Engl 106-I Spring 2020 PROPOSAL ASSIGNMENT Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to build a foundation for the other essays you will write for this class—the Synthesis Paper, and the Argumentative Essay. You can build this foundation by recounting everything you know about the topic you have chosen at the beginning of the research process, including the significance of the topic, your personal involvement with it, and how you learned what you know so far. You will then address some of the gaps in your current knowledge, what you hope to learn through your project, and how you plan to address the gaps in your knowledge. Topics: This essay sequence will culminate in your Argumentative Essay. Thus, it is imperative that you choose a topic that is sustainable through three essays. Your topic should focus on an issue that has sparked ongoing conversation across a state, nation, or the world(ex: the rising costs of prescription drugs; toxic fandoms; the difficulties faced by undocumented immigrants in the U.S.; investing in alternative energy technologies; proposed solutions to cleaning the world’s oceans; etc.). The goal for the argumentative essay is to provide a new and developing angle on a topic that is being debated. Thus, you must choose a topic that will allow you to take a stand and argue your viewpoint, not a topic that is solely research based. For example, global warming or obesity are topics that would lead to a “C” papers, as we already know the main contributing factors and dangers involved in each. A better version of such topics would be to research the developing field of green architecture, or how obesity affects mental cognition. Strong research questions are vital. You should also argue for why your topic is interesting, important, or timely (kairos). Avoid “data dumps” or arguments; you are not yet required to perform research, you are merely outlining your research plan. Do not attempt to answer your research questions in this paper—rather tell us what you hope to learn about your topic during the semester and how you will go about answering your research questions. Format Your Proposal should be in the form of a Word document. Your document should be double-spaced, have a one-inch margin on all sides, and be done in a 12-point font. Course Outcomes 1. Demonstrate rhetorical awareness of diverse audiences, situations, and contexts 2. Compose a variety of texts in a range of forms 3. Critically think about writing and rhetoric through reading, analysis, and reflection 4. Perform research and evaluate sources to support claims Contents In your Proposal, which should run about 1000-1250 words, you will need to: · Develop a title · Introduce and delineate the topic you will be writing about (including any necessary context) · .

1. Engl 106-I
Spring 2020 PROPOSAL ASSIGNMENT
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to build a foundation for the
other essays you will write for this class—the Synthesis Paper,
and the Argumentative Essay. You can build this foundation by
recounting everything you know about the topic you have
chosen at the beginning of the research process, including the
significance of the topic, your personal involvement with it, and
how you learned what you know so far. You will then address
some of the gaps in your current knowledge, what you hope to
learn through your project, and how you plan to address the
gaps in your knowledge.
Topics: This essay sequence will culminate in your
Argumentative Essay. Thus, it is imperative that you choose a
topic that is sustainable through three essays. Your topic should
focus on an issue that has sparked ongoing conversation across
a state, nation, or the world(ex: the rising costs of prescription
drugs; toxic fandoms; the difficulties faced by undocumented
immigrants in the U.S.; investing in alternative energy
technologies; proposed solutions to cleaning the world’s oceans;
etc.). The goal for the argumentative essay is to provide a new
and developing angle on a topic that is being debated. Thus, you
must choose a topic that will allow you to take a stand and
argue your viewpoint, not a topic that is solely research based.
For example, global warming or obesity are topics that would
lead to a “C” papers, as we already know the main contributing
factors and dangers involved in each. A better version of such
topics would be to research the developing field of green
architecture, or how obesity affects mental cognition.
Strong research questions are vital. You should also argue for

2. why your topic is interesting, important, or timely (kairos).
Avoid “data dumps” or arguments; you are not yet required to
perform research, you are merely outlining your research plan.
Do not attempt to answer your research questions in this
paper—rather tell us what you hope to learn about your topic
during the semester and how you will go about answering your
research questions.
Format
Your Proposal should be in the form of a Word document. Your
document should be double-spaced, have a one-inch margin on
all sides, and be done in a 12-point font.
Course Outcomes
1. Demonstrate rhetorical awareness of diverse audiences,
situations, and contexts
2. Compose a variety of texts in a range of forms
3. Critically think about writing and rhetoric through reading,
analysis, and reflection
4. Perform research and evaluate sources to support claims
Contents
In your Proposal, which should run about 1000-1250 words, you
will need to:
· Develop a title
· Introduce and delineate the topic you will be writing about
(including any necessary context)
· Explain why you believe your topic is interesting and
important (stakes and exigence)
· Describe your personal experience related to your topic, if
applicable; or explain why the topic interests you
· Develop and state questions addressing what you would like
to find out about your topic (your research questions)
Note: It is not necessary to address these issues in this order;
for example, you might want to begin your proposal with a

