Research report writing in the social sciences has acquired a tough reputation, and quite deservedly so because in many cases, supervision amounts to letting the student swim or sink. This manual takes the opposite approach - it is rooted in the belief that research supervision has its own pedagogy, and the application of a pedagogical approach can make the research process manageable for both the student and supervisor. This manual uses a scaffolding approach to enable the student walk through progressively complex steps of planning his/her research project. Not only does it safeguard the quality of the student ́s work, it also allows the student to internalize the processes that lead to a good research plan and project. This nearly guarantees that each graduate can independently plan and execute their own research projects again after using this manual.