{"id":85,"date":"2017-10-02T18:55:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T18:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.berea.edu\/bereawritingguide\/?page_id=85"},"modified":"2018-06-06T09:28:49","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T13:28:49","slug":"research-proposal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/bereawritingguide\/chapter-3-creating-assignments\/research-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A research proposal often serves as the first semi-formal step in a scaffolded research sequence. Frequently it follows an informal in-class discussion of topics and approaches, and sometimes can follow an informal email or group-conference form of initial proposal. In effect, once the research proposal has been approved, it should serve the student as a road-map to the project and the instructor as a wireframe to help shape future responses to the student\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Research Project Proposal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Final Proposal Due:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Initial Proposal (via Email \/ Conference) Due:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your project proposal should be 1-2 pages long \u2013 not including your bibliography \u2013 and must include the following elements:<\/p>\n

Central research question(s):<\/strong><\/p>\n

This question or multiple linked questions should be formulated as a problem that you are going to be addressing directly, and that you can transform into your thesis or central focus.<\/p>\n

Length: <\/strong><\/p>\n

1 sentence \u2013 1 paragraph. If you have multiples, give each one its due course.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned to each of you, consider this a brainstorm or exploration. Come up with ideas, questions, problems, and so on, and shape them as best you can into a coherent set of ideas. Don\u2019t worry if some parts don\u2019t hold together. We\u2019ll sort that out in class.<\/p>\n

Brief discussion of the research:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For each question you have identified, discuss how this topic is appropriate for a course that investigates XYZ subjects, and suggest ways in which your work will contribute to our class\u2019s larger interest in these topics. (1 paragraph per question)<\/p>\n

Big Burning Question and Course Fit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discuss in a few more sentences the central, single big burning question. How does your proposed topic will contribute to the seminar members\u2019 understanding of one of more of the courses key themes? What bigger questions does this research contribute to answering? What\u2019s the bigger picture? (1-5 sentences \/ questions)<\/p>\n

Summary of your next steps in the research process, as well as realistic timeline of completion dates for each of those steps. (Bullet points)<\/p>\n

Questions for the course instructor \/ areas that you could use some help with. (More questions = better)<\/p>\n

Working \/ Informal Bibliography:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bring to class an informal (i.e., not to be graded) bibliography of at least five sources that includes sources you have looked at as well as more sources that you have not yet consulted, but which seem promising.<\/p>\n

Use this bibliography to assist you in developing keywords, multiple approaches to your problem, or more nodes of interest you hope to examine.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, please bring your laptop to class. Tuesday will be a work session, so come ready to work.<\/p>\n

Research Questions and the Research Essay Assignment<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are myriad approaches to structuring the research assignment. The one below adapts materials from Anne Bruder\u2019s GSTR 210 to the purposes of a \u201ccollection\u201d based approach to the students\u2019 research. If you substituted the word \u201ctopic\u201d for the word collection, you would have a more standard version of the 210 assignment (and one closer to the original assignment). We have not included the basic requirements for a GSTR 210 essay because those materials are common to all GSTR 210 courses. You should be handing out an evaluative rubric along with your assignment, and because a successful research essay is required to pass GSTR 210, some of those guidelines are also likely to belong in the syllabus. Following the document on \u201cFinding a Research Question,\u201d we have included a Research Project Description from a GSTR 410 course with the idea that 110 and 210 instructors might use it to envision more clearly what a longer-term progression or possible terminus of the research process might look like in a senior-level course. You could also adapt the GSTR 410 model to GSTR 210 by scaling it back to the needs of your section, and of course, by excluding elements that exceed the scope of the 210 essay such as seminar leading, essay length, or the scope of required research. Finally, we would like to mention that while GSTR 110 should involve an analytical essay based on documentary materials, GSTR 110 is not the place to introduce the full-blown research process. Some of us have found it useful to include an essay that produces questions about the selection and use of documentary materials from a pre-selected or designated body of materials, which can then be used to simulate a more controlled pre-research process in GSTR 110. But, in any case, the steps to the research paper should be orchestrated so that students find the process clear and the outcomes tangible.<\/p>\n

