5 Key Differences between Seminar Paper and Seminar Proposal

5 Key Differences between Seminar Paper and Seminar Proposal

1.0 Introduction

The subject of differentiating between a seminar paper and a seminar proposal has been a subject of a continued struggle for a number of academics. Nevertheless, before we delve into the difference, we need to foremostly examine what a seminar is. A seminar can have different meanings, depending on the institution or agency. Nevertheless, it is generally an academic instruction that usually occurs at an academic institution.

The main purpose of a seminar is to gather a group of people for a conference and focus on a specific topic. During the seminar, people can talk, discuss different reading materials and most importantly, usually in the form of common dialogue.

They need to ask and answer various questions to encourage critical thinking that helps them find new ideas. Seminars are usually significantly less per teacher than regular topics and research topics are usually more specific. In Universities, Seminars are often required for graduation and may include term papers, exams, presentations, and several other assignments.

Consequently, students are often requested to prepare seminar papers and proposals during the course of their studies. This post aims to differentiate between the two papers to provide students with the requisite tool for writing excellent seminar presentations.

2.0 Seminar Paper Vs. Seminar Proposal

To get a good grasp of the differences between a seminar paper and a seminar proposal, it is important to define the individual terms to help us get a better understanding of the phenomenon.

2.1 Seminar Paper

Seminar papers are often used as topics for seminars, but they are also a tool for exploring recurring topics related to general learning objectives. The seminar paper is a unique research paper that represents a specific discussion, usually in an academic setting, with a group of interested colleagues. Seminar papers require extensive research, independent analysis and excellent writing.

In some institutions, there may be instructions and detailed guidelines for preparing a seminar paper. However, the writing style and format of the seminar paper is universal and cuts across various fields. As the seminar papers illustrate specific examples and proofs, much attention should be paid to seminar papers as every claim must be fully substantiated. The seminar paper is exploratory and thus requires in-depth research and details in presenting study results as successful seminar papers often lead to more complex articles and analyses on the subject of study.

Seminar papers are a veritable means of communication between researchers and educational institutions which may sometimes include workgroups, such as policymakers and NGOs as the main goal of the seminar paper is to contribute to the existing literature in a field of study. The ideal seminar paper typically takes the form of a journal which requires all requirements for scientific communication to be met.

Seminar papers are also a great opportunity to use scientific writing before writing a thesis. Seminar papers typically include a summary, content, a list of abbreviations, a list of multiple tables/statistics, and a list at the end of the paper which includes references. In addition, there are at least three key elements in the seminar paper – an introduction, a study institution and a discussion of results.

2.2 Seminar Proposal

Seminar proposals on the other hand are raw data, including the infrastructure on which the seminar paper is built. Seminar proposals are the design of seminar papers, usually written in search of funding or when approval is needed for the conduct of research on human subjects. It provides a snapshot of the questions that researchers want to answer with the help of the study.

It usually consists of a summary, a statement of purpose, a research description, organizational data, conclusions, and additional points or appendices. This is not an additional document that accompanies the research paper, but it serves as the basis for building the basic framework for the final research thesis. This framework should include all the ideas, goals, and strategies of the study such that the sole purpose of the research is lucid to the examiners or sponsors.

Seminar proposals should be written in great detail to cover all the different parts of the process. In general, a seminar proposal should include a detailed list of all the tools needed to carry out the experiment. This identifies the research objectives and the resources needed to implement the study. Seminar proposals should be clear and include the expected concrete outcomes of the study and the way they are in line with the theory associated with them.

3.0 Key Differences Between a Seminar Paper and Seminar Proposal

Having identified the key characteristics of a seminar paper and a seminar proposal, it is time we highlighted the key differences between the two documents. Foremost, seminar proposals are written before the seminar paper. The seminar proposal is the basic framework upon which the actual seminar paper is built. As a result, the seminar proposal is written in future tenses to reflect the fact that the study is yet to be undertaken.

Since the seminar proposal is the framework for the seminar paper, it is relatively shorter in length when compared to the final seminar paper. The seminar proposal is usually between 1000 – 3000 words while the seminar paper can be anywhere above 5000 words. This length in text differs across institutions and agencies.

Furthermore, the seminar proposal typically consists of an Introduction, Literature Review, Research Methodology whereas the seminar paper typically consists of an Introduction, Literature Review, Research Methodology, Results, Interpretation and Analysis, Conclusion and Recommendations for further studies. The main differences between a seminar paper and a seminar proposal are summarized in table 1.

Table 1: Table of Comparison

4.0 Conclusion

Writing either a seminar proposal or a seminar paper should be an easy task when the researcher is fully abreast of the required information. As a result, it is important to study accompanying instructions and guidelines before commencing any writing task, whether a seminar paper or proposal. This will highlight the requirements that will produce an excellent paper as per the institutions’ standards. Also, a careful review of relevant literature cannot be indispensable in this process as this will help set forward important research questions that can make your seminar paper or proposal more robust.