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Prospectus

A prospectus is a formulation of your initial thinking for your essay topic. This assignment gets you to narrow your project focus by proposing and articulating the guiding question you want to pursue for our larger out-of-class essay project for the course. The rationale behind it is so you develop a topic that is narrow, focused, worth exploration, interesting to you, and driven by your genuine curiosity and critical thinking. It also helps you consider what you’ll try to cover, what you need to research, and why the topic is worth pursuing.

Look at the “Final Essay Project” handout for directions on the topic focus. As you discuss your proposed topic, include as much detail as you can (at this juncture). Essentially, this is your pitch to your “editor.” You’ll need to describe the focus of the project, why your readers will be interested in it, how your project is original, how you plan to conduct the research, and what exactly you will try to analyze as you pursue the project.

Use the following questions to help develop your prospectus:

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    • What is your original, focused thinking question that calls for research and sparks analysis? How will it add to the ideas/theories/conversations started by the discussions or texts from our class?

    How will this focus prompt research/fieldwork? What will the research look like before you start writing your essay?

    What is your purpose in writing about this subject? Why are you interested in it? Why might this discussion matter to potential readers/voters/citizens?

    What is at stake in exploring this idea/focus? What do you think you can explore 

    here that is interesting and original to your essay? How are you going to do something that hasn’t already been done by another writer (at least, to your knowledge)?

    Additional questions you might consider:

    What have others already said/written about your proposed subject/topic? How do you suppose you will be situated in this “conversation”?

    What types of sources do you know you will incorporate into your essay?

    Assignment Requirements:

    • ‣ Your prospectus should be a minimum of 250 words, typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman, with 1” margins and a MLA format heading. Include the word count at the bottom of your proposal. Submit your prospectus in Canvas by 10am on 11/12.Bring a hard copy of your proposal to class on 11/12.
    • ‣ Your prospectus should read as a stand-alone topic description and respond to the key questions above. For additional reference, see the samples posted on Canvas. The Prospectus will receive a letter grade based on how well you addressed the above features. It’s worth 5% of your overall course grade. No late or emailed submissions will be accepted.
    • ‣ Proofread and edit your prospectus carefully before turning it in. It’s a good idea to get other readers in on the process as well. To make this a polished, well-written proposal, seek feedback on your overall clarity, adherence to the assignment guidelines, grammar/punctuation/sentences. Imagine this in a career setting where competition is intense and you’re trying to “green light” your project as a writer.

    Annotated BibliographyDue: Tuesday, 11/19

    The goal of this assignment is to help you compile, select, and study the sources you will use in your essay. It also asks you to spend time reading, interpreting, and analyzing your sources so that you can decide how you might incorporate them in your project. You may find through your studying of a selected source that it doesn’t quite fit the purpose of your essay and, in that case, you can choose not to use it. In any case, this assignment requires you to become familiar with the sources you’ve gathered and toconsider how they might operate in your essay discussion (to help you develop your thesis/analysis or answer your research question).

    Assignment Requirements

    To create your bibliography, follow these guidelines (each of these is a required component of each entry):

    1). List all of your selected sources in MLA format (8th edition).
    2). Just below each MLA citation, write a 100 word abstract which includes the following

    information:

    • A brief non-evaluative summary of each source which explains the work’s governing thesis or purpose (What are the main points? How does it address your subject?)
    • Brief biographical or identifying information for the source’s author. If there is no author, provide identifying information regarding the source itself. (Why is it credible? What is the context of the source?)
    • Give some indication of how you intend to use the work – what its value will be to your project, etc.3). Before turning in your annotated bibliography:
    • Proofread and correct for errors.
    • Be sure your bib is typed, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, double-spaced, with 1” margins.
    • Double-check your citations with Purdue OWL (linked on Canvas). Don’t rely on citation creation websites.Including these sources in this working annotated bibliography does not obligate you to use them your final paper, but your work will be more useful if you begin careful research now and explore sources that you intend to use. Also, it is fine to use “I” in this bibliography (example: “I will use this source to provide a contrasting viewpoint.”).For details on formatting, check out the samples on Canvas and Purdue OWL.100 points are available for this assignment, worth 5% of your overall course grade. The grade will be awarded based on the correctness of your citations (MLA 8th edition format) and the strength of your abstracts (all three layers covered, well-edited). Submit your Annotated Bib by 10am on 11/19 in Canvas.

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