DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN RESEARCH PROPOSAL, ABSTRACT AND AN EXTENDED ABSTRACT A research proposal is similar in a number of ways to a project proposal;

however, a research proposal addresses a particular issue whether it is academic or scientific issue. The forms and procedures for such research are well defined by the field of study, so guidelines for research proposals are generally more exacting than less formal project proposals. Research proposals contain extensive literature reviews and must offer convincing support of a research problem and its implications. In addition to providing rationale for the proposed research, the proposal must outline a detailed methodology for conducting the research--a methodology consistent with the requirements of the relevant professional or academic field.

An abstract is a succinct summary of a longer piece of work, usually academic in nature, which is published in isolation from the main text and should therefore stand on its own and be understandable without reference to the longer piece. It should report the latter's essential facts, and should not exaggerate or contain material that is not there in the longer piece. Its purpose is to act as a reference tool (for example in a library abstracting service), enabling the reader to decide whether or not to read the full text. Two common reasons for writing an abstract are

1.

to summarize a longer piece of work published as a journal article, thesis, book or web page, an existing article for the purposes of a journal, or to submit an application to write a paper for a conference

2. In more detail, an abstract is a brief summary of a scientific paper, generally stating: 1. Information about the authors 2. The hypotheses tested 3. A brief description of the methods used 4. The conclusions obtained Abstracts allow one to quickly preview scientific publications, and also facilitate archiving of papers. This is where the power of indexes comes in. An extended abstract is not simply a long abstract. An extended abstract should contain references, comparisons to related work, proofs of key theorems and other details expected in a research paper but not in an abstract. An extended abstract is a research paper whose ideas and significance can be understood in less than an hour. Writing an extended abstract can be more demanding than writing a research paper. Some things that can be omitted from an extended abstract: future work, details of proofs or implementation that should seem plausible to reviewers, ramifications not relevant to the key ideas of the abstract.