Bringing a great research idea to life takes passion. But it also calls for solid support, clear research planning, and often some funding. And for that, you need a proposal that shows exactly what you’re trying to do and why it matters.
The problem? Many researchers get stuck trying to figure out how to structure it all, which leads to confusing proposals that don’t quite land.
That’s where a research proposal template helps. It gives you a solid starting point to lay out your hypotheses, goals, current knowledge, methods, and expected outcomes in a clear, professional way. But research proposals vary—you can’t use the same template for every research project.
In this guide, we’ve rounded up 13 research proposal templates that work for various purposes—academic, business, nonprofit, and beyond. Get an inside look at what makes each template useful and when to use it.
13 Free Research Proposal Templates for Writing Winning Proposals
- What are Research Proposal Templates?
- 13 Research Proposal Templates
- 1. ClickUp Research Memo Template
- 2. ClickUp Project Proposal Whiteboard Template
- 3. ClickUp Business Proposal Template
- 4. ClickUp User Research Plan Template
- 5. ClickUp Market Research Template
- 6. ClickUp Investigation Report Template
- 7. ClickUp Business Case Analysis Template
- 8. ClickUp Data Analysis Findings Template
- 9. ClickUp Research Report Template
- 10. Research Proposal Template by Scribbr
- 11. Research Proposal Template by GradCoach
- 12. Research Proposal Template by Canva
- 13. Research Proposal Template by PandaDoc
- What Makes a Good Research Proposal Template?
- Confidently Structure Your Research Proposal with ClickUp
📊 Pro Insight: Templates don’t limit creativity—they remove the clutter so reviewers can focus on your idea, not your formatting.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat are Research Proposal Templates?
Research proposal templates help you structure and outline the key details of your goals, methodology, and expected project results so it’s easier for reviewers or funding bodies to understand their value.
These templates cover all the essential sections you’ll require—like an abstract, hypotheses, methodology, expected results, and references. For example, if you’re working on a proposal about how AI chatbots improve customer support, your proposal will probably have a:
- Summary of current knowledge on chatbot tools and how they’re used
- Clear hypothesis, like how chatbots could speed up response times or boost customer satisfaction
- Plan for how you’ll gather data—maybe through surveys or support team analytics
- Simple, realistic timeline for testing your ideas
- Rough budget for software, tools, or data analysis
💡 Pro Tip: A typical research proposal is like a mini-novel for your big idea—it usually runs between 2,000 to 7,000 words (around 4–15 pages). But if you’re aiming for something big, like a PhD or major funding, don’t be surprised if it turns into a full-blown saga! 📚
Summarize this article for me please13 Research Proposal Templates
You’ve got the research design, the key elements, and a solid plan—now you just need a research proposal template to bring it all together. These 13 handpicked templates will help you craft a proposal that’s clear, compelling, and impossible to ignore.
1. ClickUp Research Memo Template
Great research is only valuable if appropriately documented, and the ClickUp Research Memo Template helps you do just that. It has everything you need to capture your findings with context—highlighting key discoveries, challenges, and next steps in a clear, structured format.
Need to refine conclusions or track unresolved issues? This template has built-in sections for challenges, analysis, and required actions. It makes it easy to pinpoint gaps, update findings, and ensure every research phase leads to actionable results.
The template offers:
- Structured sections to track findings, challenges, and next steps clearly
- Seamless integration with proposals and projects for better alignment
- Built-in tracking to monitor unresolved issues and inform decision-making
- Collaboration tools to gather feedback and refine conclusions in real time
🔑 Ideal for: Researchers and teams or organizations who want to present their findings in any subject area.
💡 Pro Tip: ClickUp Brain streamlines the entire research proposal workflow—from drafting and research to collaboration and final review—using AI-powered tools, templates, and automations. This ensures your proposals are well-structured, data-driven, and delivered on time.
2. ClickUp Project Proposal Whiteboard Template
When you’re gearing up to pitch a project, a clear and engaging project proposal is key to getting approval.
Using the ClickUp Project Proposal Whiteboard Template’s visual workspace, you can build a solid project proposal by mapping out goals, tasks, and stakeholder roles—all in one place. Unlike traditional text-heavy proposals, this interactive whiteboard lets you drag, drop, and organize all your project details visually.
This project proposal template comes with custom statuses to track progress, Custom Fields to organize important details, and multiple views so you can switch between different sections of your proposal.
