1. The title must be not too long and evocative (from a scientific point of view, and, if possible, for the social, economical, environmental, industrial ... problem that has been stated).
  2. The abstract must explain the work shortly, explaining the title and the questions that it is expected to solve from a scientific point of view, with its fallouts, proposed innovations or knowledge transfer. In the abstract, no pictures and – if possible – no quotations are expected; 300 words seems to be a reasonable amount of text.
  3. A set of keywords (few) may be added to help the related main disciplines and general questions.
  4. A table of contents or a summary may help the reader to have a global view of your work and to jump here and there. An automatic summary, organized by your wordprocessor may be added.
  5. Synthetize and update the last version of your State of the Art, the theoretical framework and the basic assumptions, the actual conditions – social, environmental, economical ...legal, cultural – the problem statement and the knowledge advan­cements needs. A comparison of problem solving practices (other countries, laboratories and a list of fundamental case studies (works and experiences) may be very useful. A Conclusion may be an useful paragraph, to introduce the following chapter.
  6. The Project description start from a list of Objectives and a critical analysis of their usefulness and feasibility. This chapter answers to the question WHY (you want to do what you propose to do), starting from the conclusions of your state of the art. A second fundamental topic to be stated is the Methods or the Methodologies to be adopted, answering to the question HOW (are you going to do what you want to do), your approach (with reference to others’ approaches in the State of the Art) and the research tools you are going to use.
  7. The other fundamental part of your Research Project is the Workplan, that will answer to the question WHAT (do you propose to do) and WHEN (in your time schedule). The general methodology is transformed in a list of activities and a time plan (a Gantt diagram is welcome). The activities may be identified as TASKS or WORKPACKAGES (WP), each with its GOAL, METHODS, and one or more DELIVERABLE PRODUCT to be realized, a DURATION and specific RESOURCES needed. The last question to answer is to define WHO are you going to work with and the role of every researcher you are going or just you would like to work with.
  8. Spend some time and words to define your value, the value that your work is going to add and who might profit of it. This may be synthetized in a final chapter or stated for any task or workpackages, to convince the reader that your proposal is a very good one. Underline the advancements you are going to realize, from the Academic point of view, from the Social/cultural/environmental/... point of view and from the Economic/Industrial point of view. It is fundamental to try to define a metric of the success (impact) of the achievements of your research project! HOW are you going to assess the results and the success of your RESEARCH? Moreover tell us how are you going to pursue the value of your work What is your disseminating plan, first, also after your Thesis, and how are you going to gain (for you and your Country, for your University, ...) the best from your work. Eventually, value means dissemination: how will you try to let the world to know about you? Which social media tool (if any) will you use beyond standard scientific ways?
  9. Publications may be a deliverable of each WP and may be quoted in the description of each tasks or at the end, in a dedicated paragraph or both. Give few details about who will be your working partners (if any) more than your Tutor and Supervisors, with which research communities/groups/persons more than this Department will you (or you just wish to) cooperate with.
  10. Eventually, the List of References, a synthesis of your whole bibliography (that may be attached as a task already realized or to be completed), that support your Research Project.
Eventually, a doubt may rise. If your RQ is expected to be defined - in average - at the end of the first year, it may also come earlier: either because you are working on a predefined, thematic research, or because your "generic" explorative project has come to a quick end finding a very interesting question. That is usually good. Just ask yourself if you may profit of defining a better framework for your Research Question into the Research Topic, in order to have the whole situation in your hands and to extend and to complete your references well beyond the strict boundaries of a predetermined argument. A wide framework of references is always a value for a research work, it make the same work stonger to future reviewers and it may even inspire new approaches, methodologies and point of views.