This page begins your research proposal and outline. Before you start typing, fix your format. The font should be 12. If you’re using MS Word 2007, go to Paragraph above; the alignment for all text should be left. Also in Paragraph, go to Line Spacing and click on “double,” and spacing before and after should be 0 pt. In Page Layout, check that the margins are “Normal,” which is 1 inch all around. Then start with the research proposal and review information from Week 4 Lecture. Put the following information here

 

Topic Put your topic here; it should have no more than 12 words and is the same as your position paper’s topic.

 

Research question Put your one-sentence question here. The question repeats the topic and identifies the objective or your paper.

 

Working thesis statement Put your one-sentence thesis statement here. It is a sentence containing the problem first, followed by the solution.

 

Research plan Put the overview of where you plan to conduct your research; name some sites of databases you plan to use. Also, fill in the chart below with the dates for completion.

 

Timetable for Research Project Assignments
Assignment related to the research paper	Description of and points for the assignment	Due date as indicated in course syllabus	Exact Date and time in MST
Research Proposal and Outline	Four part proposal and six part outline (60 pts).	Week 4 in Dropbox
Annotated Bibliography	List and summary of at least three sources (100 pts).	Week 5 in Dropbox
First Draft of Research Paper	Draft of first three sections of final paper, including introduction, thesis statement, and problem section (60 pts).	Week 6 in Dropbox
Second Draft of Research Paper	Draft of final three sections of final paper, including solution and call to action sections	Week Discussion topic 2
Research Paper Presentation	The format presentation of the entire paper (50 pts).	Week 7 in Dropbox
Final Research Paper	Entire paper addressing feedback on first two drafts. It must have all six sections and include a References page (150 pts).	Week 8 in Dropbox

 

 

 

            Next is the research outline. As indicated in the Lecture for Week 4, write down the sentences preceded by the Roman numeral that corresponds to the section.

 

I. Put your introduction or plan for introduction here. Then write down your working thesis statement, the same one from the research proposal above. Here is a sample For the introduction, I plan to find a startling story of a high school honors student who had trouble graduating because he or she failed the state’s standardized tests. Then my working thesis statement is the following  Standardized achievement tests should be abolished because they don’t accurately predict students’ performance and reduce schools to test-taking institutions; instead, schools could assess student learning more accurately though the use of portfolios and end-of-year subject tests.

 

II. Put the first reason from the problem part of your thesis statement and make it a complete sentence here. Here is a sample II. First, standardized tests should be cut since they don’t accurately predict a student’s future performance.

 

III. Put the second reason from the problem part of your thesis statement and make it a complete sentence here. Here is a sample III. Secondly, these tests should be abolished because they reduce schools to institutions for test takers.

 

IV. Put the first reason from the solution part of your thesis statement and make it a complete sentence here. Here is a sample IV. One solution is that schools could assess student learning better by using portfolios.

 

V. Put the second reason from the solution part of your thesis statement and make it a complete sentence here. Here is a sample V, Also, end-of-year subject tests assess student learning more accurately.

 

VI. Put your call to action sentence here. Here is a sample VI. If we don’t act fast to replace standardized achievement tests, more and more students will fall through the cracks and drop out of school.

 

Before you turn in the paper, go to Review above and click on “Spelling & Grammar.” Not every error will be flagged, and some that are flagged as errors are actually correct. So this spell checker is not foolproof. Also, check your word count at the bottom left corner of this page. If you have fewer than 250 words, it’s a red flag that not enough information exists. If you go above the suggested word count, that’s OK—as long as you’re concise, not repeating yourself, and including only relevant information. Then SAVE AS . . your last name.first.research.proposal.outline.doc. Put in the Dropbox as an attachment so that if done correctly, a paper icon appears next to the assignment. Be sure when it’s graded to read the comments so that you can improve for your next paper!