Lecture topic: Research Proposal

Before writing your research proposal it is a good idea to review the prompt for your upcoming Annotated Bibliography Project. Keep in mind that whatever topic you choose for your Annotated Bibliography is the topic you will be writing about for the remainder of the semester. In a sense, you must look ahead to the Argumentative Research Paper, which is the final essay of the semester. It is worth 20% of your final course grade, and it is an argumentative essay about the topic proposed in your research proposal. Choose a topic/issue over which much has been written, figure out what you will argue in the Argumentative Research Paper, and let that be your guideline for whether or not you are choosing a good research topic.

As to how you might proceed with regard to choosing a topic, you could consider your major. If you are, for example, majoring in agriculture you could choose to write something related to that. Sometimes it is helpful to read the newspaper, or search news sites on the Internet to come up with topical issues. They might turn into an idea for an issue you could write about. Overall, the main thing to keep in mind is the argumentative essay at the end of the semester. Choose a topic now that you will be able to write an argumentative essay about later.