ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
CONCEPT PAPER
WHAT IS A CONCEPT PAPER?
 All research projects need a concept paper:
a short summary that tells the reader what
the project is.
 Concept Paper should range from 250-500
words.
 The point of Concept Papers is to provide a
clear summary of the research project.
 It aims to understand what the researcher is
investigating, why it is important how the
investigation will proceed.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT?
 The Concept Paper helps a researcher spot
holes in his/her project that might later
prove fatal.
WHAT CONTAINS A CONCEPT PAPER?
1. A title in the form of a question.
- This may be the last part of the
concept paper that you write,
but it should appear at the
heading of the paper.
2. A clear description of the research topic.
- Including a summary of what is
already known about a certain
topic
3. A one-sentence of the research question
that the project will seek to answer
- The concept paper should
elaborate on how this question
can be answered – something
that almost always takes more
than one sentence to
accomplish.
4. A demonstration of why it is important
to answer this research question.
Examples:
 What would come of this
answer?
 Why is this project worth
writing?
5. A description of how the researcher
plans to answer the research question.
This includes:
a) A description of the data or evidence
that the researcher plans to gather
or use;
b) A description of how the researcher
will analyze these data; and
c) A demonstration on how these data
and this analytic method will answer
the research question.
THE FOLLOWING SHALL BE THE SPECIFICATION OF
THE CONCEPT PAPER:
 TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY- All Caps and Bold
 FONT- Tahoma
 FONT SIZE- 12
 MARGINS- 0.5” (TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT,
RIGHT)
 SPACING- Single Space
 BOND PAPER SIZE- 8.5” x 13” (Long)
 PAGE NUMBERS- Bottom right of the paper
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