3. narrative about your experience with the topic. Just make sure
you fully answer each of the bullet points.
Suggestions for Drafting Your Proposal
· Give yourself at least two to three uninterrupted hours to
develop your draft
· Start by making some notes regarding what you would like to
include in each section
· Draft each section separately before trying to tie them together
· Give your draft a title after you have completed it
Audience
· Your audience for this paper, as well as for all the papers to
follow, will be the members of this class. As such, you will
need to consider and provide any context necessary for
understanding your topic.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND PLAGIARISM: Academic
integrity is one of the highest values that Purdue University
holds. Individuals are encouraged to alert university officials to
potential breeches of this value by either emailing
[email protected] or by calling 765-494-8778. While
information may be submitted anonymously, the more
information that is submitted provides the greatest opportunity
for the university to investigate the concern.
When writers use material from other sources, they must
acknowledge this source. Not doing so is called plagiarism,
which means using without credit the ideas or expression of
another. You are therefore cautioned (1) against using, word for
word, without acknowledgment, phrases, sentences, paragraphs,
etc. from the printed or manuscript material of others; (2)
against using with only slight changes the materials of another;
(3) against using the general plan, the main headings, or a
rewritten form of someone else's material. These cautions apply
to the work of other students as well as to the published work of

4. professional writers. Penalties for plagiarism vary from failure
of the plagiarized assignment to expulsion from the university,
and may include failure for the course and notification of the
Dean of Students' Office.
You should become familiar with the following websites related
to Purdue’s rules and regulations. Purdue University’s Student
Conduct Code at
www.purdue.edu/studentregulations/student_conduct/index.html
Purdue University’s student regulations at
www.purdue.edu/studentregulations/student_conduct/regulation
s.html The section on plagiarism is under Student Conduct, B,
2, a.
If you still have questions about what is and is not plagiarism,
do not hesitate to ask me in class, in my office, or via e-
mail.Grading Guide
· Content (30 points): quantity, quality and interest of the
material (relevance, creativity, appropriateness, originality,
etc.)
· Organization (20 points): paragraph development, introduction
and conclusion, development within the body of the essay, etc.
· Vocabulary (20 points): quality, accuracy, and range of word
choices
· Grammar (20 points): correctness of the grammar (sentence
level: verb tense, subject verb agreement, etc.)
· Conventions (10 points): punctuation, overall look, delivery,
& professionalism of the paper (layout, fonts, etc.)
A – Essay meets and exceeds expectations: the proposal
demonstrates original thought and a clear understanding of the
stakes and exigence of the issue; includes explicit discussion of
the student’s interest in the topic, what the student hopes to
learn, including his/her research plan, and clearly his/her

5. identifies research question(s). The proposal is properly
formatted in MLA style, proofread and relatively free of errors,
and meets the word requirement.
B – Essay meets nearly all expectations: the proposal
demonstrates original thought and a clear understanding of the
issue; can more clearly establish the stakes and exigence of the
issue; or can include a more explicit discussion of the student’s
interest in the topic, what the student hopes to learn, his/her
research plan, or his/her research question(s). The proposal is
properly formatted in MLA style, proofread and relatively free
of errors, and meets the word requirement.
C – Essay meets most of the expectations: the proposal shows
some degree of original student thought in consideration of the
sources available, but ultimately may not address the stakes and
exigence of the issue. May not include one or two of the
following criteria: discussion of the student’s interest in the
topic, what the student hopes to learn, his/her research plan, or
his/her research question(s). The proposal is formatted in MLA
style, but may have numerous typos, suggesting a failure to
proofread, and may be short of the word requirement.
D – Essay barely meets expectations: the proposal fails to
establish original student thought; and may not consider the
stakes and exigence of the issue. The proposal is missing at
least two of the following criteria: discussion of the student’s
interest in the topic, his/her research plan, or his/her research
question(s). The proposal has considerable typos, errors, and/or
incoherent sentences that impact clarity and suggest a failure to
proofread; does not meet the word requirement.
F – Essay does not meet expectations: does not present original
student thought or consideration of the stakes and exigence of
the issue OR include a research plan.
* Grades additionally include plus or minus scores (ex: A-, B+,
et cetera demonstrating degree to which students met or did not
meet expectations/requirements described in each respective
grading bracket).

