Proposals
October 1, 2009 — Lee QuinbyHi everyone, I will working through your proposal drafts over the next few days, so keep an eye out for comments.
In the meantime, just to reiterate some of what was said yesterday, here is a formula that will help you get your proposal going, either by using this kind of wording or following its logic. You might write your opening sentence with something like the following: I propose to examine ________ because I want to understand __________. My working hypothesis is that (your claim). And then give your reasons for why you think this is the case at this point. After that you should go on to acknowledge what others have argued in contrast to your claim, indicate your method of research within your field (and what counts as evidence) and indicate the relevance of this project (why it is warranted). You might also suggest a wider relevance that would be beyond the scope of your research project, but useful for future research. Again, as I said yesterday, these steps don’t have to be in this exact order but a proposal should address all of them.
