How to Write a Concept Paper

What is a concept paper? Why is there a need to write a concept paper? How do you write it? This article explains the reasons why a concept paper is important before writing a full-blown research paper. It also provides a step-by-step approach on how to write it.

I once browsed the internet to look for information on how to write a concept paper. It took me some time to find the information I want. However, I am not quite satisfied with those explanations because the discussion is either too short or it vaguely explains what a concept paper is.

Preparing a concept paper entails different approaches but I somehow drew out some principles from these readings. I wrote a concept paper in compliance with a request to come up with one. Nobody complained about the output that I prepared.

I was reminded once again when a colleague asked me the other day to explain what is a concept paper and how to write it. He needs this information because students have been asking him on how to go about writing the stuff.

To him and his students, I dedicate this article.

What is a Concept Paper and Why Do You Need It?

First, before going into the details on how to prepare a concept paper, let me explain what a concept paper is and why do you need it.

A concept paper serves as a prelude to a full paper. What is the full paper all about? The full paper may be a thesis, a program, a project, or anything that will require a longer time to prepare.

In essence, a concept paper is an embodiment of your ideas on a certain topic or item of interest. The concept paper saves time because it is possible that your thesis or review panel may say that your idea is not worth pursuing.

One expects that the concept paper should consist only of 1 or 2 pages. Alternatively, if you want to resolve some matters, it can go up to 5 pages.

For example, as a student you may be asked to prepare your concept paper for your thesis proposal (see 4 steps in preparing the thesis proposal). This means that you will have to develop an idea and express it for others to understand. You may glean from either your experience or from the literature that you have read. Of course, your topic should be within your respective area of specialization.

If you are a student of computer science, you might want to study the behavior of wi-fi signals bounced to different kinds of material. Alternatively, maybe you wish to create a simple gadget to concentrate signals for a portable USB wi-fi connection to improve its performance. Or maybe you would like to find out the optimum cache size for greatest browsing experience on the internet. The list could go on.

How Do You Write a Concept Paper?

As I mentioned a while ago, there is no hard and fast rule on how to write a concept paper. It is not desirable to have a format as your ideas may be limited by placing your ideas in a box. You may miss some important points that may not be in the format given to you. The point is that you can express to others what you intend to do.

What then are the things that the concept paper as a prelude to a thesis should be able to address or contain? To systematize your approach, a concept paper must have at least the following elements and in the following order:


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1. A Rationale

You explain here the reasons why you need to undertake that thesis proposal of yours. You can ask yourself the following questions:

What prompted you to prepare the concept paper?
Why is the issue of such importance?
What should you be able to produce out of your intended study?

2. A Conceptual Framework

A conceptual framework is simply your guide in working on your idea. It is like a map that you need to follow to arrive at your destination. An excellent way to come up with one is to do a mind mapping exercise.

That brings up another thing, what is mind mapping anyhow?

A mind map is simply a list of keywords that you can connect to make clear an individual issue. It is our subconscious way of analyzing things. We tend to associate a thing with another thing. This relates to how we recall past experiences. In computers, we have the so-called “links” that connect commands in a computer module to make an application program work.

How does mind mapping work? You just have to come up with a word, for example, that will help you start off. You can begin with an issue on computers and from there, generate other ideas that connect with the previous one. There are a lot of literature on the internet that explains what a mind map is.

Now, after reading an explanation of the mind map, how will you come up with your conceptual framework? Well, I do not need to explain it again here because I wrote about it previously. You may read an easy to understand explanation and example here.

3. Your Hypothesis

Once the idea of the conceptual framework is quite clear to you, then you may write your hypothesis. A hypothesis is just your expected output in the course of conducting your study. The hypothesis arises from the conceptual framework that you have prepared.

Once you have identified the specific variables in the phenomenon that you would like to study, ask yourself the following questions: How are the variables related? Does one variable affect another? Alternatively, are they related at all?

A quick review of relevant and updated literature will help you identify which variables really matter. Nowadays, it’s easy to find full articles on your topic using the internet, that is if you know how. You can start off by going to, a directory of open access journals.

