Writing the Research Proposal

            The proposal is a brief written statement in which you explain to your teacher and yourself what your goals are for the research assignment.  The proposal helps both you and the teacher to evaluate if you’re heading in the right direction.  Like a contract or agreement, the proposal demonstrates what you are thinking about the topic and what preparations have been made for research.  Writing out your proposed plans also helps prevent procrastination.

            The proposal functions as a map for the process of writing the research paper.  It presents a brief introduction to the subject, explains the thesis and shows the direction in which the writer plans to go to answer the research question(s) and support the thesis.  The writer must do some preliminary reading and research to provide the information a good proposal offers.

           

The research proposal must include:

– brief background information for the subject and chosen topic

– a working thesis

– awareness of the level of the audience

– a plan for locating the appropriate sources

– a timeline for completing the assignment

– acknowledgement of any difficulties or challenges for the project.

After reviewing the ingredients for a good proposal, write a proposal for your own research topic.  Before you begin, review all of your work in the previous steps.  This paper should be a clear, effective single-page, business-like document. 

Research Proposal Guidelines

– Due dates:  Week 4 (9/15)

– Essay length:  1 – 3 pages

– Paper format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

“Why I’m interested in …..”

            The best papers are those that are written by people who are really interested in their topics.  They don’t mind spending hours researching and reading about their chosen subject; the more they learn, the more they want to learn.  Since you will be spending the whole semester on this topic, it is vital that it interests, fascinates, and holds your attention!

            One way to establish and reinforce your interest in a topic is to take time to think about why this particular area appeals to you.  And one of the best ways to dig deeper into your thoughts about a matter is to write about it.  In this short essay, you can answer some of these questions:

–   How did you initially learn about this topic?

–   How much do you already know about this topic?

–   On a scale of 1 to 10, how passionate are you about this area?

–   Who else do you think would be interested in this information?

–   How is this information important?

–   What are your opinions related to this subject?

–   Do you have personal experience connected to this material?

–   And so on …..

Interest Paper Guidelines

– Due dates:  Week 3 (9/10)

– Essay length:  1 page

– Paper format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

Research Paper Process Timeline

Writing the Research Proposal

Writing the Research Proposal

            The proposal is a brief written statement in which you explain to your teacher and yourself what your goals are for the research assignment.  The proposal helps both you and the teacher to evaluate if you’re heading in the right direction.  Like a contract or agreement, the proposal demonstrates what you are thinking about the topic and what preparations have been made for research.  Writing out your proposed plans also helps prevent procrastination.

            The proposal functions as a map for the process of writing the research paper.  It presents a brief introduction to the subject, explains the thesis and shows the direction in which the writer plans to go to answer the research question(s) and support the thesis.  The writer must do some preliminary reading and research to provide the information a good proposal offers.

           

The research proposal must include:

– brief background information for the subject and chosen topic

– a working thesis

– awareness of the level of the audience

– a plan for locating the appropriate sources

– a timeline for completing the assignment

– acknowledgement of any difficulties or challenges for the project.

After reviewing the ingredients for a good proposal, write a proposal for your own research topic.  Before you begin, review all of your work in the previous steps.  This paper should be a clear, effective single-page, business-like document. 

Research Proposal Guidelines

– Due dates:  Week 4 (9/17)

– Essay length:  1 – 3 pages

– Paper format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 4 (Sept. 18)

Greetings!

We had another good day in Writing 3.  These are diligent, conscientious students; I'm greatly enjoying our class discussions.

We began with working through a couple of ACT/SAT essay prompts.  I divided the class in half and had them brainstorm how they might respond to the questions.  Half of the class worked through this prompt:

18. Some high schools in the United States have considered creating separate classrooms for male

and female students in subjects such as mathematics and science. Some educators think separate

classes will be beneficial because students will be less distracted from learning. Other educators

think having separate classes for females and males will not be beneficial because it will seem

to support stereotypes about differences in ability between males and females. In your opinion,

should high schools create separate classes for male and female students?

Source: The Real ACT Prep Guide, 2005

While the other half discussed this prompt:

25.  Some people say you should be content with what you have and accept who you are. But it is

possible that too much self-acceptance can turn into self-satisfied lack of ambition. People should

always strive to improve themselves and to have more in their lives — friends, things, opportunities.

After all, where would we be if great people, both in history and in our own time, did not try to

have more and to improve themselves?

Assignment: Is it best for people to accept who they are and what they have, or should people

always strive to better themselves?

Source: www.collegeboard.com, 2009

They then presented to the class their thoughts on their respective questions.  They are doing a great job thinking critically and taking apart the various aspects of the assignments.

Regarding the research paper, we began by discussing the basic process that students go through when writing longer research papers.  My hope is that, while they will be producing a well-written paper for this call, they will be learning the steps, strategies and skills that will help them with future writing.  I put together a hand-written timeline to illustrate the process.  Many of the steps may need to be revisited during the researching and writing stages.  We discussed that sometimes your research doesn't reveal the information that you thought it would.  A student shouldn't be afraid to "go back to the drawing board" if original ideas don't match data OR if new material sheds a different light on a topic.  It's all a part of the process.

In addition to reviewing the steps and the process, we talked about various ways to take notes and to keep track of information.  Some use sheets of notebook paper, some use notecards, and some use electronic note-taking tools, like OneNote.  Whichever way the individual student feels choose, he/she should be consistent and ALWAYS  keep track of where the information was found.  We also discussed types of outlines as they pertain to the process:  preliminary outlines, informal outlines, and detailed outlines.

A note about the task of finding good information:  

Some students are concerned about finding the right kind of good, accurate, authoritative and timely information.  One helpful trick is to look where those who wrote articles on your topic found their information.  Google Scholar is a good resource, too.  For some topics that have strong opinions on either side of an issue, don't be afraid to read articles that disagree with your point of view.  It helps to know what the opposition thinks.

For this week, students were to have an initial list of resources and  some general subtopics.  For next week, they are to write an informal outline with the subtopics in the order they feel they should be presented in the paper.

This week's blog:

Class Notes

Helps for Writing Outlines

Evaluating Print Resources

Week 4 -- Taking Notes & Outlines

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

Research Paper Process Timeline