# Appendices in Research Proposal: What to Include and How to Label Them > Appendices in research proposal writing: what to include and leave out, APA, MLA and Chicago placement, word limits and declaring AI use, with real examples. Canonical: https://www.thesisroom.com/blog/appendices-in-research-proposal Last updated: 2026-10-27 Published: 2026-10-27 Appendices in a research proposal hold the supporting material a reader may want to check but does not need in order to follow your argument. That usually means your questionnaire or interview guide, consent form and information sheet templates, a detailed timeline, and a budget if a funder asks for one. Label each appendix, refer to it in your text, and leave out anything the proposal does not point to. The test is simple. If a document supports a claim in your main text but nobody needs to read it to follow the argument, it goes in an appendix. If your argument depends on it, it belongs in the body. ## What should go in an appendix of a research proposal? Planning documents and research instruments. A proposal describes work you have not done yet, so its appendices show how you will do it, not what you found. | Document | Decision | Why | |---|---|---| | Questionnaire or interview guide | Include | Reviewers check that the instrument can measure what you claim | | Consent form and participant information sheet | Include, as blank templates | Ethics reviewers read the wording participants will see | | Detailed timeline or Gantt chart | Include | It shows the plan is feasible; keep a short version in the body | | Budget breakdown | Include only if asked | Add one when a funder or your department asks for it | | Summary table of key studies | Include, if it supports your review | Keep the synthesis itself in the body | | Raw data or transcripts | Leave out | You have not collected any yet | | Copies of papers you cite | Leave out | They belong in your reference list | Ethics committees ask for the same documents. The [University of Greenwich research ethics application form](https://gre.ac.uk/__data/assets/word_doc/0026/253970/urec-application-form-august-2021-revised.docx) says "These papers must be included as appendices to this application form" about the participant information sheet and the consent form, and lists questionnaires or indicative interview questions as papers that may be required. The [University of Glasgow College of Arts & Humanities](https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/arts/research/ethics/ethicsapplicationprocedures) asks for a participant information form, a participant agreement form and drafts of any surveys or sample questions. ### What never belongs in a proposal appendix Anything you have not produced yet: results, coded transcripts, draft chapters. A filled-in consent form would be invented data, since nobody has signed one. Do not use appendices to get round a word limit either. The [University of St Andrews](https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/academic-policies-assessment-examination-and-award-assessment-of-pgrs/pgr-assessment.pdf) says appendices "should not be used to house material which is core to the central work of the thesis." The [UC San Diego training grants guidance](https://traininggrants.ucsd.edu/proposal-development/application-components/appendix.html), written for NIH grant applications, says: "Applicants should not use the Appendix to provide additional information that expands upon the application or circumvents page limits." ## How do you label appendices in APA style? Use "Appendix" plus a capital letter, a title on the next line, and refer to each one in your text. These rules come from [APA Style's appendices page](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/appendices): - **Label:** "When there is only one appendix, use the label 'Appendix.'" With more than one, add a capital letter: Appendix A, Appendix B. - **Title:** "Write the appendix title on the next line after the appendix label in bold and centered." - **New page:** "begin each appendix on a separate page at the end of the paper." - **Order:** call them out in the text in the order the appendices appear, so Appendix A is mentioned first. - **Tables and figures:** add the appendix letter before the number, so Table A1 or Figure B1, with no full stop between the letter and the number. - **Citations:** a source cited inside an appendix still goes in your main reference list. APA's [order of pages](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/order-pages) puts appendices last: after the references, and after any footnotes, tables and figures placed on separate pages. ## Where do appendices go in MLA and Chicago? MLA puts them before the works-cited list, the opposite of APA, and Chicago guides differ. Check your university's template, because it overrides any style guide. - **MLA:** the [University of