It even includes checklists to ensure you cover all key points. It serves as a central hub for your team to collaborate and share feedback.
Inside this template, you’ll find:
- Interactive whiteboard to map project goals, tasks, and roles clearly
- Drag-and-drop organization to structure timelines and assign roles
- Dynamic proposal flow that adapts as project needs evolve
- Real-time collaboration for tracking progress, feedback, and approvals
🔑 Ideal for: Project managers, team leaders, freelancers, and businesses who want to create professional, easy-to-follow project proposals.
Talking about ClickUp, Jessie Whitman, Sr. Director of Events at Convene, says
3. ClickUp Business Proposal Template
Writing a business proposal can be tricky—you must make it persuasive, cover all the key details, and keep it professional and engaging.
The ClickUp Business Proposal Template takes the guesswork out of the process. It comes with a ready-made, step-by-step framework that helps you clearly present your story, outline project milestones, and set clear timelines and payment schedules.
Whether you’re pitching a service, product, or project, this fully customizable template provides you with:
- Custom Statuses to track proposal stages, timelines, and deliverables
- Custom Fields for effort level, complexity, and task progress tracking
- Automated reminders to follow up on approvals, deadlines, and pending tasks
- Various views, such as a Getting Started Guide and Email Templates, to keep everything organized
🔑 Ideal for: Freelancers, agencies, startups, or businesses pitching services or projects to potential clients or stakeholders.
4. ClickUp User Research Plan Template
Planning user research to create customer-focused products? Give the ClickUp User Research Plan Template a try.
Designed to give you a structured way to collect insights, validate hypotheses, and track usability testing, it helps you spot pain points and gather customer feedback. This further lets you identify your target audience, draft the right research questions, and build strategies based on customers’ needs.
Like most ClickUp templates, it comes with:
- An organized framework to set goals, outline hypotheses, and track KPIs
- Custom Statuses and fields to track each step of your research and categorize tasks, respectively
- Pre-built tasks for interviews, survey analysis, and competitor research collaboration
- Gantt charts, List, Workload, Calendar, and Table views to visualize your plans and turn insights into improvements
- Custom Docs and Focus Groups to refine strategies and align stakeholders
🔑 Ideal for: UX designers, product managers, or teams looking to conduct user research and build products driven by real user insights.
📖 Also Read: The Best Research Management Software
5. ClickUp Market Research Template
From startups to large companies, success heavily depends on understanding your market. The ClickUp Market Research Template simplifies market research by helping you collect all your data in one place, analyze it efficiently, and turn it into actionable strategies.
You can use it to track research phases, add fields for feature prioritization and data sources, and measure task success with usability testing workflows. This helps keep every research step—from data collection to reporting—efficient and organized.
As a result, it’s great for analyzing competitors, defining objectives, and tracking user insight in a structured, collaborative, and actionable way.
Some key features include:
- Gantt charts to plan research timelines, set milestones, and assign tasks with ease
- Custom Fields to categorize insights, prioritize features, and analyze competitors
- Automations to track progress, collect data, and generate reports efficiently
- AI and Docs to analyze findings, align teams, and drive strategies
🔑 Ideal for: Businesses or teams conducting market research through methods like competitor analysis, usability testing, and feature prioritization.
6. ClickUp Investigation Report Template
Whether you’re handling an audit, a compliance check, or a workplace issue, your investigation report needs to be more than just organized—it has to be meticulous. That means there’s no room for missed information.
The ClickUp Investigation Report Template is made to document case details, gather evidence, track cross-examinations, and compile your findings in a neat, structured format.
It helps you categorize case types and log interviews, outline key details, attach key evidence, and assign investigative tasks with deadlines, keeping everyone compliant while maintaining transparency and accountability.
The template includes features like:
- A ready-made case documentation framework to categorize incidents and record key details
- Custom Statuses to track each stage of your investigation
- Custom Fields for categorizing details, such as case numbers and investigator names
- Views like Summary Report and Detailed Findings to present your information clearly
- Review and approval sections to validate findings and finalize reports
🔑 Ideal for: HR teams, legal professionals, and compliance officers managing internal or external investigations.
👀 Did You Know? Research proposals can change the world—just ask Tim Berners-Lee. In 1989, he pitched a “vague but exciting” idea at CERN, which eventually became the World Wide Web!
