Posted: February 9th, 2015

Proposal

Your Topic Proposal should have the following information, in this order, numbered on your paper:
1. What is your general topic? This is the general topic, not the thesis. It’s probably what you had in the circle in your mapping. This should be one short sentence.
2. What is your thesis? (Your thesis must be arguable, clear, qualified (focused), and in the form of a statement) It should be obvious from your good, solid thesis that you worked through the entire webbing (general topic ? focus ? question(s) ? answers ? statement ? thesis) process. This should have been revised and solidified after your peer critique. Look at that peer critique sheet for more guidance on what makes a good thesis statement. This should only be one sentence
3. How do you plan on supporting this thesis? This question doesn’t really focus on the sources you will use, but it is a question of the techniques, types of paragraphs, style you plan on employing. It’s like an analysis of structure of your essay (i.e. explain the problem, address concerns, give solutions, rebuttal of other side/other solutions). You can briefly outline your paper here, if you’d like.
4. What sources/references do you plan on using and how will they benefit your essay? Discuss the types of sources you will be using in your essay (even if you haven’t found the actual sources yet). Then give some of the specific sources you have found so far. You don’t have to have read all of them yet, and you won’t be stuck to these, but try to have at least 5 good sources ready by the time you turn in the proposal. Such an approach attempts to ensure that you don’t go about getting sources at the last minute. It also ensures that you steer clear of topics of which you cannot find adequate resources.
5. What’s the whole point of this topic? What motivated you to pursue this topic? So what? Why do you care about this topic? Why should your readers? (Don’t be fooled by how short this question is – it’s of vital importance!)

Topic Proposal Rubric
25 points – Topic Proposal
10 points – Thesis Critique Peer Critique Form (2 critiques)
10 points – Entire Webbing to Thesis process
(general topic ? focus ? question(s) ? answers ? statement ? thesis)
45 Total Points