Demonstrate how your research ‘fills a gap in existing research.

Research proposal may be passed through originality checking software.
Proposal Content
Your research proposal should be approximately 1000 words and should include:
1. A working title of the topic area
2. The research context
This is the background against which your research will be carried out. It should be a brief introduction outlining the general area of study and identifying the subject area within which your study falls. You should also refer to the current state of knowledge and any recent debates on the subject. You need to reference this in the same way as you would do if you were writing an essay, for example any articles or books you refer to should be footnoted with the full details of author, title, publication date and so on.
3. The research issue, aims or questions you intend to address
Against the background provided in the research content above, you need to set out the contribution that your research will make. It is normally best to do this in the form of specific aims or research questions/issues.
4. The importance of your proposed research
This section should:
i Demonstrate how your research ‘fills a gap in existing research.
ii Explain why your research is important – it is not enough to say that this has not been studied previously, you need to explain why it should be studied, that is why it is interesting/important.
This should be the longest section of your proposal.
5. Research methods
This section should: ( I prefer qualitative methodology library based).
i Explain whether your research will be library-based and/or will involve fieldwork/empirical data.
ii Give some detail on exactly how you will obtain your information.
Most legal research is library-based, relying on information that already exists; such as journal articles, case reports, legislation, treaties, historical records. Some studies, however, might require the use of fieldwork or empirical data – that is, gathering information through direct interaction with people and processes, such as interviews, questionnaires or court observation.
Assuming you plan to rely on library-based research, you need to explain where your sources are located and how they will be accessed, for example via the library, internet, Lexis or Westlaw. If your research is a comparative or international study, you will need to explain how you will obtain the relevant international materials and whether or not this will involve travel.
If you plan to undertake fieldwork or collect empirical data, you need to provide details about why this is an appropriate research method, who you plan to interview, how many interviews you will carry out, and so on.
In this section, you should also explain any special skills you have that will assist you in obtaining information, for example, if you plan to look at French law and you can read/speak French.