So You Want to Research

Handout for MA 4

Proposal

• Identifying the problem• Understand the issue• Cause and effect relationship• Develop strategies/solutions• Call for actions/changes

Questions

• Background• Problems?• Your take?• Visions?

John Swales – The 4 Rhetorical Moves

• Establishment of the topic• Brief literature review to situate your

contribution or to establish a theoretical framework

• Statement of the gap/problem • Your solution/suggestions

Content of your proposal: 1. Topic

• Establish your topic• Narrow your topic• Find your angle

2. Problem

• Problem or problems?• Major & minor causes of the problem• What’s the world doing about the prob now?• Analyze their effectiveness

3. Researching

• Your contribution; the niche/gap• Gathering information from multiple sources

4. Planning to solve the problem

• You probably don’t have the solution• But you can have a plan• Explore your steps• What are the costs and benefits of your plan?

Getting to know your field

• Compare others’ work• What has been done, what haven’t, what’s in

progress?

The Proposal

• Introduction• Description of the problem & contingencies• Describe your plan• Conclusion

In your group, write a proposal of marriage (or a romantic date) with someone using all the features of a formal proposal.

Concept Mapping

• In your group, figure out some problems that you observe around higher education.

• Pick one that seems most interesting to your group, and:– Specify the problem– Identify the cause and effects– Think about possible resolutions– What can you do about it

Individual Proposal Activity

• Using the same problem you have identified, write a proposal for a researched essay to tackle the issue.

Proposal for Final Paper

• Due Apr. 9 – Tuesday• 400-500 words• Typed/Word-processed• Title• Resource list