Nevada, Reno MLA guide](https://guides.library.unr.edu/mlacitation/appendicsandworkscitedlist) says "The appendix appears before the works-cited list." It also says each appendix begins on a new page, labelled Appendix A, Appendix B, in the order you mention them. [James Cook University's MLA guide](https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/referencing/mla) agrees that the works cited list comes "after any appendices and endnotes." - **Chicago and Turabian:** the [University of Northwestern St Paul Chicago guide](https://guide.unwsp.edu/chicago_style) orders a paper as the title page, body, appendix, notes and bibliography. One Turabian guide from [George Fox University](https://www.georgefox.edu/arc/resources/turabian-9th-ed-guide.pdf) says appendixes "may appear at the end of a student paper after the bibliography", so placement can vary. The same George Fox guide covers Chicago labels: centre the word "Appendix" in bold, add a letter only when there is more than one, and put the descriptive title on a second line. ### Indian university theses often differ again Two examples show why your own guidelines come first. [IIT Madras's PhD thesis guidelines](https://civil.iitm.ac.in//admin/coursedetailimage/Guidelines%20for%20preparation%20of%20Ph.D.%20Thesis.pdf) put appendices after the chapters and before the references. [Annamalai University's PhD manual](https://www.annamalaiuniversity.ac.in/studport/download/phd_manual.pdf) does the same and numbers them "Appendix 1, Appendix 2" rather than using letters. If your proposal follows your university's thesis rules, use its order and numbering. ## How do you refer to an appendix in the text? Point to it at the exact moment a claim depends on it. A reader should never have to hunt. Patterns you can copy: - "Participants will rate each item on a five-point scale (see Appendix B for the full questionnaire)." - "The interview guide is in Appendix A." - "Response rates will be reported by site, using the template in Table C1." If a figure exists only in an appendix, the in-text pointer is its only anchor. Name the table or appendix in the same sentence as the claim. ## Do appendices count toward a proposal's word limit? Often not, but check before you rely on it. The rule is set by each university and sometimes by each department. Three published examples: - **Edinburgh Business School:** its [proposal guidelines](https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/phd/research-proposal-guidelines) set 1,000 to 1,500 words for some PhD programmes, "excluding references and appendices". - **Warwick:** its [PhD thesis requirements](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dc/pgrassessments/gtehdr/requirements/) exclude appendices from the 80,000-word limit, but cap "the total length of all appendices" at 5,000 words. - **St Andrews:** its [assessment policy](https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/academic-policies-assessment-examination-and-award-assessment-of-pgrs/pgr-assessment.pdf) says word limits include everything "apart from the bibliography and appendices." Look for the phrase "word count" or "word limit" in your department's guidance and see whether it says "excluding appendices". If it says nothing, ask the department and keep the answer in writing. ## Should you record AI use in an appendix? If you used generative AI and your university allows it, you will usually need to declare it, and an appendix is a tidy place for the detail. Check your own rules first. The [University of Cambridge School of the Humanities and Social Sciences](https://www.cshss.cam.ac.uk/education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-and-scholarship/template-declaration-use-generative) says permitted use in summative assessments "should be clearly acknowledged". Its template asks which tool you used (name and version), what prompt you gave, what you used it for, and how you used or changed the output. The [University of Birmingham's guidance](https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/hefi/gai/acknowledging-and-citing-the-use-of-generative-ai-by-students.aspx) asks for the AI system's name, the prompts, the output, and how the student changed it. Summarise this in a labelled appendix, such as "Appendix C: Use of Generative AI", rather than pasting whole chat transcripts. For citing the tool itself, see [how to cite ChatGPT in a paper](https://www.thesisroom.com/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt-in-a-paper), and for what is usually allowed, [which AI tools PhD students can use](https://www.thesisroom.com/blog/ai-tools-allowed-for-phd-students). ## Appendix or annex? Use whichever word your university's template uses, and use it the same way throughout. The style guides above all say "appendix", so that is the safe default when there is no template. ## How long should proposal appendices be? Use one