Research Proposal

Final: Research Proposal

Purpose: You will design a research proposal for an independent study that would last 3 to 6 months. The study you are proposing will be designed and implemented by you with the resources of a college, university or another relevant organization with the intent of writing a publication based on your findings after your 3-6 months of proposed research.

For this assignment, you are only expected to “pitch” your study to a professor or professional in your area interest. To do so, you will need to write an informative and persuasive essay detailing:

A.) an understanding of the current writing and research around your selected topic,

B.) a methodology for an effective study with a clearly identified research need, and

C.) a full examination of the costs and concerns of conducting a study that will lead to valuable information for the field for which your study is designed.

You are not expected to complete the study you are proposing, but the final proposal must be “actionable”. This means that anyone should be able to use your research proposal to build the study you are suggesting.

If an academic study sounds uninteresting, remember that social programs, governmental initiatives, and corporations alike rely on well-designed research studies, and the information these studies provide help do everything from building better roads to creating new social initiatives.

Note: For this assignment, no grades will be revised.

· Topic Proposal and Outline (25 pts)-

· Title and other subheaders for each section of your proposal

· Central research question or thesis statement

· Introduction (at least 1 paragraph): introduce the area of interest, importance, and what work needs doing

· Purpose and scope (at least 1 paragraph): outline your purpose and explain to what depth you will investigate

· Resources and requirements (at least 1 paragraph): take a researched guess at how long the research would take, how much it would cost, what is possible in 3-6 mo.

· Keywords and potential sources: find at least 4 ACADEMIC authors that are working on the topic/issue you have chosen and discuss their work with at least one sentence each, provide enough information to find the source/citation

· Annotated Bibliography (25 pts) –

· 8 sources you will use cited in MLA format

· 4 of the above sources must be found in academic journals or books via our library database

· 2-4 sentences of summary for each source, indicate the purpose of including the source in your proposal

· Full Draft (100 pts)-

· Grammar/Mechanics

· Complete introduction with purpose, scope, and requirements fully explained using citations and details from related studies

· Study Overview: What kind of study will your research perform? Where and how will it take place? What will be learned and who might find this information be helpful? What problems might you encounter? What future work may need to be done?

· At least 4 academic sources cited and included in argument

· Bibliography

· Final (150 pts)-

· All of the above (Full Draft rubric) in MLA format

Links:

Guide from class: http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/researchproposal

Academic Examples: https://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/researchcourse/develop_write_sample.html

Common components of a research essay:

http://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=504643&p=3454882