ELI100
Tremblay
(Adapted from Shawn Ford and Yasuko Ito’s guidelines for writing a research paper proposal.)
Research Paper Proposal
Guidelines
Before you write a research paper proposal, you must decide on which topic you want to work.
Some questions to consider when choosing your topic are:
Is this topic controversial?
Do I have a point of view about this topic?
Is this topic researchable?
What sources will I use?
Sources you may need to use when doing your research include:
Academic journals
Textbooks
Newspapers
Newsmagazines
The Internet
Once you have identified your topic and the source you will use, you may start outlining your
research paper proposal. A research paper proposal is not only useful to inform the teacher
about the issue you want to investigate and “how … you want to proceed in your research” (GL
p. 242), it also helps you formulate a specific research question and be focused. Keep the
following questions in mind when you write your research paper proposal:
What is your research topic?
Why are you interested in this topic?
How will you format your paper? What information will each section include?
What kinds of sources will you use to gather your information? How will you find them?
How will this research paper contribute to your overall education and to your future?
Finally, your research paper should be approximately one-page long.