Proposal Essay

  
Research Project Proposal and Preliminary Bibliography. MUST BE IN MLA NO EXCEPTIONS!!!!! 
 
Proposal Assignment: Write a short proposal essay that introduces your topic (Profile of a Protest Organization), research question(s), and possible research paths. You will present your research question(s) and how you plan to go about answering that question through research (methodology). Your goal is to convince your audience (me, your instructor) that you have selected an appropriate topic for the research project assignment, have a solid understanding of secondary sources related to that topic, have clear plan for researching this topic, and should be allowed to continue that research. Include at least two (2) sources on your Preliminary Works Consulted (Works Cited) list.
Include each of the following in your essay, in mostly this order: 
● General introduction to your topic 
● Concise overview of your understanding of the scholarly conversation surrounding your topic. What have you read so far regarding this topic? What sort of articles related to your topic have you found through library research? What are some key theories and terms related to the topic? What discourse communities, scholarly/professional disciplines are writing about this topic? In this part, you will need to quote and cite some information from each source on the preliminary bibliography
● Your current questions (research questions) about this topic and any other questions you would need to answer in order to make your argument. You will need to include at least three questions.
● An explanation of why you are interested in the topic: Why did you choose this topic in the first place? Why does this topic matter to you?  
● A Plan: Explain how you will investigate your research questions. What types of sources will you need and what will your research methods? What genre and medium will you use to present your findings? What steps will be required to bring it all together into the final document.
● A Schedule: Include all due dates for research, Annotated Bibliography, Rough Draft, Final Draft, and Presentation.
● Conclude by explaining why this topic might matter or be useful to others.
Preliminary Works Consulted:  At the end of your Proposal, include a works cited list of MLA 8th edition works cited entries for at least two secondary sources related to your topic. At least one of your sources must have been found through a library database search. Other acceptable sources may be books from Valencia’s library, blogs from noted professionals in the field, professional web sites, reputable organizational web sites, academic web sites, government web sites, and professional journals. 
Please see “Research Proposal/An Annotated Example” in Everyone’s an Author (pages 357 -360) as a model.  
Special Requirements
· Word Count: 750 – 1,000 words (2 ½ – 3 pages).This applies to the text of the essay. The heading, title, and works cited list are not part of the word count. Any essay that is 200 words under the minimum word count of 1,000 words in the text of the essay will not receive a grade of more than 50%
· MLA format required for essay: See Everyone’s An Author: “Formatting a Research Essay”, pages 571 -573 for guidelines and sample research essay on pages 573 -590.
· MLA 8th edition format for in-text citations (documentation) and Works Cited list.
· Final draft to be submitted to Canvas’s Assignment Dropbox. There is no rough draft required for this assignment.