Gen Spark is good

as well. A Gentic AI is great for literature reviews. Try it and check out my channel because there's just heaps on doing literature reviews. Anyway, that's the second bit. Check out this next bit cuz it's just as important. The third thing that you really need to make a home run. Bash. Yes. Ding. Oh, everyone loves me for the cheerleader. No. Oh, naughty. Um, but now we've got robust research design and methodology. So, these are the things it needs to hit.

as well. A Gentic AI is great for literature reviews. Try it and check out my channel because there's just heaps on doing literature reviews. Anyway, that's the second bit. Check out this next bit cuz it's just as important. The third thing that you really need to make a home run. Bash. Yes. Ding. Oh, everyone loves me for the cheerleader. No. Oh, naughty. Um, but now we've got robust research design and methodology. So, these are the things it needs to hit.

You need to justify your chosen research design, detailed data, uh, data collection methods, explain your sampling strategy or if you're using parti participants, how you're actually sort of like selecting them, outline your data, and address ethical considerations. That's important. and then demonstrate feasibility within your timeline and resources because you need to channel this person, this sad, sad, horrible person who needs to justify their research at a poster presentation

as people are coming by. You need to make sure that the cynical academics among us when they come to you, you have got a good reason about why you are doing it and also how you are going to do it because they love arguing over how. This arguably is one of the most important parts of your research proposal. It needs to be obvious that you can succeed and also that you have got some sort of like insight into the methodology that no one else has. So really spend time in methodology section

because you don't want to be this sad person who's all alone in a conference and people are asking them questions. You're like, well, I don't know. I don't know what to do. No, don't do that. It's all about being super confident with your methodology and you need to spend a lot of time there. And the prompt to make your methodology perfect. Oh, I'm doing that a lot. I don't like that my fingers. Oh, no. Gross. Okay, carry on. I'll don't touch your mouth so much, states. All

right, then. Here we've got I'm considering using and then this specific methodology for my research on and then you put your topic and then you've got evaluate whether this methodology aligns suggest alternative approaches. This one's important because you need to kind of like semiargue why your methodology is better than other ones that are out there. Identify potential limitations and how you might address them. Also recommend strategies for data collection

and then provide ethical considerations I should address. put that into any large language model or any deep research thing that you like and uh I think that will make your research design and methodology so much more convincing and better for you in the long term because ultimately this is how you are going to do your research. The fourth thing you need to make sure is picture perfect like me ding in your proposal is significance and contribution to your knowledge. You need

to make sure that you are selling right. This is the point in your proposal where you sell what the world looks like if you succeed. And here you can sort of like draw on a number of things. You can look at theoretical contributions, practical applications, policy or future research directions that it may open up or enable. And one thing I like to do is channel my inner professor emiritis or emir emiritus. Emiritis, you get the idea. This person, look at him. Oh, he's

got another grunt. Oh, he's so cocky. As one of my friends would say, channel your inner middleage white man. Just someone who can go into a room and be like, I am perfect. I'm amazing. And that's really what you've got to get across in the significance and contribution to knowledge. You need to really sort of like uh puff up your chest, sing to the world that you are going to change the world for the better, and this proposal is the way that you're going to do it. you're going

to make it seem like it's so stupid that they wouldn't fund this because the world is going to be so much better because of your contribution. And this is where this uh old professor really sort of like um yeah, really shines because they can do that. There's also no shame. I've been around a number of really old professors and there seems to be no shame on the amount of boasting that they can do and everyone else around them goes, "All right, yeah, okay, okay, okay." Everyone kisses their

ass cuz they got the money. That's just the way it is. All right, then. Good. Significance and contribution. Oh, I forgot. I'm getting too involved. Um, the prompt here. Significance and contribution and knowledge. Here's the prompt. I'll put a link to where you can find all of these. Help me articulate the potential impact of my research on this specifically theoretical, practical, how it addresses current gaps, why stakeholders, include fun, including funders should care about this

work, and how to frame these impacts persuasively in my proposal. That's so very important. The last thing that you can do to make sure your research proposal is awesome is obviously check it over. But now we have AI to be able to give a sort of like critique and analysis on what we've written. So the last thing you should be doing is making sure that you have a well structured implementation plan. And here we are giving them plausibility and making sure that we are confident in our sort of

like timelines and our ability to do this research proposal. So we need key milestones. We need realistic time frames. We need required resources and budget justifications. We need risk management strategies. And then also this one is really important. Some are actually now saying you need dissemination plans for your findings. So how are you going to do that? Are you going to tweet? Are you going to blog? Are you going to write articles? Are you going to um start a YouTube channel to

tell people? Are you going to sort of like try to get it into popular science magazines? Are you going to reach out to journalists? All of those things are so very important because remember at the end of the day guys, it's all about this, isn't it? It's all about the sad, horrible t- room. Congratulations. That's actually a pretty nice cake from what I've seen. But ultimately, you all gather to celebrate a successful project and everyone's like, "Well done." But in

tell people? Are you going to sort of like try to get it into popular science magazines? Are you going to reach out to journalists? All of those things are so very important because remember at the end of the day guys, it's all about this, isn't it? It's all about the sad, horrible t- room. Congratulations. That's actually a pretty nice cake from what I've seen. But ultimately, you all gather to celebrate a successful project and everyone's like, "Well done." But in

well, that's what they're thinking inside, I'm sure. But in reality, they're just there with their cup of tea and they're like, "Oh god, I got to go back to in a minute. It's just the saddest but also strangely uplifting moment when academics come together to drink tea and eat cake. But this is what we're aiming for. A nice big congratulations. Love it. Oh, look how happy these people are. Hey, Academia is winning for them. All right, then. That's it. That's the end. Oh, no.

It's I forgot again. I forgot again. This is what I'm This is meant to be my job. All right, let's do this. The last thing in the this is the prompt that you can use um please review my research proposal draft and provide feedback on clarity whether the why me why now why them elements are clearly addressed that's so very important logical throw and co and and coherence between sections areas that need development suggestions for strengthening the overall argument and then you paste in

your draft super easy peasy and then it will give you a critique on all of the sections if it's a massive proposal you can put in section by section section by section, but most large language models have the ability to put in a large proposal even as PDFs. Now, you can even use Notebook LM if you want to upload an entire PDF. Um, and uh, yeah, there we are. That is everything you need to know about writing your research proposal with AI and the five really important

things that you should hit. If you like this video, go check out this one where I talk about using chat GPT to save hours on your research.