A research proposal (or prospectus) is a detailed description of a possible full-scale project that researchers develop to convince a reader (a professor or research committee, or, later in life, a project coordinator and funding agency) that the project can be carried out and will yield worthwhile results. The proposal must be 750 words (12 pt font, 1 inch margins, double-spaced, Times New Roman). This paper is the culmination of the research-and-writing process in the first half of the semester. It should include:
1. A specific title for your project
2. A statement of your research question that centers around a specific research problem that is relevant to your academic field. Do not use rhetorical questions in this section; instead, explain what your project is trying to find out.
3. An overview of the existing research about this problem both within your field and in your broader ‘problem collective’
4. An explanation of what your project does differently from previous research (e.g. addressing a blindspot, asking a follow-up question for an existing study, applying a new method or theoretical lens, etc.). Your proposal must establish a clear relationship between your project and existing peer-reviewed research.
5. A summary of your own research methods and/or your theoretical approach. When describing your methodology, you should use the specialized language of your field (check out the Methodology sections of your peer reviewed sources) and/or the jargon from the Methodology Overview handout. Since this is only a proposal, you do not have to perform actual experiments, surveys, or other kinds of data collection and analysis, but you should be prepared to describe these methods in as much detail as possible and to offer an hypothesis.
6. The stakes (importance) of answering your research question.
7. In-text citations and a works cited page with complete citations for your sources (MLA format). The number of sources that you will need will vary depending on your topic, but strong research proposals generally have at least 5 peer reviewed sources. The quality of your sources matter! Students should avoid dot coms, partisan think tanks, blogs, and websites that are trying to sell something. The Ferris library website should be your primary search engine. IMPORTANT: Failure to cite accurate page numbers in your in-text citations will result in an automatic 0% on this assignment. WRONG: (Chen 2019) CORRECT: (Chen 82)
The topic and question for your research proposal should be inspired by a detail in the Denis Johnson short story collection Jesus' Son (1992) and a concept from Psychology: A Very Short Introduction (2014), by Freda McManus and Gillian Butler. Only one topic is off-limits: your paper should not be about drug addiction. Specific quotations from both of these required sources must be integrated somewhere in the paper with accurate citations.