Research Project Proposal
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One-to-two paragraphs in complete sentences that describe the who, what, when, and/or where of your topic of interest. More specifically, you should say what aspect of marriage/relationships/family in what historical time/place you plan to research.
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The summary is to be objectively written, a neutral description — no first-person references and no opinions by you.
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Include a proposed question or questions that will focus your research.
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One way to think about this is to consider what keywords you expect to search on to find relevant information. Given the theme of this class, that is likely to include some combination of (1) the relevant marriage-related aspect, (2) a time period, and (3) a place, culture, religion, ethnicity, etc.
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Try to choose a topic substantive enough to require multiple research sources and about 6 pages of your final 10-page essay to communicate, but not so extensive that you can’t manage it in that space or in the time you have this semester. You want to aim for depth not breadth.
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Avoid topics so current that little has been published and all of it very recently. This is why I’m steering you toward research that is historical and/or cultural. It takes a while for scholarly books and articles to cover a topic well.
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By the same token, don’t pose topics that are so simple that a quick online search would give you the answer in a sentence or two.
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Don’t pose research questions you can’t answer, even with research. In particular, don’t pose questions that require knowing how individuals feel. Don’t pose questions that ask about the future — you can’t research the future, though you may have your own well-informed predictions by the time you get to the conclusion of your whole paper.
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You may want to do some quick research — even a Google search or a look at Wikipedia — to see whether your topic is plausible. Note, however, that Wikipedia is NOT a legit research source for your final essay.
SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT
