Assignment: Proposal & Outline of Final Research Report PROJECT DESCRIPTION This is the first—and perhaps most important—written component of your final project. Creating this outline will help you decide on your project topic (or at least start to really think about it) and begin gathering the reference materials that you will use.
INSTRUCTIONS The proposal document you create should be an outline and thorough description of your ideas indicating the following: •
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A working title for your project A list of keywords (i.e., search terms) related to your topic that an academic researcher would use to find your project in a database The major issues or themes you intend to explore in the project A well-‐formed statement of the problem you will address A thoughtful and carefully crafted research plan Your preliminary hypothesis statement A summary of the argument structure including any sub-‐arguments and how they relate A correctly formatted annotated bibliography of at the very least 5 relevant preliminary sources you have found. (Only 2 of these can be web sites.) These may include course readings, but those must not constitute the bulk of it. A schedule for completion indicating a detailed description of each task of the project and an estimate of how much time the task will take.
In a sense, this proposal is exactly that—a propositional rough draft or set of guidelines for your final project. It is intended to help you familiarize yourself with potential source materials and begin to focus your research. It will get you thinking about your project well in advance.
Length: 5-‐7 pages, including bibliography
CRAFTING A GREAT TITLE Get the title right! Ensure the main key phrase for your topic is in your title so that it’s searchable. Make sure your title is descriptive, unambiguous, and accurate. Make sure it reads well. WRITING AN EFFECTIVE TITLE Problem: Writers often omit or underuse the helpful tool that is an project title. Feeling stuck, writers may give up on generating a title, or merely label their projects by assignment sequence (“Assignment #2”) or task (“Rogerian Argument”). An absent or non-‐specific title is a missed opportunity and a grave mistake: titles help writers prepare readers to understand and believe the paper that is to follow. Solutions: Remember the functions of a title. As composition and rhetoric scholars Maxine Hairston and Michael Keene explain, a good title does several things:
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It predicts content.
It catches the reader's interest.
It reflects the tone or slant of the piece of writing.
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It contains keywords that will optimize a computer search.1
