Please write mostly in your own words.
Plagiarism will not be accepted.
Please use sources from previous assignment.
Why Propose?
Think back to Lesson 1. Publication is a key part of the writing process, especially in this age of rapid publishing options like Web sites, blogs, and social media outlets. In order to effectively share your ideas, it pays to do a little background research to make sure you are sharing unique knowledge. The word unique is keyas an individual, whatever you propose will be unique to you as an author. Your instructors view on popular music, for example, will likely be quite different from your own. Secondly, theres nothing worse than facing regurgitated knowledge. If a subject has been done to death, it becomes dull, or worse, trite and unimportant.
The proposal is a way to maintain both types of uniqueness. Your instructor will determine if the topic has a clear perspective behind it. Since you will be working on this project for the remainder of the class, it would not be wise to report facts. Your work will need to have a clear sense of direction, and should relate back to your own interests as an author. Your instructor will also be looking at the nature of the topic. Is it too narrow? Too broad? Has it been done, or is it relevant? Know this
the proposal is a no risk paper. If your instructor thinks youre on the wrong track, s/he will offer advice to get you pointed in the right direction.
The process of writing a proposal will mirror what you would do in the real world. Before writing a book, for example, an author needs to propose the concept and prove why it is necessary. Before writing a newspaper article, an idea is typically vetted in a meeting, or at least run through a review process with an editor. Take this paper as an opportunity to share your idea, receive feedback, and work on building a stronger project.
The Parts of a Proposal
Your proposal will consist of the following elements:
A cover page formatted in MLA style with a unique title reflective of your intended project
An Introduction (1-2 Paragraphs)
In the previous lesson, you conducted exploratory research to narrow a topic and consolidate a research question, thus taking the first steps toward the proposal. Your introduction begins with your topic and research question, and by the time done reading it, your readers should be able to answer the question: What are you going to write about and why?
Specifically, your introduction should:
Identify the issue you plan to research.
State your research question and thesis (even if theyre still rough).
Identify your intended audience and their needs, interests, values, beliefs and any other elements of the rhetorical situation that are appropriate. If you have certain philosophies, values, or personal connections that you feel may affect the direction the paper takes, mention those too.
Discuss the benefits this research has for both you and the reader. This would include why you want to write about this topic.
A Review of Sources (1-2 pages)
In Lesson 7, you found and annotated seven bibliographic sources. Your instructor might have made comments suggesting alternate search strategies or other places to look for information. Give yourself enough time to do a thorough search before writing this section since you will want to have a good foundation. The goal is to answer the question: What has already been done on this subject?
Specifically, these paragraphs should:
Identify and name your sources. Where are they from? What types of sources you are using?
Give an overview of the main ideas, assumptions, gaps, and important elements that you have found in your sources. You can revise the verbiage from your bibliography as a starting point here.
Discuss whether your sources share the same goals, show divergent views, or any other interesting trends as applicable.
A Plan to Collect Information (1-2 paragraphs).
Based on the information you have already seen, think about how you will complete your research. Since the next lesson covers field research methods, it might be worth a peek to see if you may want to integrate those methods (surveys, interviews, observations, etc.). By the time the reader finishes this section, they should be able to answer: How are you going to complete your research?
Specifically, these paragraphs should include:
A brief description of the types of resources youll use to complete your research efforts
A description of the steps youll take between this assignment and the outline in Lesson 9 to complete your research.
A timeline, if appropriate. If you plan on using field research, this is recommended to help plan the time needed to schedule interviews or deploy a survey.
An overview of challenges (1-2 paragraphs).
This is your chance to ask questions. If you are concerned about any aspect of the final project and completing your research goals, this is the place to pose those questions. If you are worried about being able to find resources, express your concern! The goal is to think about potential challenges and problems that might arise as you work on your project. It would be helpful to review the project overviewPDF to make sure you understand what youll be undertaking.
Conclusion (1-2 paragraphs).
This is where you wrap it all up. Your reader should walk away from this section with a clear sense of your goals and an understanding of why this project is important.
Specifically, these paragraphs should:
Describe what you are hoping to produce for the final paper.
What will your focus be? What types of outcomes are you hoping for?
Re-emphasize why this work is important.
Works Cited: This should detail any key sources as well as any items quoted in the body of the paper. Remember to use MLA format.
Proposal Essay
Compose your proposal using the directions provided in the lesson above. Your essay needs to meet the following requirements:
Your paper should be formatted in MLA style. Check out the Citation Help page in the ENG101&102 Research Guide for additional assistance, if needed.
Your paper should have a cover page, introduction, review of sources, a plan to collect information, an overview of challenges, a conclusion, and a Works Cited page.
Your paper should be 4 to 6 double-spaced pages in length, exclusive of the cover page and Works Cited page.
You may use the first person in this paper. Just make sure to keep your voice consistent.
Your essay will be scored using the Proposal Paper RubricPDF.
You can access a checklist for this paper to help with your writing process: Proposal Paper ChecklistPDF.
Sample essay is attached.