Example of Hypotheses

Considering the issues raised a while ago, the following null hypotheses can be written:

1. There is no significant difference in wi-fi signal behavior between wood and metal.
2. There is no significant difference in browsing speed between a ten MB cache and a 100 MB cache storage setting using Mozilla Firefox.

At this point, you may already have a better idea of how to prepare a concept paper before working on a full thesis proposal. If you find this discussion useful, or you would like to clarify further the discussion above, your feedback is welcome.

© 2012 October 31 P. A. Regoniel

Cite this article as: Regoniel, Patrick A. (October 31, 2012). How to Write a Concept Paper. In SimplyEducate.Me. Retrieved from

67 thoughts on “How to Write a Concept Paper”

  1. Thank you for visiting my site Daphne. Your remark encourages me to even write more. I’m glad to read such feedback.

      1. I attended a workshop on concept paper writing. I found it more confusing because the coach was looking for alot of information. This one is simple and easy to follow. Thanks

      2. Thank for this article it has been helpful to me for improvement of writing concept paper

    1. yea this is very useful especially for people like me preparing to do research concept document at post grad level and new in the field of research.

  2. I love your article. It has been written systematically to cover all the issues of conceptual writing and literature reviews. I learned a lot from your article. You did a great job, your writings going to help so many people who are not clear where to start. Keep on writing please.


    1. let me get more explanation from you as an expert..what are we supposed to consider much especially when writing background of the study?? is it necessary to use both hypotheses and reearch questions in one study?? or only one can be employed? example to use only research questions in quantitative research. thank you

      1. Dear Aiwinia, a study always has research questions and hypothesis as tentative explanation of a phenomenon. You conduct research because you have questions in mind on some unexplained fact or event that you observed. Those questions are your research questions and the tentative answer you give to the cause of that fact or event is your hypothesis.
        I hope that addresses your question. Thank you for visiting

  4. Thank you a mill… for this article. This will not only assist with my concept page for my DBA application but my also with constructing a good topic.

  5. It’s been 2mos. that am searching on how to write a concept paper for my requirements, it’s hard to start f u dont know what u r going to work for.. thanx for this page..I’l be reading tonight to have knowledge on it..

  6. Patrick you are such a blessing,I had no idea on how to write a concept paper and yet I have an assignment over the same,I hope to always get in touch for your guidance

  7. Thanks, you have done commendable work on the guide to writing aconcept paper. Many scholars will agree with me that this guide is comprehensive enough and assure way of starting of. Thanks.

  8. Thanks Patrick, I’m writing a concept paper on implementation of ERP systems in African Puplic universities I hope to learn more from u as I write my thesis , thank

  9. Hey Patrick,
    Good to know people like you are there willing to share knowledge freely. I was battling on how to start on a concept note on opening up a new branch and got a lot of guidance from this. Thanks and please keep it up. Words can fail many but God reward you. The more you share they more you gain is the principle I too believe in. Lets get on the good direction and continue educating others like me.

    God Bless !!!

  10. This is a good article, keep up the good work. This article really helped me, let me now begin working on my concept paper.

  11. thank you so much for enlightening me on how to write a concept paper. am preparing a masters concept paper and this information is wonderful.cheers Doctor!

  12. This is a very good article. Can I use this for my book? Rest assured that there will be proper citation to be done, sir.

  13. Thanks very much for your guidance on how to develop concept paper. actually you have being my distant teacher and still you are. God bless you

    can you then attach example of the real concept paper, if you wont mind

  14. Thank you for the feedback Loveland. I very much would like to prepare a “real” concept as you requested, maybe in the near future. I have such a busy schedule now because of my administrative work. I have very limited time to write a new article. I do hope to spend more time in this website which is an offshoot of my hobby.

  15. I’m actually making a concept paper about coackroach milk.The time given to me isnt that enough for me to be able to accomplish it.

  16. Hey,

    Thanks alot. This really helped me as i had to write a concept note as part of the process of applying for a Masters Degree programme in my institution of choice.

    Best Regards

  17. Thanks a million. I was lost when my boss asked me to write a concept note on Cluster Poultry farming. Now I have an idea. God bless you sir.

  18. Your article has been of great help to me as I didn’t know how to get started implementing my ideas. Thank you so much God bless you.

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