7. ClickUp Business Case Analysis Template
Are you considering a new initiative or evaluating existing strategies? The ClickUp Business Case Analysis Template is just what you need to organize your project ideas, look at the risks, and decide if it’s worth the investment.
You can use it to simplify complex business case studies and compare costs, benefits, and potential challenges—all while keeping stakeholders updated every step of the way. The template has built-in task automation, approval tracking, and integrated analysis tools. Leverage these to help you and your team confidently move forward, backed by solid data.
Some of its key features include:
- Pre-built sections for financial projections and ROI analysis
- Custom Fields to compare costs, track risks, and support informed decisions
- Task automation to simplify approvals, assign roles, and keep projects on track
- Milestone tracking to monitor progress and refine strategies as needed
🔑 Ideal for: Business analysts, project managers, and decision-makers who need to evaluate project feasibility and justify investments.
8. ClickUp Data Analysis Findings Template
Tracking business performance, improving workflows, or spotting market trends often means handling loads of research knowledge. The challenge, however, is knowing what to focus on to make the right decisions.
The ClickUp Data Analysis Findings Template helps you analyze data and present the results clearly with visual aids like charts or graphs. You can summarize key insights and recommendations using customizable layouts, integrate it into your workflows, and track milestones—all within a single, structured framework.
What’s inside:
- Dedicated sections for problem statement, scope, and limitations
- Space to describe your analytical methods and the sources of your data, including any statistical tools used
- Charts and other data visualizations to make your analysis more engaging
- Custom Fields for cost analysis, risk tracking, and data-driven decisions
- Milestone tracking to monitor progress and refine business strategies
🔑 Ideal for: Data analysts and product teams aiming to understand customer behavior or market trends.
9. ClickUp Research Report Template
The ClickUp Research Report Template is a great starting point for anyone handling detailed studies, including user research, academic projects, and market analysis.
It comes with ready-made sections for executive summary, methodology, results and discussion, references, and appendices, helping you document your findings neatly and present them clearly.
You can also assign contributors or team members to the template and collaborate in real time, making it easy to discuss feedback and incorporate updates quickly.
The template offers:
- Pre-formatted sections for research background, objectives, methodology, and findings
- Custom Fields to track qualitative and quantitative data in one place
- Collaboration tools for real-time feedback, team input, and version control
- Integration with ClickUp’s task management features to track report progress
🔑 Ideal for: Researchers, analysts, or project managers who must compile and present detailed research findings efficiently.
🧠 Fun Fact: Standardized formats aren’t just academic red tape. They actually boost your proposal’s chances by helping reviewers find your objectives, methods, and impact without a treasure map.
10. Research Proposal Template by Scribbr
Acting as a roadmap for your thesis or dissertation, the Scribbr Research Proposal Template breaks down the entire research process into manageable pieces.
This template’s utility lies in guiding you through each section: from writing a compelling introduction and problem statement to doing a mini literature review and then outlining your research design.
It even reminds you to include things like the significance of your study and your reference list in the correct citation style.
Some of its built-in features include:
- Different citation styles like APA 6th and 7th editions, MLA, and both Chicago Author-Date and Notes & Bibliography styles
- Tools to evaluate sources for literature reviews
- Lists for figures, tables, abbreviations, acknowledgments, and glossaries
- Integration with Scribbr’s knowledge base, offering articles on grammar, research, citations, and writing tips
- Options to connect with plagiarism checkers, citation generators, paraphrasers, and grammar checkers
🔑 Ideal for: Students, researchers, and academics preparing theses, dissertations, or grant proposals.
📮ClickUp Insight: 62% of our respondents rely on conversational AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Their familiar chatbot interface and versatile abilities—to generate content, analyze data, and more—could be why they’re so popular across diverse roles and industries. However, if a user has to switch to another tab to ask the AI a question every time, the associated toggle tax and context-switching costs add up over time.
Not with ClickUp Brain, though. It lives right in your Workspace, knows what you’re working on, can understand plain text prompts, and gives you answers that are highly relevant to your tasks! Experience 2x improvement in productivity with ClickUp!
11. Research Proposal Template by GradCoach
Let’s say you’re diving into a project on how AI is changing public services—like simplifying government tasks or helping agencies in the public sector connect better with citizens. To get started, you’ll need a research proposal template that doesn’t just mention what you’re researching but also explain why and how you’re doing it.
