Research Proposal and Preliminary Bibliography

Research Proposal and Preliminary Bibliography

Part 1: Research Proposal

Address the following in your proposal:

1. What topic/question do you plan to research? Why? What sparks your interest in this issue? And why does this issue matter to others beyond yourself?
2. Who are the various stakeholders when it comes to this issue? Then, who is your intended audience? What specific group of individuals has the power to make a change when it comes to this issue?
3. How have you narrowed this topic/question to make it more manageable? How could you keep narrowing it if needed?
4. What makes your topic/question debatable? What are 3-5 open-ended questions within this topic?
5. Based on your preliminary bibliography, how researchable does this question seem? Have you found a wealth of diverse sources and opinions? How credible and reliable do your sources seem? How easy or difficult was it to find peer-reviewed/scholarly sources? Which sources are most promising? Why?

NOTE: This assignment is not a full research essay. For now, you are writing a few paragraphs defending your research topic, why it matters, what its central questions are, etc.

Part 2: Annotated Bibliography

Address the following for the annotated bibliography:

– APA formatting for the citations
– Citations/sources listed in alphabetical order
– Note how each source will help you explore your topic more fully.
– All sources should be print books, eBooks, articles (print or web) from local, regional, and national/international newspapers and magazines. No general websites, .com websites, wiki sites, personal blogs, etc.
– At least 2 of your sources need to be peer-reviewed/scholarly journal articles.

All sources should be from the last five years (approx.) to avoid out-of-date information.

Your goal is to find a wide variety of perspectives on your topic. You should search the internet for the various sources listed below.

– 1 book (You may skim the book, finding the most important ideas presented.)
– 1 popular press article (A popular press article is one that is printed in a periodical intended for a general audience, such as Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic)
– 1 or more international news sources (BBC, Al Jazeera, Univision, Sohu News
– 2 scholarly articles (A scholarly article is one that is printed in a journal intended for a specific, expert audience; one of these articles should come from a peer-reviewed journal.)
– 1 web source
– 1 non-traditional source (consider podcasts, films, TedTalks, etc.)

Required elements to turn in with submission:

For Part 1 of the proposal, use the APA7 Template. Draft this in APA format, developing the questions asked under Part 1: Research Proposal, above.

For Part 2 of the proposal, use the Sample Annotated Bibliography to create your own Annotated Bibliography.

To submit the assignment, combine the two documents into one:

delete the title page from Part 2 annotated bibliography

delete the References page from the Part 1 research proposal

copy/paste Part 2 at the end of Part 1

You should have one title page and no References page–the annotated bibliography takes the place of References for this assignment.