Proposal Writing and Scientific Thinking 
                     On 
Proposal 
Writing
And Scientific Thinking
F. Lelli
Let’s check the obvious 
Are you interested in getting a Master (in 
Information Management)? 
Q1: What does it mean 
“Master”? 
Etymology
 Borrowed from Latin magister 
 From magis (“more or great”) + -ter. Doublet of master and maestro.
 Meaning: teacher, captain, chief, director, boss, magistrate, trainer, 
schoolmaster, superior, advisor, instigator, expert, proficient, specialist, 
connoisseur, adviser
Magister (plural magisters)
 Master; sir: a title used in the Middle Ages, given to a person in authority, or 
to one having a license from a university to teach philosophy and the liberal 
arts.
Q2: How do you become 
expert, proficient, specialist? 
 By demonstrating 2 things: 
A)That you are able to understand, elaborate and reflect on 
concepts from your field of study (Information Management) 
B)By showing that you can assess and solve critical problems in your 
field of study. 
Q3: What does it mean “PhD 
in Information Management”? 
 PhD is the short for Philosophy Doctor
 Again, Latin root. 
 A doctor is a particular “kind of master” that is “knowledgeable” 
 A Philosopher is “a person that practice the art of stretching the 
thinking” 
In summary PhD in IM  A person that practice the art of stretching the 
thinking and is capable to do it in Information Management. 
Q4 How do you practice the 
art of stretching the thinking?
By assessing and solving critical 
problems in your field of 
study/Domain of expertise 
Q5: How can you assess and 
solve critical problems in your 
field of study? 
By applying a set of procedures of 
rational test (scientific process) to a 
problem related to your field of 
study
A small digression 
 When did we started thinking scientifically? Any idea? 
 How we where thinking before thinking scientifically? 
Characteristic of Scientific 
Thinking 
 Generalization from experience
 Verifiability (what about confirmation?)
Q6: What about Falsifiability?
 What is that? How it differ from verifiability?
 Marxism vs Relativity
  
Hierarchy of Theories 
 Unfalsifiable (pseudo-science)
 Falsifiable that has been falsified (Newtown vs Relativity)
 Scientific Theories that have not been falsified. 
Q9: What about theories? 
Astrology, is it a scientific theory?
 Invisible Object 
 Moving Target 
 Theories based on difficult/noisy measurement  
 Only the truly initiate 
(Fun Fact): Thinking 
Scientifically and Energy 
C Doo yonu hsavue many ipdeta?i on
Put things to a test in 
Information Management 
 What is a methodology?
 What kind of methodologies are used in IM? 
Introducing the “the list”: Each department maintains a list of 
journal/conferences/venues that are considered important and 
relevant for the field. Ask you your thesis coordinator/thesis 
supervisor “the list”. 
“The List” vs “the rest of the 
world” 
Is “the list” the only source of good ideas in IM? 
 Quality of a journal/conference/etc 
 Quality of a publication 
Reading material: 
https://francescolelli.info/thesis/how-scientific-venues-work-an-heuristic/ 
https://francescolelli.info/thesis/6-heuristics-for-assessing-the-quality-of-
a-publication/ 
How to write a good proposal
On Proposal Writing 
On Proposal Writing (i)
 Again, let’s check the obvious: what is a proposal? 
On Proposal Writing (ii)
 My 2 cents: 
“2 pages of text that contains a 
scientific (novel) idea that can be 
executed in the timeframe of your 
thesis” 
On Proposal Writing (iii)
 What are the ingredient of an executable scientific idea?  
On proposal Writing (iv)
 Idea
 Methodology
 Tools 
 Data 
Reading material: 
https://francescolelli.info/thesis/how-to-write-a-thesis-proposal-or-a-
research-proposal-a-few-tips/ 
Would you like to do a good 
thesis 
Consider checking out Open Science! A movement towards 
transparency and reproducibility of scientific findings 
Reading material: 
https://francescolelli.info/thesis/adopting-good-scientific-practices-
increases-your-visibility-and-the-grade-of-your-thesis/ 
Reading Material 
 The audio chapters
 Tips for improving the quality of your research proposal: 
https://francescolelli.info/thesis/how-to-write-a-thesis-proposal-or-a-
research-proposal-a-few-tips/ 
 How good scientific practices increase the final grade of your thesis: 
https://francescolelli.info/thesis/adopting-good-scientific-practices-
increases-your-visibility-and-the-grade-of-your-thesis/ 
Optional Reading/Watching
 How to do a good thesis: a curated set of articles and resources 
on how to address each phase of your thesis: 
https://francescolelli.info/how-to-do-a-good-thesis-the-miniseries/ 
 How to become a better programmer: a curated set of articles 
and resources on how to improve your programming skills for 
delivering a good thesis: https://francescolelli.info/how-to-be-a-
better-programmer-the-mini-guide/ 
 
Fun to watch 
 Scientific Studies: Last week Tonight John Oliver 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rnq1NpHdmw