Developing a Research Plan

There are
three parts to the research proposal that you are going to submit here in
Blackboard: a topic proposal (two pages in length), a traditional outline of
your topic (one page), and an annotated list of three potential resources (one
page) that you might use in your larger research argument.

Topic Proposal

The first two pages of this document should include your research
proposal. Your work should address each of the following six areas listed
below, and you need to include a word count inside a parenthesis at the
conclusion of each section. Please follow the word-count guidelines listed for
each section as follows:

·
Summary (100-150 words)

·
Purpose (50-100 words)

·
Audience (50-100 words)

·
Opening Statement, Thesis, or Hypothesis
(50-100 words)

·
Method, Materials, and Data (50-100
words)

·
Expected Outcomes (50-100 words)

Outline

The third page of your proposal should include a traditional
outline (Roman numerals, capital letters, numbers, and lower-case letters) that
plots the course for your research paper. It is okay if this plan changes in
the course of your writing process, but for now you are just illustrating
forethought in planning your work.

Annotated Citations

The fourth and final pages of your
proposal should include the alphabetized citations for three resources that you might use to support your research
argument. Each citation should include as much publication information from the
core elements of the MLA documentation style as you can identify as well as a
written annotation of 2-3 sentences outlining the features of this particular
resource.

Please note that annotations are not required in the final draft of your research paper, which
has a requirement of ten resources. This exercise is meant only to orient you
to a common research practice that you are likely to encounter in future
college classes. You can remove the annotations and paste the citations into
your “Works Cited” page when you have finished the final draft or your research
argument.

Here is a sample for what your final
page should resemble:

Annotated List of Works Cited

Adams, Sarah. “Writing the College
Term Paper.” College Language Association Journal, vol. 1, Southern University, spring 2016.

This article by Sarah Adams outlines
the steps necessary to compose a persuasive college term paper. The piece
includes sections on composing the introduction, finding and evaluating
resources, and compiling a list of citations. I plan to use her advice on
developing an interesting hook, where she notes that “clear college writing
should capture the reader’s attention from the first page.” ⁽¹⁾