Research Paper Proposal

And so it begins. This week, we begin your research paper. Well, almost. This week we will write the proposal.

But first, I need you to pick a good topic. For the love of Peter, Paul, and Eminem, pick a good topic.  Something you’re interested in. Please don’t pick the first thing that comes to mind. This is a perfect opportunity for you to figure out something you’ve always wanted to know or plan a course of action to conquer a problem or simply become a more well informed person in this world.  

As long as you can develop an essential question you can pick any topic you’d like. I’m thinking of all the topics I’ve had to look into lately.  For instance, in May I’m running in my first half marathon.  I’ve never run that far before. So, in order to prepare for that race, I had to do a ton of research to figure out the best plan to help prepare myself for that toil.  Here’s another example.  This week we bought a TV. I had to spend the entire weekend reading reviews, comparing prices, calling stores.  There was a lot of research involved.  Recently I also became really interested in the revolutions going on in the Middle East. Since it has piqued my interest I’ve read countless articles, watched a slew of videos, and had to do some pretty in-depth research in order to gain a basic understanding of the uprisings.

Why am I telling you this? Two reasons.  First, because people research all the time. We live in a 

complicated society. To keep up, you have to look up. Secondly, because I want you to think beyond the first idea that comes to mind (<bored student voice> “okay, time to do yet another research paper. I guess I’ll do global warming again” </bored student voice>.

Instead of that, why don’t you ask yourself, What do I need to know right now?

Here’s your assignment.  It’s due next Wednesday, March 23rd.

Your Task:  Write a 1.5 - 2 page paper in which you do the following:

• Explain your topic.  What topic are you researching. (1 paragraph)
• Explain why this topic.  You could research anything you want.  Why are you researching this particular topic?  Why is this topic of personal significance to you? ?  Why is this topic important enough to research? (1 or more paragraphs)
• Explain what you hope to find out.  What is your essential question?  What supporting questions might you have to answer in order to answer this essential question? (1 paragraph)
• Find two articles about your topic for preliminary research. Instead of printing and annotating these articles, you will use Noodletools to create a notecard for each source.  You have a field for direct quotation, paraphrase, and “my ideas.”  Use them.  In your proposal, respond to these articles.  What interesting information did you find? Comment on that information.  Make sure to include correctly formatted parenthetical in-text citations. You will share this Noodletools project with the dropbox I have set up.
• Hand in a Works Cited page with citations for these two articles.

This week and early next week we will balance SSR/Independent reading and work on this paper.  So gear up.  Enjoy!