Project Synopsis

Introduction
The introduction to a research paper/ synopsis informs the reader what the paper is about. By
reading an introduction, the reader should be able to tell what the writer is going to argue and
establish through the paper. The actual fleshing out of the arguments would take place in the body
of the paper. The introduction merely tells the reader what they are in for. Your introduction must
be written in two paragraphs. The first paragraph will contain a general overview of our topic, for
example, a brief history of the legislation you are exploring. The second paragraph will explain the
argument you are making in the paper.

Literature Review
A literature review is not a bibliography or list of sources. As the name suggests, it is a review of the
sources that the writer will be relying upon to make her argument. The literature review informs the
reader of how the writer intends to use the sources that she will be relying upon- does she disagree
with the argument made by another author, does she agree with an earlier piece of literature on the
issue but intends to take the argument a step further, does she intend to use an earlier piece of
literature to support one limb of her main argument etc. The purpose of a literature review is not to
summarise the various chapters/ segments of the source that the writer will be relying on. You are
required to divide your sources into those that support your argument and those that counter your
argument. You will end your literature review by identifying the gap in the debate that you intend to
explore in your paper, or the manner in which you see the debate or restate/reread the debate.

The explanation of the gap will be the subject of the research problem. The gap will be indicated
here and explained in statement of the problem. A literature review for a synopsis should be more
descriptive.

Statement of Research Problem

The statement of the research problem informs the reader the main issue or problem is that is being
discussed in the paper. The endeavour of the researcher here is to prove the researchability of the
gap/problem/reading of the issue at hand. It is descriptive but confined to one paragraph. What is
the crux of the matter, the contentious issue that the writer seeks to explore or settle? What is the
debate that the writer is contributing to? Your statement of research problem draws from the
literature review. These sections of the paper are not unconnected segments. Your statement of
research problem picks up where the literature review left off. The manner in which you restated the
debate, or sought to explore the gap in the law will be explained a little more in the statement of
research problem. It is okay if various sections of the synopsis seem to reiterate what has been said
before.

Literature Review in a Synopsis, being primarily descriptive surveys the available literature.
Identifying the shortcomings, problem areas requiring more exploration, or distinct themes etc is
what a research problem concerns itself with. It is a mapping out of what the surveyed literature has
not addressed, what should be addressed. It is from here that Research Objectives, what is sought to
be achieved from exploring the research problem is sought to be conveyed.

Hypothesis
The hypothesis is an assertive statement or contention that writer intends to prove or disprove.
Hypothesis is derived from the statement of the problem and interconnection with the argument
and SoP has to be maintained. For example, one’s hypothesis could be that the process of
photosynthesis does not require sunlight. The paper could document the results of several
experiments conducted on this matter and the conclusion of the paper would disprove the
hypothesis. In legal research papers, however, writers usually prove their hypothesis. Your
hypothesis reframes your statement of research problem as an assertion that you intend to prove or
disprove. Focussed research demands only one hypothesis and the entire effort in the project is to
prove or disprove the same. A hypothesis is a tentative statement that the author has formulated on
the basis of preliminary research. It forms the subject matter of the investigation which is the
proposed research paper. The proposed research paper is solely directed towards answering the
truth value of this affirmative statement. All other matters are incidental to this end goal.

Research Objectives
This section informs the reader what the writer seeks to achieve by writing this paper. It is usually
presented as a list where there are multiple objectives. For example, the same paper may have several
objectives- to understand how a certain legal concept has been interpreted by the judiciary prior to
an amendment to the legislation, to analyse the impact of the amendment on the understanding of
that legal concept etc.

Research Questions
Research questions inform the reader what key issues are being addressed or settled by the writer.
What are the questions that writer is asking and answering in the paper. Please note that research
questions are framed as “whether” questions. For example, a paper on interpreting judicial
interpretations of the reservation provisions in the Constitution, may ask ‘whether Articles 15(4) and
16(4) are exceptions to or an integral facet of Article 15(1) and 16(1).’ Think of identifying your
research questions as a similar exercise to identifying the legal question/ legal issues when writing
your case summaries. The questions the writer asks will lead the paper in a certain direction. The
research questions will lead you to prove or disprove your hypothesis. They are the steps or sub-
arguments that lead you to establishing your main argument. You will know if your research
questions are adequate if answering them will lead you to proving or disproving your hypothesis. An
overlap between your research objectives and research questions is understandable.

Research Methodology
Research methodology may be either doctrinal or empirical. Doctrinal research relies on primary or
secondary research material to make an argument. Empirical research is research conducted in the
form of interviews or studies of a sample set of subjects. Your projects on campus will mostly be
doctrinal in nature. You will be required to specify that you are following the doctrinal method of
research and will be relying on the following research material (you just have to state broad heads
such as case law, articles, reports etc.).

Chapterization
Chapterization informs the reader how the paper has been presented i.e. how the writer has split the
paper into sections or chapters and what each section or chapter deals with. If you’ve successfully
identified the issues you will be covering for the previous heads, this should broadly be the same.
Each chapter will broadly cover one issue you will be addressing. Or you would divide your chapters
into aspects such as ‘history, case law, analysis, conclusion’. You will always have an introductory
chapter and a conclusion chapter. And you will end with your bibliography.