Discuss and demonstrate knowledge of writing as a process, including consideration of peer and instructor feedback, from initial draft to final revision.

Writing Project 2 – Research Proposal
Length Requirement: 3 Pages (500 words)
Dates
Feb 21 – Feb 25
First Draft due for Writing Center Feedback. This should include your research question (highlighted in bold) and 200 words of your actual proposal.

At some point during this week you will work with a Writing Center tutor to receive feedback on your progress. This can be done synchronously or asynchronously. Be mindful that asynchronous feedback may take up to 48 hours to be returned to you. You have this entire week to schedule and participate in a Writing Center appointment. You will also be required to submit this draft to BB at the BEGINNING of this week, by 11:59pm on Monday Feb 21.
March 2
Complete Final Draft (this should be the most refined and polished version of your WP); submit via BB by 11:59 pm
Student Learning Outcomes
1. Conduct academic research drawing from multiple sources in multiple media.
2. Read texts in a variety of disciplines and genres, using critical reading strategies.
5. Discuss and demonstrate knowledge of writing as a process, including consideration of peer and instructor feedback, from initial draft to final revision.
6. Demonstrate sentence-level correctness.
Purpose
At this point you have read and annotated a variety of sources on a specific topic related to social inequalities and you have begun to analyze the role that media construction and consumption play with regards to social structures. You are now prepared to propose a research project of your own. Through this WP you will join the conversation surrounding one specific instance of social inequality and how it overlaps with popular media depictions/ constructions/ consumption. The primary role of this proposal is to ask a critical question regarding your chosen topic and to imagine a framework that will help you answer the question with a critical claim. Although it is assumed that your project will continue to evolve as you read and write more about your topic, this proposal will require you to commit to an area of research and it will help your instructor work with you to negotiate a plan for the rest of the semester. In order to successfully complete all future Writing Projects, you MUST include a research question in this proposal. Failure to include a research question in WP 2 will result in an incomplete grade for the assignment.
For this assignment, you will write a three-paragraph proposal for your academic research and include a list of sources that you may use. At this point, your topic of inquiry may be somewhat broad, but at minimum you will identify an issue relating to societal inequality/disparity that you find dire or interesting, and one that you feel comfortable using as a topic for extended research. You will also be required to make a preliminary mention of the way(s) in which you have observed ONE type of popular media play a role in this social issue. You may choose to explore topics that have come up in class, or you may wish to research a related topic that holds more personal relevance to you, the option is yours. Consider the material that we have read so far, and think about how you can use them to foster your own thinking in a research project of your own.
Use the following template to organize your proposal (about 2 double-spaced pages):
Paragraph 1: This paragraph should introduce your topic and your specific research question. Start by briefly introducing what you know about both your selection of social inequality AND the aspect of popular media that you will be researching. How/why have you drawn a connection between the two? What are some historical connections between the two? What other context do we need to know in order to understand your research question? Once you have done this, pose your research question. This question will serve as a guide not only for this proposal, but also for your ongoing 161 research. While formulating this question, think about what you want to learn more about. This is, after all, an inquiry-driven course. You should not pose a question to which you already have an answer to. You should also explain why you find the question to be interesting or useful for ongoing research purposes. You MUST highlight your research question by making the font bold.
Paragraph 2: Explain how your question fits into an existing academic or public conversation. Who is writing about this issue now and what are they saying? Discuss the major points of consensus and disagreement. What are the stakes for this research: how might it affect individuals, communities, public policy, or other interests? This paragraph should also explain how you imagine an audience for your project – who would have a stake in this type of research?
Paragraph 3: Briefly report on the research you have already conducted and your strategy for future research. Which sources that you have already identified will be most important for your project? What additional kinds of research will you need to answer the question that you have posed? Where will you look for resources? Name a few authors that you think offer some relevant perspectives.

Final Page:
The final page of this WP should include a list of at least five NEW sources that might be useful for your project. These should be a combination of popular and scholarly sources (at least one of each) and they should be cited in MLA style and arranged like a Works Cited page.

NOTE: this list of sources is different from the annotated bibliography of WP1, it is not necessary to annotate the sources for this assignment.
Formatting
Your entire Writing Project 2 should use standard MLA format: typed, double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12-point Times font, etc.

Evaluation
A successful Research Proposal will:
introduce your topic and the connection between one popular media and one issue of social inequality that you will research
propose a specific research question in interrogative styling (paragraph 1)
explain the academic and/or public context for your project (paragraph 2)
report on your research and outline future research plans (paragraph 3)
be clear, concise, well-organized, free of grammatical errors, and avoid plagiarism
include a MLA-style list of at least five new sources

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