Submission Requirements: Submit by the due date via the Assignment feature
(located on the toolbar) in Blackboard by attaching your memo.
Format and Length Requirements: Use standard memo format (single-space); Place
each heading flush with the left margin and bold it; 3-4 pages. You proposal must be at
least 3 complete pages in length, and the font should be set to 12 point Times New
Roman. Any proposal that fails to comply with the page requirements will receive a 0
on the assignment.
Submission Requirements: you will submit two documents: you will submit the
proposal assignment in one document. You will also need to submit all your sources in
a compressed file (zip). If you have difficulty compressing your files, you may submit
the individual sources one at a time. Any assignment that fails to satisfy the minimum
requirements of the assignment will receive a 0.
Research projects, reports, and papers generally begin with a proposal to do research.
The proposal serves several purposes:
• as a planning document for the writer
• as a decision making tool for the audience (instructor, employer, thesis
committee, book publisher, etc.) who decides if the project and its plan are
feasible and the resulting document (s) will make a significant contribution to the
company or field of study.
The audience of the proposal approves, approves with qualification, or rejects the
proposal.
In the Proposal Assignment for ENG 3430, you will present what you plan to write for
your research paper. You may choose the topic for your research paper, but you must
choose a topic that is of current interest within your field. Additionally, students who are
earning a degree within the School of Business are required to incorporate some aspect
of diversity into their paper topic.
The primary purpose of the proposal is to encourage you to begin your research early
and to analyze your purpose and audience. It also will let me know that you have been
working to narrow your topic to one that can be discussed in a five page research
paper. You will need to have completed some initial research on your topic to confirm
that you are able to find appropriate scholarly sources.
Although you will choose an appropriate audience for your research paper, I will be the
audience for the proposal. Once your proposal has been submitted and approved, you
may not change your paper topic.
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Use the headings below for your proposal. Follow the guidelines beneath each section
to help you decide what information to include under each section.
Begin the memo with a brief paragraph that explains your subject and purpose of
your research paper. Be concise but clear. Be sure that you have narrowed your
topic to one that is manageable in 3-4 pages. Your research paper will be written for
readers who want a well-documented, thorough discussion of a subject.
Background:
This section sets up the background of the problem, situation, or topic that you have
chosen to research. This section is important because here you give me any
background information on the subject I might need to understand your reason for
researching this topic. Here you explain why the topic is important, both in general and
within your field of study. You tell what the current thinking is, why it is a current topic of
discussion within your field, why your audience should be interested in your research,
and how they will use the information. You will probably come up with other information
that might be necessary for me to know. Also in this section, you begin to prove your
credibility as a researcher to me, so you must provide researched and documented
material in this section.
Consider answering some of the following questions as you prepare this section:
• Why is the topic important to your field of study?
• How long has it been a problem?
• What will happen if the problem/situation is not solved/dealt with?
• What do you expect the audience to do after reading your paper?
• What background information does the research paper audience need in order to
understand the information in your paper?
Ultimately, this section should present the background needed for me to see that the
paper has value or relevance to your discipline or profession.
Note: This section should consist of at least three well-developed paragraphs.
Audience:
Identify the primary audience for your paper. Your audience should be a professional
audience and will most likely be within your field. It cannot be a general audience. (For
example, teachers is too general and would not be approved. A more specific audience
might be UHV students in the field of education working toward elementary school
certification or elementary school teachers within Victoria Independent School District
who received certification within the last three years.)
Describe how much your audience already knows about your topic. Explain the major
priorities and concerns of this audience. Analyze their attitudes toward you and your
topic and explain how you will overcome any negative attitudes they may have.
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Describe their reason(s) for reading your paper and explain how you plan for them to
use the information in the paper.
Note: You do not need to identify each of the five audiences that the text
describes. Focus on the primary audience in your discussion.
Topics to Investigate:
Identify the main ideas or major topic areas of your paper. Then list the major questions
that you want your research paper to answer for your readers. Basically, you are
providing a rough outline for the body of your research paper.
Indicate how deeply you will discuss each topic. Explain the scope of your study: what
areas of the subject will you cover; what areas will you not cover and why you have
made those choices. Consider your audience’s needs as you work through this section.
Methods:
In this section, tell me how you plan to do the research in this section. Include specific
information about where you will research and what kinds of sources you will use
(journals, databases, Internet sources, etc.). You may use a variety of sources, but they
must all be scholarly. You must include a working bibliography listed in alphabetical
order of at least five (5) sources you have already read and plan to use in your research
paper, at least three (3) of these sources must be scholarly journal articles. You
also must include any sources you have cited in the background section of the proposal
in this bibliography. Please include a short (two to three sentences) annotation of each
source that describes its usefulness to your paper.
You may include one interview as a source, but you must include the interview
questions as an appendix to your proposal and to your research paper. The questions
should clearly indicate the kind of information you expect to learn from the interview. In
addition, you should include a discussion of the authority of the interview source. You
may include one Internet source but you must demonstrate its reliability and authority.
I will be checking the proposal to ensure that your sources are varied, scholarly, and
current (last 5 years for many disciplines).
Finally, use APA (all majors but history and English) or MLA (history and English
majors) format for your reference entries.
Qualifications:
Provide any background knowledge you have in this area, including personal reading
you’ve done, classroom work/study, and work, jobs, or other activities that demonstrate
your interest and ability level. Also, you may mention any previous research you’ve
done on this or a related topic and how you are personally affected by this topic.
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Note: Do not use the list format in the text. Write a paragraph about your qualifications.
Work Schedule:
This section should begin with a short discussion of the work schedule you will use to
complete your research paper, highlighting any points of interest in the work schedule.
Next, list the major tasks needed to complete this project and the corresponding dates.
You don’t need to estimate hours. Do not underestimate the importance of this section.
This section is where you show me your plan for completing the project in a timely
manner.
Request for Approval
Here you ask for my permission and for suggestions. The request for approval is
usually formulaic. Use or adapt the following sentence:
I ask that you approve my topic and my approach to it.
