Research Proposal and Preliminary Outline Assignment

English 1121: College Writing and Critical Reading

Spring 2010 / Section 19

Research Proposal, Preliminary Outline,

and Working Bibliography

1.) Research Proposal:

Your research proposal should be about 600-700 words in length, longer if necessary, double-spaced and word-processed, and it should address the following questions. Please respond to the questions in multiple-paragraph form (you may combine questions you feel are related); do NOT number your responses. Your purpose in writing this research proposal is to persuade me that you have carefully thought through your topic at this point, that it is worthwhile for you to pursue, and that you have begun your research. Your proposal will be evaluated holistically based on its clarity, depth of thought, coherence, and "correctness" with respect to language. You will only need to submit a final draft. Due Monday, April 5, 2010, by 2:00 p.m.

What author/article and topic/issue/controversy have you chosen? Clearly define it.
How and/or why is this topic controversial or debatable? Even without having done much research, yet, what are the main "viewpoints"? Where do you stand right now?
How did you find and decide on this topic? Why is it interesting to you? How does it impact your life?
What do you already know about this topic? What knowledge, experiences, and observations do you already have about it?
Is this topic researchable? How do you know there are sources out there for information and that you will not be relying solely on your own knowledge, experiences, and observations?
What research have you done so far? What sources have you found so far? What search terms have you used so far?
How are you going to proceed with your research? Where are you going to look next? What other, new search terms are you going to try?
Is there any potential for any "primary" or "field research"--that is, an interview, a site visit, first-hand observations, a survey, etc.? Have you set anything up yet?
Do you have a specific audience, or a potential publication venue, in mind yet? Who might your audience to be? What might they already know? What might they need to know? What might they want to know? How might they feel about this topic? Why are you writing to them?
Do you feel you clearly understand the assignment and what is expected of you? What questions do you have for your professor, if any?

Note:

If you plan on using this paper for another class, you must let me know at this point, and you should also ask permission from the other professor so that they are aware of your plan as well. Please note, however, that the paper you submit to me must meet all the requirements for this class; the other professor may have different requirements--and you are responsible for knowing and meeting the different requirements for the different classes.

2.) Preliminary Outline:

To the best of your knowledge at this point, try to "sketch out" a preliminary or "working" outline. Definitely develop more specifically the general outline for critique papers; "flesh out" as much as you can what you are thinking right now about putting in each section.

3.) Working Bibliography:

Your working bibliography should contain at least ten (10) sources of at least three (3) different types--books, magazine articles, journal articles, newspaper articles, websites, videos, interviews, etc. The bibliographic citations should follow MLA conventions, they should be completely correct, and they should be correctly alphabetized.