For your second assessment, you will start the research project that will carry

For your second assessment, you will start the research project that will carry through the remainder of the assessments for English 102. The main objective of the research project is to interrogate a concept, issue, or problem with the ultimate intention of making a strong, evidence-based argument about that topic. For this project, you may choose any subject that interests you as you explore a specific research question about that subject and develop a hypothesis in response to the question. It is important that you choose an issue that has some significance, is important to you and to others, and does not have an easy answer.
Context
A research proposal is a short, yet formal essay that identifies and outlines the main components of your research on the context, conversation, and potential evidence of your developing argument.
Writing Purpose
The purpose of this proposal is to help you identify a specific issue, explore the perspectives of those invested in and discussing that issue, determine whether or not you can find sufficient research data to develop an argument about the issue, and begin to organize your research strategy for that argument. The goal is to get your proposal approved so you can move forward with the choice of project you have identified.
Conventions
To develop an effective research proposal, follow the guidance in Chapter 7 (page 113) of The Bedford Researcher, which includes a sample student proposal. Proposals have different sections, each addressing a different component of the research subject and method for completing the project. For the purposes of this proposal, include the following sections in your paper:
Introduction
Provide an overview of your topic by explaining what the topic is, why it’s worth researching (to you and others), how it’s controversial (the issue), and the general conversation around the topic (what you would guess are the different sides of the issue). This will also include your tentative position right now and how that position contributes to that conversation, as well as an initial understanding of your rhetorical situation – who you are writing for (audience) and why you are writing (purpose).
Research Question
Identify the research question that will drive your research project.
Review of Literature
Refer to specific perspectives people have on your selected issue that are drawn from the preliminary research that you’ve done so far. Here you cover the specific sources you’re starting from in your research project that will also appear in the working bibliography. This section is important because it provides specific voices in the conversation you’re entering and shows that you’ve evaluated those sources as potentially relevant and credible to your project.
Note: You do not need to use all of the sources you located with the Preliminary Research Activity. Instead, just pick 2–3 of those to get you started here.
Research Plan
Describe how you will identify and acquire relevant information to respond to the conversation and develop your planned argument. You need to be specific about the kinds of information your want to hunt down and whether that information is from credible sources. Don’t focus on the number of print to electronic sources you plan to find; focus on the content and credibility of the sources. Follow the advice and the sample student proposal in The Bedford Researcher for more on this.
Project Timeline and Key Challenges
Follow the guidelines in our textbook for these sections, but note that your timeline is already dictated by the course calendar. Look that over and sum up the project trajectory so you’re aware of all the benchmarks you need to meet.
Working Bibliography/Research Journal
Provide a list of the relevant, credible sources you have acquired so far (the ones that should have been mentioned in the lit review). Again, look to The Bedford Researcher for help with your citations for the articles you write notes on for your Research Journal, which you will be adding to throughout the research process.
Note: If you discover later that some or all of these sources are not relevant to your evolving focus of the paper, it is okay to abandon them and find replacements that are better suited to your focus. You don’t have to stick with them just because they were mentioned in your proposal.)