Topic Proposal Essay      

Composition II

The proposal explains your research interests and formulates a tentative thesis per the one research question that has been approved.

To write the proposal, you must present thoughts on the approved topic and research question from the brainstorming exercise.

You are to write your essay of 500-600 words, (1 ½-2 pages) using MLA paper formatting.

Overall, the proposal is to be:

·         your rationale – your reasons for your topic and research question choice,

·         reflective

·         more personal and more specific in wording and thoughts,

·         thoughtful, well-developed, and revised for content, form, grammar, and mechanics (as always).

*You may use “I” in the proposal, but do use it sparingly. You should explain not only what your choices are, but why you chose them. Also, it’s important that you continue reading sources, mostly in the KSU library so to understand more and more the approved research question.

The proposal also gives an overview of what you expect to find during research. You may think of this paper as a place to form a hypothesis about your research. You should answer the following questions:

·         What three disciplines or fields argue about my topic, research questions, and so on? How might these three perspectives add depth to what I plan to argue? In other words, what is the conversation in three different disciplines that pertain to your topic and research question? (e.g. psychological, economical, etc.)

·         What do I know about my topic, more specifically, my research focus already?

·         What is my experience with it, if any? Why was I motivated to write on this research topic and question?

·         What would the general public know about my topic? What might my peers know? Why might they need to know to better understand the argument I plan to make?

·         What do I expect to find when conducting more research?

·         What key concepts/terms might I need to define for my reader?

You may also include questions of your own as part of your proposal. These questions are written by you, in question form, and are included in the paper as an indication of what you plan to look for as you review sources for your paper.

The proposal also includes a tentative thesis statement. Between sources, what do you think the common thread will be? (e.g. consider concepts that are mentioned in various sources, same schools of thought, etc.) In other words, what one main thought will your research questions surround?

A complete draft is due for peer review on Fri., Feb. 14.

The final draft is due by 11:59 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 14 to the respective dropbox in D2L.