RESEARCH PROPOSALS MUST BE FORMATTED ACCORDING TO MLA STANDARDS.
I. Introduce your Research Topic and describe its Projected Value
- Introduce your research topic and explain why you have chosen it – the source of its interest or importance for you. Describe what you anticipate to be the value of your research project–for others, as well as yourself. Write your proposal for a general, uninformed audience. (In your discussion you may wish to answer these kinds of questions: Why is this research project of interest to you and worth doing? What do you hope to gain from it? How do you think you and/or others may be able to use or benefit from your research findings?)
II. State your Leading Research Question and Working Hypothesis
- State the leading Research Question that you propose to pursue for your research project.
- State your Working Hypothesis—that is, propose an initial response to that leading Research Question (your leading assumption based on exploratory research and thinking) which you plan to open to question, investigate and test through your research.
III. Describe your Research Strategy
- Your goal is to convince your reader that you have a well-defined point of departure for your research project and a clear sense of direction as you launch into your research in earnest, supported by substantial, promising exploratory research and serious preliminary thinking and reading about your topic.
- What do you need to find out through your research? Provide an organized list of the important questions raised by your topic, key terms and concepts to be defined and explained, and relevant inferences and assumptions that you hold about your topic and that you will open to question and investigation. Your lists of questions and assumptions should be grouped or organized logically into related categories and major lines of inquiry relevant to and supportive of your leading Research Question and Working Hypothesis. Your lists should demonstrate that you have already conducted thorough and thoughtful exploratory research, reading, and thinking on your topic—i.e., you know enough about your topic focus now to frame good questions and recognize major lines of inquiry.
- How and where will you look for answers? [Don’t just respond, “In the library.”] In this section of your Research Proposal, identify the key search terms–subject headings and key words–which define your investigation and which you will use to find sources on your topic. Draw upon your preliminary research so far on your topic, describe key answers and ideas already gained on the topic, identify the types of primary and secondary sources you plan to investigate, and illustrate your points by referring to some specific representative source titles listed among your sources. Based upon your library explorations, your own hunches and ideas, and any other useful resources, describe further plans you have formulated for finding the necessary sources and evidence for your research project, and answers to your research questions.
IV. List Sources Already Consulted in Your Exploratory Research
- List at least seven (7) sources already consulted during your exploratory research. For these sources, use MLA format, and after each entry, please specify the type of source [e.g., book, specialized encyclopedia, journal article, etc.].
NOTE: This is the standard for a research proposal. Right now, I am less concerned by how many sources you currently have, but you should have at least 4 sources right now. Keep in mind that research at this point is still exploratory. I am most interested in your answers for sections I-III.