DISCUSSION ESSAY

This assignment is a standard academic essay. Your papers are expected to make use of original research, develop an original insight or perspective, and put forth an original and compelling argument.

Instructions for Research Proposal and Annotated Bibliography

The proposal component of this assignment is to both get you thinking about your final paper early in the term and to provide an early opportunity for you to get some feedback on your ideas. Its job is to provide a basic outline of what you intend to do in your final paper, and should contain three basic elements of information:

  1. Provide a clear outline of your paper’s topic including your proposed research question (i.e., describe WHAT your paper will be on),
  2. Indicate why it is a significant and worthy topic of investigation (i.e., explain WHY this topic is appropriate and important with respect to this course), and
  3. Provide an outline of how you intend to organize and carry out your investigation (IOW, provide a brief preliminary outline of your final paper) by introducing the theories, examples or case studies you will use to illustrate your argument (i.e, explain HOW you will organize your paper).