Prewriting:
Before you begin, you should definitely have already read “Looking for Trouble” and you should have it open as you write since you will be required to quote it and lean heavily on Savini’s ideas in this proposal.
Writing Task:
Write out the research question relating to a real-life social issue that you developed this week. Then, explain how you developed it, how it relates to your chosen book, and why you believe it will be a “fruitful” academic research question for the upcoming persuasive research paperLinks to an external site. on a social issue.
Required Parts of the Proposal: (follow these exactly!)
Please double space and organize your proposal into paragraphs.
In your first paragraph, tell me exactly what you want to find out about a specific social issue connected in some way to your chosen book. You might need several sentences to put your question into words, and that’s ok. Look back at the Lesson Week 7: Learning from Past Student Research Questions for examples of successful/unsuccessful questions.
In your second paragraph, tell your audience how you developed your question. What part (or parts) of the book inspired you to ask it? Did your question start out as a vague topic you were interested in? What was it? How did you narrow down your question to the one you’re asking now? (This is a good paragraph to quote the book!)
In your third paragraph, tell your audience:
Who are the stakeholders? (Who is impacted by this social issue? Who might be affected by the answer to your research question?)
What are the stakes of your research? (Why should your reader care about the answer?) Savini talks about this in “Looking for Trouble” on page 64.
In your fourth paragraph, tell your audience why you think this question is going to be academically “fruitful,” as Catherine Savini calls it in “Looking for Trouble.” Did you follow any of the advice Savini gave in that reading as you developed your question? (This would be a good place to quote this reading, obviously…)
Finally, in your last paragraph what do you need to find out next in order to become more informed about your topic/question? What kinds of sources do you think will give you the most trustworthy, academically useful information? What are your next steps in this project?
Required Length: 600 – 900 words minimum.
Problem Topics:
I reserve the right to reject topics that I feel will not lead students to fruitful, complex, and academic papers. These topics will not be accepted and may result in a failing grade.
Such topics include, but are not limited to:
“Crystal ball” prediction questions (“Will we ever accept people without judging them?” “Will gender roles ever change?” – remember, a thesis is not a question.)
Any argument whose main evidence is based entirely on subjective opinion or religious belief.
I will also reject topics that show that students missed the point of the book. For example, for How We Fight For Our Lives, any variation of “How can we help gay people be less gay?” will not be allowed. This includes topics that offer simplistic solutions to complex problems. For example, suggesting that issues of police violence can be solved by people simply “cooperating” with police
