The Parts of a Proposal

Your proposal will consist of the following elements:

A cover page formatted in MLA style with a unique title reflective of your intended project
An Introduction (1-2 Paragraphs)
In the previous lesson, you conducted exploratory research to narrow a topic and consolidate a research question, thus taking the first steps toward the proposal. Your introduction begins with your topic and research question, and by the time done reading it, your readers should be able to answer the question: What are you going to write about and why?

Specifically, your introduction should:

Identify the issue you plan to research.
State your research question and thesis (even if they're still rough).
Identify your intended audience and their needs, interests, values, beliefs and any other elements of the rhetorical situation that are appropriate. If you have certain philosophies, values, or personal connections that you feel may affect the direction the paper takes, mention those too.
Discuss the benefits this research has for both you and the reader. This would include why you want to write about this topic.
A Review of Sources (1-2 pages)
In Lesson 7, you found and annotated seven bibliographic sources. Your instructor might have made comments suggesting alternate search strategies or other places to look for information. Give yourself enough time to do a thorough search before writing this section since you will want to have a good foundation. The goal is to answer the question: What has already been done on this subject?

Specifically, these paragraphs should:

Identify and name your sources. Where are they from? What types of sources you are using?
Give an overview of the main ideas, assumptions, gaps, and important elements that you have found in your sources. You can revise the verbiage from your bibliography as a starting point here.
Discuss whether your sources share the same goals, show divergent views, or any other interesting trends as applicable.

A Plan to Collect Information (1-2 paragraphs).
Based on the information you have already seen, think about how you will complete your research. Since the next lesson covers field research methods, it might be worth a peek to see if you may want to integrate those methods (surveys, interviews, observations, etc.). By the time the reader finishes this section, they should be able to answer: How are you going to complete your research?

Specifically, these paragraphs should include:

A brief description of the types of resources you'll use to complete your research efforts
A description of the steps you'll take between this assignment and the outline in Lesson 9 to complete your research.
A timeline, if appropriate. If you plan on using field research, this is recommended to help plan the time needed to schedule interviews or deploy a survey.
An overview of challenges (1-2 paragraphs).
This is your chance to ask questions. If you are concerned about any aspect of the final project and completing your research goals, this is the place to pose those questions. If you are worried about being able to find resources, express your concern! The goal is to think about potential challenges and problems that might arise as you work on your project. It would be helpful to review the project overview to make sure you understand what you'll be undertaking.

Conclusion (1-2 paragraphs).
This is where you wrap it all up. Your reader should walk away from this section with a clear sense of your goals and an understanding of why this project is important.

Specifically, these paragraphs should:

Describe what you are hoping to produce for the final paper.
What will your focus be? What types of outcomes are you hoping for?
Re-emphasize why this work is important.
Works Cited: This should detail any key sources as well as any items quoted in the body of the paper. Remember to use MLA format.
A Sample

At this point, stop and read the student sample, Fighting Back Against Obesity: A Research Proposal. Notice how the paper is organized. Also notice the more conversational tone used by the student. It is fine to use first person for this assignment, since the instructor is your audience and the proposal plays a part in a continuing conversation about your project.

After you have read the sample, begin thinking about you want to shape your own work. Use a pre-drafting activity to get some ideas flowing. Alternately, you may find it helpful to return to your bibliography and to use those notes, along with instructor feedback, as a starting point.

For a checklist to help with your revision or to guide a tutoring session, review Proposal Paper Checklist.

Assessing Your Learning
Graded Assignments

Review the lesson several times before proceeding to the assessments below.

Important information: Before you begin your assignments, please review and follow the procedures below in the completion of ALL writing assignments.


Lesson 8 Assignment

Proposal Essay

Compose your proposal using the directions provided in the lesson above. Your essay needs to meet the following requirements:

Your paper should be formatted in MLA style. Check out the "Citation Help" page in the ENG101&102 Research Guide for additional assistance, if needed.
Your paper should have a cover page, introduction, review of sources, a plan to collect information, an overview of challenges, a conclusion, and a Works Cited page.
Your paper should be 4 to 6 double-spaced pages in length, exclusive of the cover page and Works Cited page.
You may use the first person in this paper. Just make sure to keep your voice consistent.
Your essay will be scored using the Proposal Paper Rubric.
You can access a checklist for this paper to help with your writing process: Proposal Paper Checklist.
Submission Instructions

In order to receive credit for your work, you must submit this assignment in two ways:

Submit it to Turnitin.com (follow the directions provided in the course announcements for specific account set-up information).
To submit the assignment for grading, you will attach your file within the assignment submission window at the following link: Proposal Essay.
If you need help attaching your file to the submission window, refer to Attaching Files to Assignments in RioLearn