AI prompts for your thesis proposal, week by week

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13weeks, from idea
to proposal
38prompts ready
to copy
Here you have 13 free prompts, one per week. The other 25 come with the guide Your thesis proposal in 12 weeks. Take a look at the guide.
You have access to all 38 prompts in your guide. This browser will remember it.
0
Week 0

Your starting point

Prompt 1. Summarize your university's formatFree

What it's for: it gives you a clear summary of what your university asks for, so you don't miss any requirement.

I'm going to paste my university's regulations or format for thesis proposals. Give me a simple summary: what chapters or sections it asks for, how many pages, what citation style it requires and what dates or submission requirements it mentions. If something is not clear in the text, tell me instead of assuming it. Here is the text: [paste the regulations or the format].

How to use the answer: compare the summary with the original document and copy what applies into part 3 of your sheet. Whatever is not clear, ask your advisor.

Prompt 2. Find your typical week

In the guide

What it's for: it helps you find real gaps in your week and spread the work backward from your due date.

1
Week 1

From interest to topic

Prompt 1. Recall situations around you

In the guide

What it's for: it gives you questions so that you recall, on your own, situations from your job or your surroundings that could become a topic.

Prompt 2. Words to search for your first readingsFree

What it's for: it gives you keywords to search for real readings, without the AI citing articles that may not exist.

I'm exploring this topic: [your topic in one or two sentences]. Give me five to eight keywords, with their synonyms, to search for readings in Google Scholar. Explain in two lines how to use quotation marks and the AND and OR operators. Don't recommend articles or authors: I'll look for them myself.

How to use the answer: run the searches yourself. Open each source, check that it exists and write down the full reference. Read the abstracts and the recommendations first: that is where the questions others left open usually appear.

Prompt 3. Look at your topics from the outside

In the guide

What it's for: it helps you see the advantages and risks of each candidate, without the AI deciding for you.

2
Week 2

Analyze your topic and choose your event of study

Prompt 1. Put your notes in order

In the guide

What it's for: it turns your loose notes into an orderly text and marks where a source is missing.

Prompt 2. Explain to me what an event of study is

In the guide

What it's for: it explains the concept with examples from other topics, so that you name your own events.

Prompt 3. Check how clear your questions areFree

What it's for: it tells you which of your possible questions are understood right away and which are ambiguous.

I wrote these possible questions about my topic: [paste your questions from part 4]. Don't change them or suggest others. Tell me which ones are understood right away, which are ambiguous and what specific word creates the ambiguity.

How to use the answer: fix the ambiguous words yourself and keep the question that interests you most and that you can carry out with your time and your resources.

3
Week 3

Formulate your holopraxic statement

Prompt 1. Look at examples of complete questions

In the guide

What it's for: it shows you questions on other topics with all their components, so you can see what a precise question looks like.

Prompt 2. Read it as someone who doesn't know your topic

In the guide

What it's for: it shows you what an outside reader doesn't understand about your question.

Prompt 3. Check your working titleFree

What it's for: it tells you whether your title is brief, clear and faithful to your question.

This is my research question: [paste your statement]. And this is my working title: [paste your title]. Tell me whether the title is brief and clear, whether it names my events and whether it says something my question doesn't. Don't suggest a new title.

How to use the answer: adjust the title yourself in part 6 of your sheet. The final one can wait until the end of the proposal.

4
Week 4

Formulate your objectives and discover your type of research

Prompt 1. Achievement or activity

In the guide

What it's for: it helps you tell an objective apart from a task, with examples from other topics.

Prompt 2. From the simplest to the most complex

In the guide

What it's for: it explains, with an example from another topic, why specific objectives go in a staircase.

Prompt 3. Check the wording of your objectivesFree

What it's for: it points out wording problems, without changing the content of your objectives.

Check the wording of my research objectives: [paste your objectives]. Point out the ones that have more than one verb or more than one idea, and the words that could confuse a reader. Don't rewrite them or change what they say.

How to use the answer: correct the wording yourself and then check the self-assessment in part 4 of your sheet.

5
Week 5

Justify your research

Prompt 1. Where to look for data for your argumentsFree

What it's for: it tells you what kind of sources usually have the data you need, without making them up.

I want to show with data the situation that motivates my research: [describe the situation in two or three sentences]. Tell me what kind of sources usually have that information, for example official reports, statistics or previous studies, and what words to search for them with. Don't make up figures or report names.

How to use the answer: look for each source yourself, check that it exists and write down the data, with its citation, next to the argument it supports in part 1 of your sheet.

Prompt 2. Separate the why from the what for

In the guide

What it's for: it finds the sentences in your draft that talk about what you will achieve, which belong in the contributions.

