Humanities - Proposal outline.

Put Your Name Here

DeVry University

Submitted to

Professor Scott Gessford

Date

HUMN 303: Introduction to the Humanities

Feel free to give a short, 1-2 sentence of the purpose or scope of your paper. This optional and should NOT be done merely to fill space. If you choose not to do this, simply put the title above the introduction and begin there.

Introduction

You should have an introductory section that captures the attention of the readers, connects thinking to the topic, shares a strong thesis, and provides a preview of the content in the paper that follows. Usually you may do this well in about 2-3 paragraphs.

You will see that the sub-headings that come underneath this reflect the major content areas. You are not required to use these specific names, but it is recommended that you read through the comments to be sure that you cover the expectation. Note that the questions are there to give you ideas, so you do not need to answer all of them. Your paper will have its own flavor, so find the balance between this model’s suggestions and the individualism of your topic and originality.

Background

This is where you begin to get into your selected topic’s background. An appropriate length for this is hard to suggest. It’s easy to get carried away with this section and go on and on here, so resist the temptation to go overboard here. Give your audience enough that they understand the basics of the topic, and be sure that you are citing your reference parenthetically here. Consider the following questions along your writing journey:

1. What are the key components of this innovation?

2. What problem did this innovation solve?

3. What additional problems or challenges did this innovation create?

4. What would our world be like had this innovation came later or not at all?

Period of Invention

Under this section and in thinking about this information, consider the following questions (as they apply to your topic):

1. In what year and where did this innovation originate?

2. What is the historical context that is meaningful to this innovation?

3. What were the intentions of the original innovator(s) of this topic?

4. What similar or related technologies helped lead up to this?

5. What was going on the world of this innovation?

6. How were the humanities a part of the world of the innovation?

It would be a good rule of thumb to address here what is relevant before the innovation made its impact.

Circumstances of [Your Topic]

This may or may not be a separate section from the previous one. This is where it might be where you address what is relevant during the innovation’s impact. Here some questions to guide you:

1. How was the innovation initially received by its society?

2. To what extent did this innovation live up to its expectation(s)?

3. What do historians of the time write about this?

4. How long did it take this innovation to make a meaningful impact?

Evolution of [Your Topic]

As you would probably guess by now, this is the after section of the innovation. Consider these:

1. What changed as a result of this innovation?

2. In what way did this innovation stagnate or grow?

3. What was the period of time of further developments of this innovation?

Effects on Later Time Periods

This may be an extension of the previous questions, which may give you a great chance for transitioning effectively into this section. Food for thought that may help you complete this section includes these:

1. How did this eventually influence other technologies or innovations?

2. Were there significant iterations that came later?

3. How relevant would you consider this innovation today?

4. Were the effects of this innovation more contained to its own time frame, or has the trajectory of its influence spanned multiple generations?

5. What does research show about how prolific or influential this innovation has been?

Connection to the Humanities

Try to draw from all the previous sections in order to make connections of your topic to the humanities:

1. How did the creation or execution of art forms (e.g. music, film, theatre, poetry, architecture, dance, etc.) change because of this innovation?

2. What ways of human behavior have been altered as a result of this innovation?

3. How did this innovation enable the humanities or expand means of creativity?

4. How did this innovation typify or go against an era of significance in the humanities?

Conclusion

Use this section to summarize your main ideas and how they help contribute to supporting the thesis from the introduction. Keep in mind that this is a humanities course, so your topic’s connection to the humanities should be part of this. Minimally, this section should be at least 2-3 paragraphs. Find a comfortable way to end your paper.