In the first several weeks of “English 101: Becoming Experts” (syllabus), students wrote a series of low-stakes pieces of writing that led them to a research question and a related method of solving it. The assignment below asked students to form this into a research proposal, to “pitch” the professor on the project in a one-on-one conference, and to revise the proposal, in response to the professor’s suggestions.
Step 5a: Proposal
Part I:
Begin a new letter. In your first paragraph, introduce to me an objective, unique question that you would like to answer by next Thursday (October 11th). If the question from 4b still interests you, use that. End the paragraph by stating the question itself.
Begin a second paragraph by stating the method that you would like to pursue to answer this question. This should be original and lead you to an answer by Thursday (10/11). Next, find one piece of preliminary evidence using this method and explain it in this paragraph. End the paragraph by stating the tentative answer to your question that this evidence suggests.
Finally, return to the beginning of your first paragraph. There, insert one sentence summarizing your proposed research project. (An example format is method, followed by question being answered: “I propose to scale the Empire State building with a measuring tape in order to determine the building’s height.”) Your entire proposal should be 300 words, a standard length. When you have finished, submit your proposal to Blackboard.
Part II:
Print out a copy of this proposal and rehearse it. On Friday (October 5th), you will arrive to your appointment 10 minutes early, hand me the printed copy when your appointment begins, and have five minutes to convince me that this is a viable project. Bring a notebook. I will assign your specific homework at the end of our conference.
Teaching Writing at John Jay College 