Prompt 3. Unsupported statements

In the guide

What it's for: it points out what needs a citation and what reads as confusing.

6
Week 6

Build your search map

Prompt 1. Explain the topic matrix to me

In the guide

What it's for: it helps you understand the matrix with an example from another topic before you build yours.

Prompt 2. Turn your keywords into searchesFree

What it's for: it gives you search strings ready to try.

Turn these keywords into three searches for Google Scholar, with quotation marks and the AND and OR operators: [paste your keywords]. Explain in one line what each search should find. Don't give me article titles or author names.

How to use the answer: try each search, adjust it according to the results and record in your source matrix only what you opened and checked.

Prompt 3. Understand a source's abstract

In the guide

What it's for: it helps you quickly understand what a source is about before deciding whether to read it in full.

7
Week 7

Take notes on your sources and categorize them

Prompt 1. Understand a difficult passageFree

What it's for: it explains a difficult passage to you before you take notes.

I don't quite understand this passage from a source I'm reading: [paste the passage]. Explain it to me in simple words. Don't turn it into a quote: I'll make the note card myself from the original text.

How to use the answer: record the idea yourself in the author's words or in your paraphrase, with its page. Never copy the AI's explanation as if it were the author's.

Prompt 2. Check the names of your categories

In the guide

What it's for: it helps you keep your categories in order and without repetitions.

Prompt 3. Compare two definitions

In the guide

What it's for: it helps you start your comparison chart.

8
Week 8

Build your noological foundation

Prompt 1. Check the order of your outline

In the guide

What it's for: it gives you a second look at the order of your conceptual outline.

Prompt 2. Transition sentencesFree

What it's for: it helps you join two paragraphs that read as disconnected.

Here are two consecutive paragraphs from my draft: [paste the paragraphs]. Suggest one or two transition sentences between them, without changing the citations or adding ideas.

How to use the answer: adapt the transition to your own voice. If joining the paragraphs requires a new idea, look for it in your note cards.

Prompt 3. Check your writing

In the guide

What it's for: it points out writing problems before you send the draft.

9
Week 9

Adjust your question and define your events

Prompt 1. The practical obstaclesFree

What it's for: it helps you see the practical obstacles before planning the method.

This is my situation: [time available, access to the people or documents I need and resources]. My research needs: [what you are going to do, in two or three sentences]. Make a list of the practical obstacles I could run into and a simple idea for dealing with each one.

How to use the answer: you decide what adjustments to make and write them down on your sheet. If an obstacle depends on your institution, check it with your advisor.

Prompt 2. Explain synergies and indicators to me

In the guide

What it's for: it explains the concepts with an example from another event, before you build your table.

Prompt 3. Check how clear your indicators are

In the guide

What it's for: it points out indicators that are too general or repeated.

10
Week 10

Decide in whom you will study your events

Prompt 1. Unit of study or source

In the guide

What it's for: it explains the difference with examples from other topics.

Prompt 2. Explain sampling to meFree

What it's for: it clarifies the terms before you decide whether you need a sample.

Explain to me in plain language the difference between population and sample, and between probability and non-probability sampling, with an everyday example of each one.

How to use the answer: decide yourself whether you need a sample with this week's criteria, and write down why in part 3 of your sheet.

Prompt 3. Check how clear your section is

In the guide

What it's for: it points out what is missing for someone else to know whom you are going to study.

11
Week 11

Choose your techniques, your instruments and your design

Prompt 1. Technique or instrument

In the guide

What it's for: it clarifies the difference with simple examples.

Prompt 2. Explain the design criteria to me

In the guide

What it's for: it explains the criteria with an example from another study.

Prompt 3. Words to search for instrumentsFree

What it's for: it gives you keywords to search for instruments that already exist, without depending on names the AI could make up.

I want to know whether there are already instruments to measure this event: [name of the event and its definition in one sentence]. Give me keywords, with their synonyms, to search for them in Google Scholar and in thesis repositories. Don't give me names of instruments or authors: I'll look for them myself.

How to use the answer: run the search yourself and write down in part 1 only the instruments you have seen in their original source.

12
Week 12

Integrate your method and put together your complete proposal

Prompt 1. Analysis terms

In the guide

What it's for: it clarifies the terms before you choose the analysis for each objective.

Prompt 2. Move your notes into a table

In the guide

What it's for: it arranges the information you already have in a table, so you can see what is missing.

Prompt 3. Final check of formFree

What it's for: it does a last check of form before you send the proposal to your advisor.

Check the form of my proposal: [paste the document]. Point out spelling mistakes, confusing sentences, citations that don't appear in the references and terms that change names from one section to another. Don't change the content.

How to use the answer: correct each point yourself. Whatever you don't know how to solve, write it down in the note for your advisor.

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