The social sciences

For specific details on what is required for the research paper, please read the  Research Paper Prompt .

The point of the proposal is to give me the chance to give you early feedback on your topic.  It will also give you the opportunity to specify your topic (narrowing it if need be), pose your research question(s), and begin formulating an argument.

I’ve chosen your main question for you:  How does systemic racism impact our society?  However, it’ll be up to you to ask more specific versions of that question.  Some possibilities:

· How does the War on Drugs impact society?

· How does negative media representation of people of color impact society?

· How does mandatory sentencing impact society?

The format of your proposal should be a minimum of two thoroughly developed paragraphs.  The first paragraph should explore the significance of the larger question (How does systemic racism impact our society?).  Your aim here is to answer why this is an important question.

In the second paragraph, pose your specific research question(s) and explore the significance of each of them.  Your aim here is to answer why it matters how negative media representation (for example) impacts society.

Lastly, if you can get a working thesis statement out of this, please include it in your proposal.  You can just include it below the final paragraph of your proposal under the heading of “Thesis Statement,” there’s no need to try to incorporate it into the proposal itself.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND:  This proposal is not a contract, it's just an exercise to get your mind working on what you'll be writing about.  If you submit a proposal this week for systemic racism in education, and three weeks later you decide you really want to focus on systemic racism in healthcare, then no worries, you can absolutely change directions.  You don't have to notify me of this change in plan, but I'm always happy to talk about it with you if you'd like.

Example of a Research Proposal:

Today in America racism is a very important topic of conversation. Many people argued that racism no longer existed because of the election of Barack Obama, a black president, this is sadly untrue. We have seen this to be proven untrue in many ways but especially in the election of Donald Trump and the actions that have followed. Some people believe racism only affects a few targeted groups but that simply is not true. We see its effects in interracial dating, economics, tax distribution, and public prejudices, all of which affects our larger society.

To get a complete look at how these factors affect our society, I will be looking at the process of the fight to decriminalize interracial relationships as well as the approval rates from then until now. I will also be looking at the personal experiences of other individuals who faced or still face discrimination because they choose to love someone outside their race. To examine the economic effects, I will be researching agriculture and other harsh labor jobs to see if the mass deportations has affected production and in turn the public access to goods. In the tax distributions I will examine how much money goes into funding prisons and how much it has increased with increasing prison populations. I will also look at where money has been cut from to be able to fund prisons like education and public assistance. Finally, I will be looking at public instances of prejudice. To research for this I will be looking at profiling in stores, restaurants, and other locations.