A Basic Proposal Outline:

Introduction
  Topic area 
  Research question 
  Significance to knowledge

Literature review
  Previous research
   others & yours 
  Interlocking findings and Unanswered questions
  Your preliminary work on the topic
  The remaining questions and inter-locking logic
  Reprise of your research question(s) in this context

Methodology
  Approach 
  Data needs
  Analytic techniques
  Plan for interpreting results

Expected results

Budget

Bibliography (or References) 

The Basic Thesis Outline

Introduction
  Topic area 
  Research question  (finding?)
  Significance to knowledge
Literature review
  Previous research
   others & yours 
  Interlocking findings and Unanswered questions
  Your preliminary work on the topic
  The remaining questions and inter-locking logic
  Reprise of your research question(s) in this context
Methodology
  Approach 
  Data needs
  Analytic techniques
  Plan for interpreting results
Results
Discussion and Conclusions
Bibliography 

Or

Introduction
  Topic area 
  Research Question and its significance to knowledge
Literature review
  Previous research
  Your preliminary work on the topic
  The remaining questions and their inter-locking logic
  Reprise of your resulting question in this context
Methodology
  Approach to answering the question
  Data needs
  Analytic techniques
  Plan for interpreting results
Budget
Expected results
Bibliography / References