Your committee asks for a proposal in American Psychological Association (APA) Style, but the APA manual does not tell you which chapters to write. A research proposal example in APA format helps you separate presentation rules from the decisions that make a study credible. This guide covers both.
What APA Format Does, and Does Not, Require
APA Style governs how a manuscript looks and how sources are cited: page layout, headings, citations, references, and tables. It does not prescribe one universal proposal structure.
Your department, chair, funder, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) may require specific sections or documents. When their requirements differ from general APA guidance, follow them, and ask your chair to settle any conflicting instructions.
A proposal is a persuasive research plan, not just a formatted paper. It must establish a meaningful problem, justify a credible approach, and show that the study is ethical and feasible. Naming analysis of variance (ANOVA), for example, does not justify using it; you must identify the comparison, the outcome measure, the assumptions, and the data required.
Start with your program's template
Before drafting, check the required headings, page limits, preliminary pages, rubric, and submission rules. Use your program's terminology ("prospectus," "proposal defense document," or a numbered chapter structure) and confirm where assumptions, limitations, and definitions belong.
APA 7th Edition Formatting Basics
The APA paper format guidance specifies 1-inch margins, double spacing, left-aligned text, and page numbers in the upper-right corner. Accepted fonts include 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Arial, and 11-point Calibri. Indent the first line of each paragraph 0.5 inches and do not add extra space between paragraphs.
Choose the correct title page
A student title page includes the title, author, institutional affiliation, course number and name, instructor, and due date. A professional paper adds a running head and an author note; student papers omit the running head unless an instructor requires it. Thesis and dissertation templates often replace both with their own preliminary pages, so check yours.
Use headings and citations consistently
APA uses five heading levels, all in title case:
| Level | Format |
|---|---|
| 1 | Centered, bold |
| 2 | Flush left, bold |
| 3 | Flush left, bold italic |
| 4 | Indented, bold, ending with a period, text continues on the same line |
| 5 | Indented, bold italic, ending with a period, text continues on the same line |
Major sections usually use Level 1; add lower levels only as needed. Cite borrowed ideas with author-date citations, add a page number or other locator for direct quotations, make sure every citation has a matching reference entry, and alphabetize the reference list with hanging indents.
Build the Proposal Section by Section
Draft the substantive sections first and the abstract last. Keep the problem, purpose, questions, sampling plan, measures, and analysis aligned; choosing convenience sampling, for instance, limits what you can conclude.
Title page and abstract
Write a specific, searchable title naming the topic, population, and, when useful, the setting or method, and keep it neutral rather than implying a result. If an abstract is required, summarize the problem, purpose, design, participants, procedures, and anticipated contribution.
Introduction and problem statement
Explain why the issue matters, then identify a precise gap in evidence or practice. End with the purpose of the study, the population, and the contribution, keeping the problem distinct from your proposed solution.
Many programs also expect these elements in or near the introduction:
- Rationale: why this study is needed now, drawn from the research gap your literature review identifies.
- Aims and objectives: the overall aim in one sentence, followed by specific, measurable objectives that map to your research questions.
- Significance of the study: the expected contribution to knowledge, practice, or policy, stated without promising particular results.
- Scope and delimitations: the population, setting, time frame, and variables you deliberately include or exclude.
Literature review and framework
Synthesize findings, methods, limitations, and open questions rather than summarizing one article per paragraph. Explain how your theoretical framework shapes the variables, relationships, instruments, or interpretation. A literature review matrix helps you compare sources before you write.
Research questions or hypotheses
Write answerable questions that match your purpose, and state how each variable will be measured. Hypotheses describe expected results, not findings.
Methods
Justify a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods design. Specify eligibility, setting, recruitment, sampling, the target sample size and its rationale, procedures, instruments with their reliability and validity evidence, data management, and anticipated limitations. Match the analysis to the question: descriptive statistics summarize variables, inferential statistics test relationships or differences, and qualitative interviews may call for thematic analysis instead.
Ethics, timeline, budget, references, and appendices
Address informed consent, confidentiality, data security, risks, benefits, and conflicts of interest, and obtain IRB approval or an exemption determination before recruiting, following the federal human subjects regulations (45 CFR 46). Schedule approvals, recruitment, data collection, analysis, writing, and the defense. If required, include an itemized budget covering personnel, incentives, software, transcription, and travel. References follow the narrative, and appendices (instruments, consent forms, recruitment materials, detailed schedules) come last.
A Short Fictional Public Health Example Outline
The following is a fictional teaching example, not a ready-to-submit proposal. It shows alignment, not real findings.
Fictional example: campus food security and student well-being
- Title: Association Between Food Security Status and Self-Reported Well-Being Among Graduate Students at an Urban University
- Problem statement: Graduate students may experience food insecurity, yet the local relationship between food security and well-being is unknown.
- Purpose: Examine the association between food security status and self-reported well-being among enrolled graduate students.
- Research question: What is the association between food security status and self-reported well-being in this population?
- Method: A cross-sectional survey using a validated food security measure and a brief well-being scale, after confirming both suit the population.
- Recruitment: Invite eligible adult graduate students through university email, with permission, and justify the target sample size in advance.
- Analysis: Descriptive statistics, then an association analysis that fits the variable types. A correlation may suit two continuous scores; a categorical food security status needs a different test.
- Ethics and appendices: IRB review, informed consent, minimal identifiable data, and secure storage. Attach the survey, recruitment email, and timeline.
Notice that the question, measures, and analysis all concern association. This design cannot show that food insecurity causes changes in well-being.
Common APA Proposal Mistakes
- Formatting without method. A polished document can still lack a workable plan. Naming a questionnaire without its scoring, suitability, permissions, and measurement evidence leaves reviewers unable to judge it.
- Questions that come from nowhere. Each research question should follow from the gap your literature review identified, not from whatever data are convenient.
- Causal promises from observational designs. Distinguish the anticipated contribution from expected results; the study should still be useful if a hypothesis is not supported.
- Citation drift. Check for unsupported claims, inconsistent citations, and references never cited in the text.
Run a final alignment check
Build a table with one row per research question and columns for participants, data sources, measures, procedures, and analysis. An empty cell signals an unresolved decision. Then confirm that recruitment access, costs, approvals, and your analysis skills fit the research timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does APA have a required research proposal format?
No. APA Style sets presentation and citation conventions, not a proposal template. Follow your department, committee, funder, or course requirements for sections and order.
Does an APA 7 student paper need a running head?
Usually not. Student papers generally use only a page number in the upper-right corner. Add a running head if your instructor or program requires one.
Should a research proposal be written in future tense?
Use future tense for planned procedures ("Participants will complete the survey"), past tense for completed studies you cite, and present tense for established concepts and current conditions.
Key Takeaway
Follow APA 7th edition for presentation and citations, and your program's template for proposal-specific requirements. Keep every section tied to the same research purpose, with feasible procedures and explicit protections for participants.
To draft the pieces, try the free dissertation proposal tool and the Research Question Builder. If you want one-on-one help narrowing questions and structuring your methodology, Dissertation Proposal Prep offers about 10 to 15 hours of coaching for $1,000.
Written by Angel Reyes, DrPH (c), PMP, PMI-ACP, MPH, MCHES, founder of Subthesis.