RHET201FALL 2011

Drafting a Research proposal

Functions of a Research ProposalThe PRIMARY FUNCTIONS of your proposal

are to clearly articulate your research idea, and to prepare yourself to do the research in a systematic way.

Presents the question you will investigate.

Give an overview of the context, debates and conversations about your topic

Explains the significance/importance of the research

Functions of a Research Proposal

Explains your research methods—how you will approach this project

Suggests anticipated difficulties or obstacles and possible solutions

Lists preliminary sources for investigation, in an Annotated Bibliography.

Brainstorming—Questions/debatesWhat is your topic and how might you

state it as a question? How might you state it as an argument or a thesis?

Make a list of possible questions associated with your topic

Make a list of possible arguments/debates/controversies related to your topic.

Brainstorming/Knowledge2. What do you already know?Write down everything that you can think of

that you already know about your topic and categorize this information in ways that make sense to you (For example: history, current issues, personal experience, possible experts, possible sources, related examples)

Where are the holes in your knowledge? What are the highest priorities for further

investigation?Where will you look to find this information?

Brainstorming/Goals & ImportanceList your personal reasons for doing this researchList all the ways you can think of that this research

also might be important/helpful/interesting to others

Who are the different individuals, groups, institutions, etc. that could be interested in this research and/or benefit from it

List any ways that you can think of that your research will contribute to existing conversations (scholarly, popular, political, etc.) about this topic

SELL your project!!

BrainstormingWhat methods will I use to research this

topic?

Be creative in this brainstorming phase—you may eliminate some methods later.

List all the possible ways you might research your topic—under each method list possible sources and the kinds of information and evidence you might find using various sources?