The final part of your research trail assignment is writing a proposal on your chosen topic. Historians use proposals as a method of developing and formulating ideas for writing research essays, books, theses, and dissertations.
Due Date: April 8th at midnight on Moodle
Please double-space your submission.
Total length: 8-10 pages including bibliography.
The goal of a proposal is to present the main questions and evidence that will guide your essay. You must write this part of your assignment as a formal proposal, using paragraphs and footnotes/endnotes. You should use sub-headings for each section (see below). Remember, however, that this is a PROPOSAL, not a research essay. You are proposing (positing, suggesting, putting forward) the ideas and questions that your research essay MIGHT cover, based on the evidence you have gathered so far. Your proposal should not be DEFINITIVE. It should not provide all of the answers to your research question(s). Rather it should indicate your current thoughts on a topic and the direction you think your research will take.
What your proposal should include
Your proposal should have the following sections. The questions are a guide and what you discuss in each section should answer them. Please use subtitles as indicated below.
Your proposal should also include a title related to your topic.
Introduction: Main research question and any subsidiary or related questions. One to two paragraphs discussing what your topic is about and why you are interested in it. This should include a discussion of the context of your topic: time period? place? persons involved and their background?
Secondary Sources (Historiography): approximately 2-3 pages. Historians refer to this section of a proposal as the historiography or scholarly context of a topic. Essentially your goal is to survey what other scholars have written about your topic. You will do this section using the three secondary sources you found for part two of the Research trail (NOTE: If the path of your project has changed, you can find new secondary sources for your topic but make sure to discuss them with me). Discuss how your proposed project is related to or fits into or challenges these secondary sources.
You should discuss:
- Summarize the main arguments of each secondary source (a total of three).
- Compare the sources to each other.
- Pose any questions you have about these articles. How might they help answer your research question?
Primary Sources: approximately 2 pages
Describe your primary sources. Provide contextual information about them (who was the author if known? Background? When written? Where written? Agenda of source? What are they about?). Discuss how these primary sources might help you answer your research question. Pose questions you have about your primary sources that are related to your research question.
NOTE: If the focus of your topic has changed since choosing primary sources in Part One, you are free to change them. But check in with me so I can make sure they are appropriate.
Conclusion: Approximately 1 page
In the final section of your proposal, discuss what the central points of your research essay might look like, if you were to write one. Would you organize your paper thematically or chronologically? What might your potential thesis statement or main argument look like.
Bibliography
Provide a list of all your primary and secondary sources–separated into different sections–formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style.
Self-Assessment
Please make sure to complete and submit this self-assessment with your assignment. Note I am unable to mark your assignment WITHOUT the completed self-assessment.
You can download or copy the google doc (to download: File>Download; to copy: File>Make a copy).