is synopsis and thesis the same

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How to Write a Research Synopsis: Template, Examples, & More

Last Updated: October 24, 2024 Fact Checked

• Organizing & Formatting
• Writing Your Synopsis
• Reviewing & Editing

Research Synopsis Template

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner and by wikiHow staff writer, Raven Minyard, BA . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 292,148 times.

A research synopsis describes the plan for your research project and is typically submitted to professors or department heads so they can approve your project. Most synopses are between 3,000 and 4,000 words and provide your research objectives and methods. While the specific types of information you need to include in your synopsis may vary depending on your department guidelines, most synopses include the same basic sections. In this article, we’ll walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know to write a synopsis for research.

Things You Should Know

• Begin your research synopsis by introducing the question your research will answer and its importance to your field.
• List 2 or 3 specific objectives you hope to achieve and how they will advance your field.
• Discuss your methodology to demonstrate why the study design you chose is appropriate for your research question.

Organizing Your Research Synopsis

• Find out what citation format you’re supposed to use, as well as whether you’re expected to use parenthetical references or footnotes in the body of your synopsis.
• If you have questions about anything in your guidelines, ask your instructor or advisor to ensure you follow them correctly.

• Title: the title of your study
• Abstract: a summary of your research synopsis
• Introduction: identifies and describes your research question
• Literature Review: a review of existing relevant research
• Objectives: goals you hope to accomplish through your study
• Hypotheses: results you expect to find through your research
• Methodology and methods: explains the methods you’ll use to complete your study
• References: a list of any references used in citations

Tip: Your synopsis might have additional sections, depending on your discipline and the type of research you're conducting. Talk to your instructor or advisor about which sections are required for your department.

• Keep in mind that you might not end up using all the sources you initially found. After you've finished your synopsis, go back and delete the ones you didn't use.

Writing Your Research Synopsis

• Your title should be a brief and specific reflection of the main objectives of your study. In general, it should be under 50 words and should avoid unneeded phrases like “an investigation into.”
• On the other hand, avoid a title that’s too short, as well. For example, a title like “A Study of Urban Heating” is too short and doesn’t provide any insight into the specifics of your research.

• The introduction allows you to explain to your reader exactly why the question you’re trying to answer is vital and how your knowledge and experience make you the best researcher to tackle it.
• Support most of the statements in your introduction with other studies in the area that support the importance of your question. For example, you might cite a previous study that mentions your problem as an area where further research needs to be done.
• The length of your introduction will vary depending on the overall length of your synopsis as well as the ultimate length of your eventual paper after you’ve finished your research. Generally, it will cover the first page or two of your synopsis.

• For example, try finding relevant literature through educational journals or bulletins from organizations like WHO and CDC.
• Typically, a thorough literature review discusses 8 to 10 previous studies related to your research problem.
• As with the introduction, the length of your literature review will vary depending on the overall length of your synopsis. Generally, it will be about the same length as your introduction.
• Try to use the most current research available and avoid sources over 5 years old.

• For example, an objective for research on urban heating could be “to compare urban heat modification caused by vegetation of mixed species considering the 5 most common urban trees in an area.”
• Generally, the overall objective doesn’t relate to solving a specific problem or answering a specific question. Rather, it describes how your particular project will advance your field.
• For specific objectives, think in terms of action verbs like “quantify” or “compare.” Here, you’re hoping to gain a better understanding of associations between particular variables.

• Specify the sources you used and the reasons you have arrived at your hypotheses. Typically, these will come from prior studies that have shown similar relationships.
• For example, suppose a prior study showed that children who were home-schooled were less likely to be in fraternities or sororities in college. You might use that study to back up a hypothesis that home-schooled children are more independent and less likely to need strong friendship support networks.

• Expect your methodology to be at least as long as either your introduction or your literature review, if not longer. Include enough detail that your reader can fully understand how you’re going to carry out your study.
• This section of your synopsis may include information about how you plan to collect and analyze your data, the overall design of your study, and your sampling methods, if necessary. Include information about the study setting, like the facilities and equipment that are available to you to carry out your study.
• For example, your research work may take place in a hospital, and you may use cluster sampling to gather data.

• Use between 100 and 200 words to give your readers a basic understanding of your research project.
• Include a clear statement of the problem, the main goals or objectives of your study, the theories or conceptual framework your research relies upon, and the methods you’ll use to reach your goals or objectives.

Tip: Note down a few notes as you draft your other sections that you can compile for your abstract to keep your writing more efficient.

Reviewing and Editing Your Research Synopsis

• If you don’t have that kind of time because you’re up against a deadline, at least take a few hours away from your synopsis before you go back to edit it. Do something entirely unrelated to your research, like taking a walk or going to a movie.

• Eliminate sentences that don’t add any new information. Even the longest synopsis is a brief document—make sure every word needs to be there and counts for something.
• Get rid of jargon and terms of art in your field that could be better explained in plain language. Even though your likely readers are people who are well-versed in your field, providing plain language descriptions shows you know what you’re talking about. Using jargon can seem like you’re trying to sound like you know more than you actually do.

Tip: Free apps, such as Grammarly and Hemingway App, can help you identify grammatical errors as well as areas where your writing could be clearer. However, you shouldn't rely solely on apps since they can miss things.

