Tutorama: Week Seven: The Goals of Your Proposal

Proposals are always tentative. Students sometimes fear that they need to articulate a complete vision of their research papers when they write their proposals. But they can't, and any effort to do so won't result in successful proposals because the students have not yet done sufficient reading, thinking, or writing to know what their arguments will be. Research takes time, and the proposal is only the first important step in the process.

Some proposals, however, clearly have more potential than others. The best proposals do not attempt to outline the final project; instead they are exploratory discussions of the possibilities opened by initial research. They demonstrate that you are fully engaged in the process of finding and reading relevant sources, and that you are thinking about your topic, the questions it raises, and the answers you may be able to develop.

Your instructor will define specific expectations for your proposal, but they often include a discussion of how you plan to define your case, and perhaps a review of the case material you have found so far. A proposal also often includes a discussion of connections suggested by the framing material you have already used in class and a few potential connections from your initial research.

As you write your proposal, keep in mind that your instructor will be looking for the following things:

• A consistent focus or topic, preferably one that is connected to a well-defined and narrow case. (Many, perhaps most, writers in 301 need to narrow their case before they write their first and second drafts.)

• A clear analytical or framing idea that is either derived from texts already used in class or defined in a way that suggests a direction for future research. The writer may not yet have located specific new texts to use, but the proposal should indicate a way of narrowing the research. Strong proposals may begin to make solid connections between the framing texts and the case.

• Indications of genuine interest and energy. The proposal is only the first step in a project that will last for the remainder of the semester. Student who do not demonstrate engagement with the topic may have trouble motivating themselves to get through the long process of researching, reading, writing, and rewriting.

If you have not begun to write your proposal, try the following free writing exercise:

1. Write for fifteen minutes about a question or issue that interests you. Try not to define your answer—only your research can help you do that. Instead, try to write a paragraph about your question: how it occurred to you, why you care about it, what other questions it might lead to. Then, put this paragraph aside.

2. Begin another paragraph on a fresh piece of paper or in a new document. In this paragraph, write about a concrete example that you might apply your questions to. For instance, if you're in a class about Internet Culture, and you're asking questions about the use of the web in the spread of alternative religions, pick a web site and begin to describe it. Don't stop until you have five to ten sentences that describe the site well.

3. Now, put the two paragraphs side by side. Look at the questions you've asked next to the example you've described. Now ask: what do you need to know to help answer your questions about your example? Then, ask what other examples you might want to talk about once you have more information. Now, write a paragraph about what you've considered.

4. Finally, put all three of your paragraphs together on one sheet of paper. Bring this paper to your instructor before your proposal is due. Ask to meet with your instructor during office hours or some other mutually convenient time to discuss a revision strategy. Make sure you go to that appointment.