The research proposal helps you to identify your research question and tentative thesis. The thesis may and likely will change as you conduct more research and draft the paper but the proposal will help to ensure you are starting with a convincing argument in mind. It will also allow your instructor to gauge if your chosen topic is, in fact, argumentative and appropriate for the assignment.

Review Lesson 2 before completing this assignment.

For the proposal, after your MLA heading, please submit the following:

1. Your research question

2. Your tentative thesis

3. What, if any, prior beliefs, assumptions, preconceptions, ideas, or prejudices do you bring to this project? What personal experiences may have shaped the way you feel? Before you began developing working knowledge on the topic, what were you thinking about it? What are you thinking about it now? (Ballenger 46).

(Keep in mind that in order to fully answer question #3, you must have first developed some working knowledge on your topic.