6. 3
My research question is the following:
Stop, question and frisk negatively impacts the relationships
between the police and the public.
PAPER: This paper should contain your research
question/hypothesis, an abstract, an introduction/problem
statement and a literature review. DUE WEEK 7. The paper will
be NO SHORTER than 3 pages but NO MORE than 5 pages long
(not including cover page and reference page). I will ask you to
come up with a research problem and design. You will be
expected to explain the process involved in this task. The idea
is that by the time you get to this assignment, you will have an
understanding of the concepts involved and an ability to
articulate them in writing.
My requests:
The teacher wants scholarly research using ProQuest journals or
other journals
Please site everything in APA format.
Below is the full instruction made by the teacher
DUE WEEK 7. The paper will be NO SHORTER than 3 pages
but NO MORE than 5 pages long (not including cover page and
reference page). I will ask you to come up with a research
problem and design. You will be expected to explain the process
involved in this task. The idea is that by the time you get to this
assignment, you will have an understanding of the concepts
involved and an ability to articulate them in writing. This paper
should contain your research question/hypothesis, an abstract,
an introduction/problem statement and a literature review. Your
Research Question/Hypothesis: Your specific research
question(s) or hypotheses should be stated in your introductory
paragraph and in your abstract. Abstract: Your proposal will
begin with an abstract of your proposed study (one paragraph).
This is basically a summary of your proposal and it includes

7. your research question. Introduction/problem statement (1-2
paragraphs): After the abstract, research proposals generally
begin with an introductory section that describes the research
problem and establishes its significance. This section answers
the following kinds of questions: What exactly do you want to
study? Why is it worth studying? Does the proposed study have
theoretical and/or practical significance? Does it contribute to a
new understanding of a phenomenon (e.g., does it address new
or little-known material or does it treat familiar material in a
new way or does it challenge an existing understanding or
extend existing knowledge)? Literature Review (2-3 pages):
This section is a review of the literature on your topic. It is
basically a term/research paper on your topic and tells the
reader information that has already been discovered regarding
your topic. The research problem or objective needs to be
situated within a context of other scholarship in the area(s). The
literature review presents a discussion of the most important
research and theoretical work relating to the research
problem/objective. It addresses the following kinds of
questions: What have others said about this area(s)? What
theories address it and what do these say? What research has
been done (or not done) previously? Are there consistent
findings or do past studies disagree? Are there flaws or gaps in
the previous research that your study will seek to remedy?
Three sources are required. 7 All 3 sources must be from an
academic journal, not books, newspaper articles or magazine
articles. You may use these as additional sources beyond the
required 3 journal articles. This section requires in-text
citations in APA format. You must document your sources using
the social sciences standard citation method, APA. This method
is actually simpler than MLA. For example, to cite a textbook
after you talk about a theory, you need only put the author’s last
name and year of publication: His lack of self-control suggests
Latent Trait (Siegel, 2008). Then in your References
(bibliography), you write: Siegel, L. (2008). Criminology: the
core. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. To find out the rules

8. for APA style, please refer to the Berkeley Libguide at:
http://berkeleycollege.libguides.com/content.php?pid=197278&
sid=1650985. You can also look at the APA guide from the
library at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/apastyle2010.pdf . You
can also look at the OWL Purdue Writing
Lab:http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ Also,
some databases, such as Proquest, will automatically put its
listed sources in APA format for you. You can also use citation
assistants online or in Microsoft Word. Lastly, you can always
go to the ASC for assistance in writing, paraphrasing, and
referencing. Include only those articles that support the logic of
the argument and/or the proposed research methods. For
instance, if you are interested in studying juvenile delinquency;
the literature review would include studies on that topic, not
domestic violence. Discuss recent developments and potential
avenues for new research. Review the discussion and conclusion
sections of most scholarly articles – the authors will identify
ways to improve and/or expand research of a particular issue.
Using the information is a good way to come up with unique
research ideas. Finally, your independent variable and
dependent variable should be the framework to use in
developing the literature review. Remember that your
hypothesis will seek to test the relationship between the two
core variables, so knowing what the literature says about those
two variables will become critical.