The GradCoach Research Proposal Template outlines your topic, backs up your methods, and shows you’ve considered the logistics. There’s guidance on everything from choosing your research philosophy to planning a Gantt chart.
It helps ensure your idea isn’t just interesting but also doable and well thought out—precisely what supervisors and review boards want to see.
What’s inside:
- Pre-structured layout with key sections like title, introduction, significance, reference, and appendix
- Built-in prompts and brief explanations to guide your writing
- Academic-friendly format that works as a Word doc
🔑 Ideal for: Undergraduates, postgraduates, or researchers seeking funds or project approval.
💡Pro Tip: Always check the ethics policy before you dive in. Make sure to get informed consent from participants (and let them opt out anytime), protect privacy and confidentiality, and—if your study involves animals—clearly explain how you’ll treat them ethically.
12. Research Proposal Template by Canva
Canva might be popular for its design tools, but its Research Proposal Template is a hidden gem for structuring and clearly presenting research.
Be it a university thesis, a business report, or a grant application, this template helps you organize key sections—like goals, methods, and expected outcomes—into a clean, easy-to-follow format. Thanks to its eye-catching design, it keeps your reader interested from start to finish.
Plus, you don’t need any design skills to make it your own. With Canva’s easy drag-and-drop editor, you can tweak colors, rearrange sections, and add visuals in just a few clicks.
The template offers:
- Pre-structured sections for budget proposals, financial projections, and goals
- Easy to add graphs, charts, and visual data
- Real-time collaboration for quick edits, feedback, and team input
- Multiple export options (PDF, Word) for easy sharing and submission
🔑 Ideal for: Students, researchers, and professionals seeking to create professionally designed research proposals.
13. Research Proposal Template by PandaDoc
The Research Proposal Template by PandaDoc is a practical and easy-to-use option designed to help you build a strong proposal from scratch, especially if you’re responding to a request for proposal (RFP) or reaching out to a private sponsor.
It’s structured in a logical flow that funding bodies or academic institutions expect to see. Each section comes with prompts or examples, so you’re not left second-guessing how to write an abstract or what to include in your methodology.
Plus, since it’s digital, you can easily collaborate with others, track engagement, and integrate automated approval workflows—all of it organized within a single document.
Inside this template, you’ll find:
- Pre-designed sections for abstract, research questions, and timeline
- Numbered subsections compatible with various proposal types: academic, corporate, or grant-based
- Option to eSign and send digitally
🔑 Ideal for: Students and professionals working on research projects that require funding.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Makes a Good Research Proposal Template?
A strong proposal clearly defines the research problem, links it to existing research, and shows why it matters. And, a good template helps organize these pieces so nothing gets overlooked.
Here are some key aspects that make a research proposal stand out:
- Interactive checklists for each section: Determine no critical component is missed while drafting, which is especially helpful for formatting, citations, and structure consistency
- Built-in task assignments and deadlines: Allow collaborators to divide sections, set deadlines, and track progress in team-based research
- Pre-designed data visualization slots: Provide ready-to-use space for tables and figures, optimized for presenting research data clearly
- Integrated citation and reference management: Link directly to citation managers or offer pre-formatted reference sections to reduce errors and save time
- AI-powered writing suggestions: Refine problem statements, research questions, or methodology wording for better clarity and persuasiveness
- Version history and comments: Enable easy revisions and feedback, especially when collaborating with supervisors or funding committees
- Built-in budget and resource allocation tracker: Track expenses in real time and present research funds clearly and transparently
🧠 Common Pitfall: Many proposals fail not because the idea is weak, but because the structure is unclear. A good template fixes that from the start.
Summarize this article for me pleaseConfidently Structure Your Research Proposal with ClickUp
Writing a research proposal doesn’t have to feel overwhelming, especially when you’ve got the right tools.
Each template in this list was picked for a specific reason: some are perfect for academic proposals, others shine in business settings, and a few are built for data-heavy or design-first projects. So, instead of starting from scratch (or Googling “how to write a proposal” for the hundredth time), you can simply choose one that fits your research style and purpose.
If none of these catch your eye, head over to ClickUp’s massive library of 1,000+ free, fully customizable templates—complete with automation, task management, and real-time collaboration features.
You’ll be surprised how much easier planning your research can be when ClickUp does most of the heavy lifting for you. Sign up for free today!
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