A complete research proposal should include and describe
- Analyte of interest
- Matrix to be analyzed
- Experimental protocol – are you comparing two sample prep techniques or two analysis techniques? What is your hypothesis?
- Experimental details
- all reagents, supplies, equipment, instrumentation needed
- number of replicates for statistical analysis
- a sampling of matrix & sample size
- sample preparation (Do you have to grind sample? Extract analyte?)
- detailed procedure (bulleted form ok)
- standard preparation, calibration
- Reference value for comparison (so you know what concentration to expect)
- References (using standard guidelines, MLA, ACS, etc.)
