Food Chemistry and Food Development / Department of Biochemistry Version: 3

Date:
8.10.2015
Instructions for creating a research plan Author: HA
Audited by:
MK, OL, AK

Here are short instructions for writing a research plan, which comes into question during
advanced laboratory works and in the experimental part of a Master’s thesis. The
instructions can and should be applied according to the type of the work done.

What is a research plan?

A research plan is, as stated in its name, a document where the future experimental work is
outlined through analytical reflection. The research plan is first and foremost a tool for a
successful work: a properly done plan shows that the framework of the study and its possible
challenges are understood. The practical work becomes easier to do, too, when one has
already thought about the work protocol, study methods and found out which instruments,
equipment and reagents are needed.

Finally, a decent research plan helps straight away in writing the laboratory work report. As
the background and essential parts of the study have already been introduced in the
research plan, one can include these in the report and focus on results and discussion. This
in turns promotes new learning experiences as now one can reflect the implementation of
the work on how it was planned to be conducted.

Structure of the research plan

The research plan generally follows the structure of a laboratory work report or articles in
typical food chemistry journals. Thus it typically contains the following parts:

1. Cover
2. Background
3. Aims of the work
4. Materials and methods
5. Research schedule
6. References

Contents of the research plan

The following briefly introduces what each part of the plan should contain.

1. Cover

The cover page includes the basic information of the work and who did it. In other
words:
 University, Department, Unit, Degree program / Major subject
 Work name and number
 Writer (and student code)
 Date of submission
 Supervisor
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2. Background

Research background has the same contents as the Introduction part in a work report.
In other words, what should be known before the experiment can be conducted? One
recommended way to start is to introduce the history of the analysis with a couple key
publications. If there was some important article, for example one that introduced the
method in the first place or a recent highly cited publication, it would a good idea to
cover their main points. This could include explaining the basics of the method and an
interesting result that the study found. Another good way is to briefly explain what kind
of samples were analyzed with the method before and if these studies would be
applicable for this experiment, as well.
If you have heard that a publication or for example a Master’s thesis has been done on
the topic at our Department, reading it or contacting the people that did the study could
be highly beneficial. The study might have used for example the same instrument as
you will be using next.
It is expected that previous research is cited properly in the research background.
There are separate instructions on how to cite articles which is encouraged to consult
if citing is still unfamiliar to you. The citations in this instruction are done with Zotero 1
using the citation style of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2.

3. Aims of the work

Aims of the work refer to its objectives and endpoints. In other words, why is the study
done and what is hoped to achieve with it? If there are research hypotheses related to
the work, write them in this part too.

4. Materials and methods

The Materials and methods section includes all required information for the practical
implementation of the research. Introduce here the details of your samples (if known at
this point) and write a general protocol for your study. It is a good idea to divide the
experiment to smaller sections, like sample processing or preparation, analysis and
examination of the data. If you did the Background section well, you can cite a relevant
publication that you used as a base for your protocol and thus write considerably less.
For example:
The consumer acceptance tests will be done as outlined in the study of Kaimainen and
others 3: voluntary subjects are asked to evaluate the appearance, odour and flavour
acceptance of the samples. Unlike in the study, however, in this experiment the
evaluation will be done with a vertical 9-point hedonic scale.
At the same time you can already mention which at which facilities, with which
equipment and software the study is conducted if already known. You could also
prepare an Excel template for the results. Furthermore, you can make writing the
laboratory work report easier if you already at this point estimate factors that affect the
result accuracy.
Finally, you can devise a list of needed reagents and solvents so that you can make
sure that all them are available. During the work, you can supplement this list with the
supplier information (e.g. D(-)-fructose, Sigma-Aldrich, Steinheim, Germany).
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5. Research schedule

What will you be doing at each phase? Being able to build proper schedules is an
important tool in the working life. Often the parts that are thought to be quick take a
surprisingly long time to do in the end. When you estimate the length of each study
phase beforehand, it helps your supervisor, too, to find the work to be of proper size
for the study credits. Remember to include data analysis and writing of the work report
in the schedule!
There are many ways to present a schedule. You can write the schedule as text or
express it visually for example with a Gantt chart 4.

6. References

Mention all of the literature references that you have used. There is no set style that
should be used in our unit. However, Harvard style or any food chemistry journal style
is suitable. Citation tools can build the bibliography automatically in the proper format.
The list of references in this document looks like this:
(1) Zotero https://www.zotero.org/ (accessed Oct 2, 2015).
(2) Zotero Style Repository https://www.zotero.org/styles/?q=food (accessed Oct 2,
2015).
(3) Kaimainen, M.; Laaksonen, O.; Järvenpää, E.; Sandell, M.; Huopalahti, R.
Consumer acceptance and stability of spray dried betanin in model juices. Food
Chem. 2015, 187, 398–406.
(4) Gantt chart
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gantt_chart&oldid=681479024
(accessed Oct 2, 2015).