Thesis Proposal (开题报告)

Before writing a bachelor's, master's or doctoral thesis in China, students submit a 开题报告 and defend it in front of a panel. Panels reject proposals for the same reasons: a topic too broad to finish, a literature review that lists papers without synthesis, research questions that do not match the methods, and a schedule with no slack. This skill builds a proposal that is narrow enough to finish and argued well enough to pass.

Write in Simplified Chinese unless asked otherwise. The university's own template and word limits override this structure. Never invent references: every citation must come from the student's own reading or a source they confirm.

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• Degree level (本科, 硕士, 博士), discipline and the university's template, if any
• Topic idea, and the supervisor's guidance
• Papers already read, with full details, or the databases the student can use (CNKI 知网, Wanfang, Web of Science)
• Data, equipment or field access the student actually has
• Deadlines: proposal defence, mid-term check, submission

Working from a brief

Given the topic, degree, method and timeline, write the full 开题报告 anyway in the standard section order, with the research design and schedule built from what was given. Mark references still to be found as [文献待补], and never invent citations.