English class,

Proposal Essay

This assignment has three interrelated goals:

1. To help you develop the necessary skills to create a class A proposal, considering context, research questions, sources, timeline, and larger implications.

1. To give you practice working with the Research Proposal as an academic genre.

1. To provide an opportunity for working on stylistics and effective academic discourse.

FORMAT:

Your essay should be at least FIVE FULL PAGES and in MLA FORMAT. Please include page numbers, a heading, in-text citations and a properly labeled and formatted works cited. You may use images in your draft if you wish – just please use them rhetorically, not decoratively.

In addition, be sure to cite any credible sources (textual or image-based) that you include in your draft and to include a bibliography/works cited at the end that includes a minimum of five sources. These sources must come from the Dallas College database or Dallas College library. If not, there should be a reason why.

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS AND STRUCTURE

Your proposal should have a well thought out title and contain effective visual rhetoric as appropriate. It should be a traditional, linear Word document in MLA format. Make sure you are hitting the following parts within your essay (do not include subheadings. They are not needed):

Introduction.

This introduction should be designed to interest your reader in your topic and proposal and provide some historical/cultural context for your project. At the end of your introduction, include a tentative thesis to indicate to your reader that you are entering your project looking at your topic through a critical, analytic lens -- this thesis can state your intentions, but it SHOULD NOT BE IN FIRST PERSON.

A good formula for an introduction is context + problem/complication + proposed argument or research question. Each stage in this formula should be a few sentences long.

Body

In your body paragraphs, make sure that you are addressing the problem and its solution. MORE SOLUTION THAN PROBLEM should be in this essay. What are you proposing? What are you offering to the world?

Conclusion.

In your conclusion, address the "So What?" of this research. That is, why does what you are investigating matter as more than an academic exercise? Why should your audience want to read it? Why does it matter?

Works cited

When you cite sources, you'll also need to have a works cited at the end of the proposal, with the citations in MLA format. Any parenthetical citations in the text itself should also follow MLA guidelines. You can find more help on in-text citations and works cited format through the Dallas College website or Purdue OWL.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

At a minimum, there needs to be some content for each of the sections listed above. Students who submit drafts that represent very little effort and are pronouncedly incomplete will receive a ½ grade (i.e., A- to A-/B+) deduction from their overall grade from this assignment.

An exceptional research proposal revision will contain •

· An interesting, focused introduction that captures the reader’s attention, clearly identifies the topic, and concludes with either a hypothesis or a research question

· Clear articulation of topic; a move toward sophistication and complexity of approach to the topic, one which narrows a broad topic to a manageable scope

· Strong transitions between sentences and ideas, producing prose that is fluid and organic, with clear and logical structure, producing an overall sense of coherence in the proposal

· Use of clear, concrete language and example to develop ideas; attention to detail

· Strong sense of audience, including an understanding of the readers’ values, assumptions, expectations, and level of expertise in the topic under discussion

· Strong control of style, language, word choice, diction, syntax, sentence structure, and consistent and authoritative voice in writing

· A strategic, powerful, and appropriate use of rhetoric appeals

· Effective use of source material (textual and visual as appropriate), which is integrated into the author’s prose and argument, and is meticulously documented in proper MLA parenthetical citation form

· Attention to strategic and powerful document design

· Well-developed paragraphs that create a strong underlying structure for the proposal

· A research method & sources section that includes specific examples of texts, methodologies, and search strategies, with rationales for the use of that particular research plan

· A timeline that integrates attention to deadlines for the research project with the student’s individual research practices and academic/extracurricular commitments

· A conclusion that synthesizes earlier sections of the proposal while thoughtfully addressing broader implications (the "So What?" of the project)

· A works cited and/or preliminary bibliography (as appropriate) containing at least 5 sources, in correct MLA form with notation as to how the author searched/located the sources

DRAFTING TIPS

Since this is a formal piece of writing, be strategic in your stylistic choices, especially in your introduction and conclusion. Think about starting with example, a quote, a statistic, a question, a fact, an opposing opinion, etc. Also, use concrete language and specific example to grab your reader. And for your conclusion -- don't trail off at the end. Conclude with a solid statement, something that makes us think, or at the very least makes us understand your project and want to read more about it.

Think of it this way: if you were writing a proposal for a $10,000 grant, how would you convince your readers that they should fund your project? Would you use bland language, or would you finely craft it?

Don't forget the power of visual presentation. How your proposal looks reflects on your argument and your persona as a rhetor. For instance: Do you want indented bullet lists or ones flush against the left margin? Do you want to use horizontal lines, color (it is going to be read on-line after all), boxes, shading, etc. to format your text? Do you want to embed relevant images -- not as decoration -- but as evidence for your argument?

Don't forget to format your sources correctly: Article titles should be enclosed in quotation marks; titles of books should be underlined or italicized. Also, if you quote, remember to cite your sources.

Overall, don't just go through the motions -- use specifics and concretes in your language and development as much as possible. Make your proposal an interesting read!

Preparing an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a useful way to start a research project because it asks you to collect and summarize sources that you might use later in a research paper. Collecting and summarizing sources early in the research process helps you narrow your research topic. The bibliography can also help you evaluate the possible usefulness of source material for later use in a paper.

This handout is designed to show you how to create an annotated bibliography. Specifically, it will guide you through the process of creating an annotated bibliography by:

1) describing in general terms the meaning of the words “annotated bibliography,”

2) explaining in general terms how to write an annotated bibliography, and

3) offering an example of what an annotated bibliography could look like.

You might be confused about what the words "annotated" and "bibliography" mean. The word “annotated” is the past tense form of the verb “to annotate” which means to summarize. An annotation is simply a summary of a book, article, or some other written source. A bibliography is a list of sources on a particular topic. Put together, an annotated bibliography is a list of sources on a topic that offers a summary for each source.

An annotated bibliography has two parts. The first part is the bibliography line which should be written according to the format your professor requires (for this class, it is MLA format). The second part is the summary paragraph. Both parts taken together are called an “entry.” Entries are typically organized in alphabetical order according to the bibliography information, such as the last name of an author or the title of a book.

The number of entries in a bibliography depends upon the assignment. The attached example is made up of two entries which offer a good example of the bibliography line and summary that are the key parts of any good annotated bibliography.

What is included in the summary part of an annotated bibliography also depends upon the guidelines the instructor has given you. However, if the instructor is flexible about these guidelines, Timothy Crusius and Carolyn Channell in The Aims of Argument suggest that your summary should include the following elements:

(1) a sentence or two that describes the author's credentials, purpose, and audience,

(2) a brief “capsule” summary of its content, and

(3) a sentence at the end of the summary that explains “why this source seems valuable and how you might use it” (255).

What is the assignment?

1. Following the above guidelines, you will create an annotated bibliography that has a minimum of ten sources, worth 10 points each:

· At least three of these sources will be BOOKS,

· two sources will be WEBSITES,

· and the rest will be from the database online.

2. Your annotated bibliography will be over YOUR PROPOSAL ESSAY TOPIC. This is how you will collect the sources YOU WILL USE in your PROPOSAL ESSAY

3. You will complete your annotated bibliography in MLA format.

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