Research Paper Proposal Instructions
As part of the Research Paper assignment for this course, students will be required to compose and submit a Research Paper Proposal. This Proposal, in addition to a title page containing the student’s name, course and section number, and date – and of course, a title for the project (you’d be surprised at how often I see title pages without any actual title), will consist of the following information:
A brief description of the chosen paper topic – a thesis statement, in a brief paragraph.
A short (minimum of 1 to 2 paragraphs, may be longer) description of how the student intends to structure the paper.
A listing (in outline form) of the supporting arguments and sub-arguments (or areas for research) that are intended to support the thesis.
A bibliography listing at least at least ten scholarly sources. These may be books, journal articles, primary sources or archives to be consulted. The final paper may use more, but ten serious scholarly sources is the bare minimum for a project like this.
Note that this information does not need to be complete, or a “final version” for the proposal – a major reason for doing a project like this is to learn more about it as you work on it. But you do need to present me with sufficient material to show me you understand the topic and the sources available for it. The paper is a work in progress, so it is expected to evolve to some degree while being worked on.