Finding a Research Question (<\/strong>Or How to Make Sure You Don\u2019t Write a Book Report)<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Moving from a topic to a question<\/strong><\/p>\n

An effective research paper poses a significant question \u2014 one appropriate to this course \u2014 and then draws on the library research and the writer\u2019s analytic skills to answer it. A successful research paper stems from a narrow, compelling question. Poorly conceived research questions or loosely focused topics lead to shoddy research papers. We will work with you during the next few weeks to help you pose a productive research question. Notice that we have referred to a research \u201cquestion,\u201d not a research \u201ctopic.\u201d We have chosen those words intentionally. We will steer you away from writing an \u201call-about\u201d report on a topic area. Instead, we want to help you write a thesis-driven essay that addresses a significant research question. An all-about report looks like a Wikipedia entry. It is encyclopedic. It conveys information, much of which may be useful, but it does not pose a question or offer an argument. Consider the difference between the Wikipedia article on Ta-Nehisi Coates and Randall Kennedy\u2019s article \u201cLifting as We Climb.\u201d The Wikipedia article is an all-about report. It provides some helpful and even intriguing information. Kennedy\u2019s article, by contrast, makes an argument. He asks, \u201cIn what ways does the denunciation of respectability politics misunderstand and make selective use of a civil rights message of black radicalism from the moment of Martin Luther King\u2019s rise in the 1950s through the return to civil rights issues in the last four years?\u201d His article then answers that question. His argument is that present concerns\u2014in 2015\u2014have played the most significant role in shaping how the respectability politics has been remembered. Drawing on the work of contemporary race theorists, however, Kennedy also explores how the origin of the civil rights movement cannot be completely obliterated.<\/p>\n

An effective research paper works much like Kennedy\u2019s article. It asks a significant question, draws on primary and secondary research, and then offers an answer to the original question. Finally, notice that Kennedy\u2019s answer is not something he is reporting. In other words, he has not found some other expert with a direct answer to his question. That is what an all-about researcher would do. Instead, he carried out research to come up with an answer that no one else had come up with before.<\/p>\n

Formulating a narrow, compelling research question is difficult, but here are several examples of how to transform a topic that fascinates you into a suitable question for research. Do not say, \u201cI am doing a research paper about the civil rights movement.\u201d Do say, \u201cHow has an author or piece of literature created, circulated, and used a particular mythology about civil rights to solidify a political position?\u201d Or try this approach: Instead of, say, thinking about doing a research paper about racial or regional factors, try asking why one factor (black radicalism, or views of Appalachian work, for instance) is so popular to discuss among people who have no connection to that place or factor. Or maybe ask: what role does race play in an event or the experience of a location? Instead of writing a report about race\/class\/gender\/region at Berea College, write a paper that asks how the one of those factors has transformed over a certain period. Read sources, analyze them, and propose an answer.<\/p>\n

Placing limits on your research question is vital. Limits lead to sharper questions. The last example above, for instance, transforms an all-about topic into a solid research question and limits the research question by movement (respectability politics) and place (urban\/local activism). It is much easier to write a compelling twelve-page research paper about the different images of racial masculinity in blues songs from the 1920s than it is to write about the gender dynamics of blues music as a whole. Even the former topic needs to be refined (It needs a driving research question, after all), but it is limited by time (e.g., the 1920s) and thematic focus (e.g., racial masculinity, not gender as a whole). The latter topic, on the other hand, is so flabby that it will find the writer resorting to gross generalities within a page or two.<\/p>\n

2. Asking \u201cSo, what?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

After you have settled on a preliminary research question, you need to take further steps to refine the question. Here are some of the most important questions to answer about your question. (Yes, you must question your question!) Writing responses to these questions is essential. You cannot simply think your answers through in your mind. You must write them out.<\/p>\n