Proposal and Research Plan 

Your proposal should have three, well-developed paragraphs.

Paragraph One: Define your general topic (e.g., the relationship between happiness and money), pose a focused research question (e.g., how does inheriting a large amount of money affect happiness?), and present a thesis, or an arguable 1-2 sentence claim that you will defend through research (e.g., Since inheriting too much wealth can negatively affect adult children by decreasing their motivation and perpetuating a cycle of conspicuous consumption, parents should instead consider donating their money to charitable causes).

You should also indicate what type of main claim you want to make (i.e., fact, cause, definition, value, or policy).

Paragraph Two: Discuss which sources you will use and why. Remember: you need to use at least six scholarly sources in this essay in order to pass the course. If you have questions about whether your sources are scholarly, please contact me.

Paragraph Three: List 3-4 major sub-claims (fact, definition, value, cause, or policy) and discuss any remaining research needs. For example, if you want to make an ultimate claim of policy that college athletes should be paid, you would first need to make a sub-claim of definition to define college athletes in comparison with professional athletes and explain how these roles are similar. Then, you would make a claim of cause that explained what the potential effects of paying athletes would be. Then, you might need to make a sub-claim of value to argue that these effects would be good for college athletes. Presenting evidence for these sub-claims would naturally lead you to defend your position that college athletes should be paid.

After thinking through your possible sub-claims, it should be clear what kinds of sources you might still need to find to help you argue these claims.