Hi everyone

I am lost again. I'm supposed to be submitting a research outline (max 250 words) to the scholarship dept and I do really really want to submit a good one because without getting this scholarship I'm going under. I'm applying for a PhD program in Computer Science. My problem is I have no idea what type of format would be suitable in this sort of essay. Obviously, 250 words is just too little to describe my entire research and besides, I think the person who would probably reading my essay might not even have a strong background knowledge in Computer Science.

Here is the guideline which I have used to write my research outline. It has 3 paragraphs.

1st paragraph - (Introduction to background information such as disadvantages of something)
2nd paragraph - (What I am going to do to get rid of those problems)
3rd paragraph - (The expected outcomes after the research has been carried out)

If the paragraph outline is not suitable for this sort of essay type, please help shedding light on me to come up with a better version.

More questions -

1. Do I need to have reference in the essay such as someone said this and that and here is the reference to their quote blur blur ? I don't think this is appropriate since I am supposed to be writing max 250 words but I am still confused.

2. Do I need a thesis statement in this sort of essay?

Thanks all and looking forward to receiving inputs.

Regards,

I disagree with your approach. I wouldn't think so much about covering all your bases, it's only 250 words - which, frankly, is not enough to explain most points in. You need to be really straight to the point, what research will you be doing and why?

"I will be investigating x in order to achieve/improve y".

A few references wouldn't go amiss, but make them key.

Thank you for pointing that out. I thought of it too but one thing bothering me is "what if the reader has no idea what I am talking about". I mean he/she (or could be a group of people?) are going to decide whether to give scholarship to this candidate or not and they have no idea about the research outline.

Let's say I start to talk about that I'm going to change the way TCP/IP works becuz of ARP poisoning can be achieved at IP layer blur blur blur, and by doing that, there will be no more Man in the Middle attack (I'm not gonna do this or I dun think it's correct). My point is I approach straight to the point without actually thinking about the reader's knowledge (without telling them pros and cons or whatever background knowledge in advance).

To be honest, I'm quite agree with the idea of getting straight to the point since it's only 250 words max. Will be looking forward to hearing more input on this matter. Thanks all.

Getting straight to the point is good. Even if the panel don't understand what you're doing (I'm an ex CS person, so can readily appreciate your point!) they should get the impression that you mean business, and can write succinctly.

I would reference a few relevant prior researchers, if only by name, to show that your work will be building on existing knowledge and expanding it. You don't need to give full references to them though, since your word count is so tight.