On Writing a Paper Prospectus KEBishop Spring 2010 Harvard University Overview A paper prosp ectus has three functions: 1) to get y ou started thinking about your pap er early on; 2) to give you the chance to organize your ideas; and 3) to motivate you to articulate your ideas in a coherent and formal fashion on the page. Format A good way to organize a pros pectus is like this: 1. In the first paragraph, you should introdu ce the topic to your reader and then present your thesis statement (it can just be a working thesis at this point); 2. In the second paragraph, you should briefly outline the significance of your project, explain what you hope to find, and list four or five of the central inquiries of your pape r. The central inquiries of your project are different from your thes is statement. Your thesis statemen t is the claim that you are making and that you will prove; the central inquiries are the main questions that led you to develop this projec t in the first place. They are questions tha t you will address tangentially in yo ur paper or that underpin the projec t itself. You can also think of this part as situating yo ur project or contextualizin g it. 3. In the third paragraph, you will briefly introduce the main primary and secondary sources that you will draw from in the project and explain wh y they are important. It helps to cluster books or articles together here, as you w ill not have a lot of space. This part may feel a little uncomfortable to write as you may not have read all of the documents that you are including as sources. This is okay; you just have to have skimmed them or read some of them to be able t o determine if they will be useful to you. The whole prospectus should be not longer than one-page. You may single or double-space your work as you need, but should present it in a single page. On the back side of the same page, you should include a preliminary bibliography of your primary (those of which you will perform close readings, i.e.) and secondary (often theoretical or critical works) sources. To Keep In Mind A prospectus is essentially a w ork of fiction. You are prosp ecting, much like th ose who onc e panned for gold. The goal here is to be able to conceive o f, organize, articulate, and prese nt a viable project . Your project has to be feasible in s cope and rational in arg ument. Your presentation of it should be concise, clear, and easily accessible to your audience. This is a strang e genre to write, to be s ure. So it may feel a un comfortable at first. But you will find the prospectus ve ry helpful when you begin to actu ally write your paper. It will serve as an overview, a ballast, and tangible proof that you have a realizable idea in mind. Good luck!

Writing a Prospectus

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On Writing a Paper ProspectusKEBishopSpring 2010Harvard University

Overview A paper prospectus has three functions: 1) to get you started thinking about your paper early on; 2)to give you the chance to organize your ideas; and 3) to motivate you to articulate your ideas in acoherent and formal fashion on the page.

Format A good way to organize a prospectus is like this:1. In the first paragraph, you should introduce the topic to your reader and then present your thesisstatement (it can just be a working thesis at this point);2. In the second paragraph, you should briefly outline the significance of your project, explain whatyou hope to find, and list four or five of the central inquiries of your paper. The central inquiries ofyour project are different from your thesis statement. Your thesis statement is the claim that youare making and that you will prove; the central inquiries are the main questions that led you todevelop this project in the first place. They are questions that you will address tangentially in yourpaper or that underpin the project itself. You can also think of this part as situating your project orcontextualizing it.3. In the third paragraph, you will briefly introduce the main primary and secondary sources thatyou will draw from in the project and explain why they are important. It helps to cluster books orarticles together here, as you will not have a lot of space. This part may feel a little uncomfortableto write as you may not have read all of the documents that you are including as sources. This isokay; you just have to have skimmed them or read some of them to be able to determine if they willbe useful to you.The whole prospectus should be not longer than one-page. You may single or double-space yourwork as you need, but should present it in a single page.On the back side of the same page, you should include a preliminary bibliography of your primary(those of which you will perform close readings, i.e.) and secondary (often theoretical or criticalworks) sources.

To Keep In Mind A prospectus is essentially a work of fiction. You are prospecting, much like those who oncepanned for gold. The goal here is to be able to conceive of, organize, articulate, and present aviable project. Your project has to be feasible in scope and rational in argument. Yourpresentation of it should be concise, clear, and easily accessible to your audience.This is a strange genre to write, to be sure. So it may feel a uncomfortable at first. But you will findthe prospectus very helpful when you begin to actually write your paper. It will serve as anoverview, a ballast, and tangible proof that you have a realizable idea in mind.

Good luck!