test instead of a page count: keep only what your main text points to. If your appendices are longer than your proposal, you are probably storing material that belongs in the body, or material you do not need. A good final check is to list every appendix and find the sentence that refers to it. Any appendix without one comes out. The same discipline helps when panels question your plan, as covered in [how to defend your research proposal](https://www.thesisroom.com/blog/how-to-defend-your-research-proposal). ## Frequently asked questions ### What are examples of appendices in a research proposal? A questionnaire or interview guide, blank consent form and participant information sheet, a detailed timeline or Gantt chart, a budget if a funder asks for one, and a summary table of key studies. Raw data does not belong, because you have not collected it yet. ### Where do the appendices go? In APA style, after the references, at the very end. MLA guides place them before the works-cited list. Chicago guides differ: some put them before the notes and bibliography, some after. Your university's template overrides all of these. ### How do I format and label an appendix? In APA, start each appendix on a new page, label it "Appendix" (or Appendix A, B when there are several) in bold and centred, and put its title in bold on the next line. Refer to each appendix in your text. ### How do I number tables inside an appendix? In APA, put the appendix letter before the number: Table A1, Figure B2. Write "Figure A1", not "Figure A.1". If there is only one appendix, still use the letter A. ### Should the consent form in my appendix be filled in? No. Attach the blank template. A proposal shows what participants will be asked to sign, and ethics reviewers want to read the wording and the information sheet that goes with it. ### Do appendices count toward the word limit? Often not. Edinburgh Business School excludes them from its proposal limit, and St Andrews excludes them from thesis limits. Check your own department's guidance, because some set a separate cap, such as Warwick's 5,000 words for thesis appendices. ## Sources - [APA Style: Appendices](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/appendices) - [APA Style: Order of pages](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/order-pages) - [University of Nevada, Reno Libraries: MLA appendices and works cited](https://guides.library.unr.edu/mlacitation/appendicsandworkscitedlist) - [James Cook University Library: MLA referencing](https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/referencing/mla) - [University of Northwestern St Paul: Chicago style](https://guide.unwsp.edu/chicago_style) - [George Fox University: Turabian 9th edition guide](https://www.georgefox.edu/arc/resources/turabian-9th-ed-guide.pdf) - [IIT Madras: Guidelines for preparation of PhD thesis](https://civil.iitm.ac.in//admin/coursedetailimage/Guidelines%20for%20preparation%20of%20Ph.D.%20Thesis.pdf) - [Annamalai University: PhD manual](https://www.annamalaiuniversity.ac.in/studport/download/phd_manual.pdf) - [University of Greenwich: Research ethics application form](https://gre.ac.uk/__data/assets/word_doc/0026/253970/urec-application-form-august-2021-revised.docx) - [University of Glasgow College of Arts & Humanities: Ethics application procedures](https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/arts/research/ethics/ethicsapplicationprocedures) - [UC San Diego: Training grant appendix guidance](https://traininggrants.ucsd.edu/proposal-development/application-components/appendix.html) - [University of Edinburgh Business School: Research proposal guidelines](https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/phd/research-proposal-guidelines) - [University of Warwick: Requirements for doctoral theses](https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dc/pgrassessments/gtehdr/requirements/) - [University of St Andrews: Assessment of postgraduate research](https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/academic-policies-assessment-examination-and-award-assessment-of-pgrs/pgr-assessment.pdf) - [University of Cambridge, School of the Humanities and Social Sciences: Template declaration of generative AI use](https://www.cshss.cam.ac.uk/education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-and-scholarship/template-declaration-use-generative) - [University of Birmingham: Acknowledging and citing generative AI](https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/hefi/gai/acknowledging-and-citing-the-use-of-generative-ai-by-students.aspx) How this guide was made: Thesisroom drafted this guide with the help of AI writing tools. Every fact, figure and source in this post was checked against its original source before publishing. ## Related - [All guides](https://www.thesisroom.com/blog) - [Check references free](https://www.thesisroom.com/citation-check)