Steve Tippins explains why your prospectus shouldn't claim you already know the answer. If you've solved the problem before writing it, there's no research left to do. Frame it as a genuine question instead, and skip the promises about changing your field.
Your document, your prospectus, is not your entire dissertation. It's the idea. You don't know the answer. So keep it as an idea. And not knowing an answer is another area I've seen too many people come in and say, here's what I'm going to do. Here's why it's important. And here's how it's going to change this area of the world. Well, what that means is, and from your committee's eyes, that means is you already know the answer and now you're going to go apply it to make some change. Well, if you already know the answer, why are you going to do the research? There's no need to do the research if you know the answer. Or so another way, you're advocating for something. And the idea behind research is answering questions. I've seen a number of people— I just saw one yesterday— who was saying, oh, and here's what's going to happen and here's how it's going to change this profession. And, you know, they're just starting. They don't know if it's going to change their profession, but they're thinking it might. If you're working on your prospectus and you're looking for help, you can join our free dissertation help community.