• Reference list formatting is very particular. Read your references out loud, with the punctuation and spacing, to pick up on errors you wouldn’t have noticed if you’d just read over them.
• Compare your format to the one in the stylebook you’re using and make sure all of your entries are correct.

• Read your synopsis backward by starting on the last word and reading each word separately from the last to the first. This helps isolate spelling errors. Reading backward sentence by sentence helps you isolate grammatical errors without being distracted by the content.
• Print your synopsis and circle every punctuation mark with a red pen. Then, go through them and focus on whether they’re correct.
• Read your synopsis out loud, including the punctuation, as though you were dictating the synopsis.

• Have at least one person who isn’t familiar with your area of study look over your synopsis. If they can understand your project, you know your writing is clear. If any parts confuse them, then that’s an area where you can improve the clarity of your writing.

Expert Q&A

• If you make significant changes to your synopsis after your first or second round of editing, you may need to proofread it again to make sure you didn’t introduce any new errors. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://admin.umt.edu.pk/Media/Site/iib1/FileManager/FORMAT%20OF%20SYNOPSIS%2012-10-2018.pdf
• ↑ https://www.scientificstyleandformat.org/Tools/SSF-Citation-Quick-Guide.html
• ↑ https://numspak.edu.pk/upload/media/Guidelines%20for%20Synopsis%20Writing1531455748.pdf
• ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279917593_Research_synopsis_guidelines
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ https://www.cornerstone.edu/blog-post/six-steps-to-really-edit-your-paper/

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Difference Between Writing An Abstract And A Synopsis

• Difference Between Writing An Abstract

By AnkitJain Category : PhD Synopsis

This is not something for us to tell, everyone already knows that a doctoral degree and a successful PhD research serve as the highest academic qualifications in a subject area. This means it has to be as perfect as it can be.

This is why it is important to understand the basics of developing a PhD thesis which brings us to one of the most important factors of a thesis; that is, writing the abstract and thesis synopsis.

A lot of PhD aspirants often struggle with the difference in writing an abstract and a synopsis. Here, we have enlisted a few points which will help you in understanding the difference between writing an abstract and synopsis for PhD Thesis .

What Is An Abstract?

Sticking to the point, an abstract is simply a short (ranging from 200-300 words) overview of the PhD thesis which is developed for the readers, audience, future researchers, and sometimes even for your future job applications, where the reader does not have much time to go through your entire thesis to understand what the research is about.

The abstract must only contain the highlights of the PhD thesis, like:

• the research introduction
• the research purpose
• the problem statement
• the research methodology and framework
• the research findings
• the result and conclusion

Now, you see, to include all these points in a 200-300 words short paragraph or roughly one page worth of content, the abstract only has 2-3 lines dedicated to each section. It helps the readers and audience to evaluate whether the PhD thesis focuses on the things they are looking into or not.

What Is A Thesis Synopsis?

A PhD thesis synopsis is also a summarized version of the complete thesis research but it is much longer and detailed than the abstract of the thesis. In fact, in some cases, the thesis synopsis might also include the abstract of the thesis, if the university guidelines mention it.

A synopsis writing strictly include the following areas:

• the research title and topic introduction
• the research requirements
• the literature review
• the research gap and problem statement
• the research methodology 
• the research significance, scope and objectives
• the expected budget and deadline of the research

A PhD thesis synopsis is also known as proposal because it proposes the idea of the researcher to the research committee. It is important to understand that synopsis, thus, needs to be well-curated in order to get the acceptance for conducting the whole research.

Difference Between Thesis Abstract And Synopsis

To keep it easily interpretable and straightforward, we have divided the differences in points on the basis of which you can deduct the basic differences between the two.

An abstract is written after the PhD thesis has been developed as it includes the result section as well and it needs to be added with the thesis while submitting it to the research committee or sending it to get published.

Whereas, a thesis synopsis needs to be written before the thesis development and must receive the acceptance by the concerned authorities in order to get the approval for the research conduct.

Significance:

The abstract is mostly significant in boosting the career and is more prominent for the later stages that come after the doctoral degree. As in getting a job or publishing the research where the editors and viewers go through the abstract first because of the time shortage.

As for the synopsis, it is more important for academia and shows the ideas and perceptions of the young scholars.

The abstract is usually written in one of two paragraphs and appears first in the PhD thesis; whereas, the synopsis contains different headlines just like the different chapters in PhD thesis writing to clearly discuss all those areas and is not connected with the PhD thesis but is submitted separately.

Inclusions:

Other than the brief introduction and highlights of the PhD thesis, the abstract also talks about the result. The main focus remains on giving the complete overview of the research. However, the synopsis writing does not include the results and conclusions. It mainly focuses on the importance of the research and the course of development providing a framework to the research that needs to be conducted.

A smart person once said “if you want a thing done well, then do it yourself”, but we say when you can get the better work, then don’t settle for anything less that can affect your PhD research and academic career in one blow.

A lot of scholars make mistakes when they end up writing the summary of synopsis in the abstract considering it right. Having errors in complex areas can still be avoided considering the overall research, but having errors in the basics may portray you as ignorant in regards to your study.

For consultancy and any PhD thesis guidance services, get in touch with our teams of experts or leave your query and we will call you back.