A paper proposal is exactly what it sounds like. A brief essay wherein you propose what a research paper will entail. It helps you develop an effective research plan for your research projects. The paper proposal should narrowly define what the research area is, but it shouldn’t be so narrow that you are unable to find enough scholarly resources on the topic. Paper proposals help students by possibly redirecting you away from a potentially unworkable topic and toward one that is answerable in four weeks’ worth of research and writing. The point is to avoid the problem of finding out too late that your topic/research question isn’t going to work. You have completed the work to make the proposal exercise meaningful since you just completed some real research for your Exploratory Essay.
Purpose of a Paper Proposal
The purpose for writing a paper proposal is to give you an opportunity to think through your ideas before writing a 2,000 (or more) word paper.
It gives your professor (me) an opportunity to provide feedback on your topic, argument, and research goals.
Perhaps most importantly, a paper proposal requires you to narrow your topic and begin formulating the argument you’ll make.
Paper Proposal Prompt
In a maximum 250-word (constraint) MLA formatted document, you will provide a rough idea about what it is you are writing about for your Discourse Community Research project. The informal research proposal should include the following:
Introduction and Rationale: What do you plan to study? Why is this important?
Background on the phenomenon, problem, movement, group, idea, etc.
Research Question that you could have optionally discussed in the Exploratory Essay
Working thesis
The proposal is not binding. It is simply the next step of your research project.
Annotated Bibliography Prompt
4-6 pages
This assignment functions as what we might call Initial Information Gathering.
Your job now is to explore what others, including scholars, have already said about this topic. For this part of the assignment, you should write an Annotated Bibliography describing and analyzing the primary arguments, findings, and limitations of scholarly works related to your topic or question. All sources for this assignment must be academic peer reviewed articles found in the library database.
For your Annotated Bibliography you will need:
A cover page that includes your research paper title, your name, your class, your professor’s name and your project due date.
There should be a total of four annotation entries.
The entries should be in alphabetical order similar to a Works Cited page.
Each annotation should be no less than 250 word or 1 page and no more than 375 words or 1.5 pages and should include the following:
The bibliographical citation, as per MLA guidelines.
A summary paragraph of the key points of the article/book/essay/other document. What kind of information does the source provide? What kind of document is it (e.g. a research study, newspaper article, argument, etc.)? Are there major findings to note? It may be useful to define key terms or phrases.
An analysis paragraph of the text that assesses the credibility of the author and the source. What beliefs or biases might the author/publisher hold? Do you trust the methods by which the author gathered information? Are there limitations to the research or argument?
A reflection paragraph stating how this source may help you as you continue your research (Since you’re still gathering information, the source may not end up in your final paper). This paragraph should include direct quotes from the text, properly cited with page numbers that you believe you may use in your essay.
The due date for this assignment is April 28th at 11:59 p.m.
