Research Paper Proposal

This is the first step of our research paper. You may be required to write something similar to this in future classes that require long-term projects. The purpose of the proposal is to help you identify a specific topic, decide on the amount and availability of research, and determine whether or not the idea is sustainable for 8-10 pages. The proposal is a way for you to communicate your initial ideas and research to me and allows me to respond to those ideas and research.

What is a Research Proposal? A research proposal is a short document of 1 to 2 pages that identifies and outlines the main components of your research. Questions to consider and write about are: 1. What is the purpose of your research?

Find a topic that interests you. If it interests you, and you research it well, your audience and your grader (me) will be interested. The research can result in a presentation of facts, an analysis, argument or persuasion of a certain issue, or a combination thereof that demonstrates your mastery of the collected research and your ability to communicate it to your audience in a written manner.

2. Who is the intended audience?

As usual, the class. You want to write your paper so that it is specific and can be picked up by anyone in the class, no matter their interests, majors, or prior knowledge. You want a high level of readability. For this question, consider what your readers may not understand and what you might have to explain in more detail.

3. What is your role?

How are you going to collect research? How are you going to process the research into usable pieces? How are you going to write about your research?

Other questions to consider and write about:

4. What is an initial thesis or opening statement?

5. What is a brief description of the intended methodology for research collection?

6. What the expected outcomes of research and writing?

7. What are three sources for a preliminary Works Cited page?

8. What group are you in and who are some of the group members?

Is this a binding contract of your paper topic?? No, but please don’t change it. Pick something out in the first week that you can keep for the duration of the project. Spending more time now on choosing a topic will give you more time to not only finish this paper, but also work on other projects.

A NOTE ON WRITING: Keep in mind that I do NOT want short answers to the questions above. Think of them as guidelines to help you develop content and responses, but be sure to craft good paragraphs. Another goal of this proposal is to consider different writing styles, audiences and tones. I would like for you to write in a semi-conversational style. You will be writing directly to me and your peers. So you can be less objective and use “I/me/my” and “you.” But be sure to continue using good verbs and good sentence structure.

Learning Goals

Proposal Writing

Audience

Research

Nuts and Bolts

3 sources

1-2 pages (400-500 words)

Preliminary Works Cited

Paper Guidelines