Worksheet: Writing a Paper Proposal - Terri Senft

Writing a proposal
Class Title: Writing II Sections: “New Media” and “Music”
Semester: Spring Academic Year: 2011-­‐2012
Instructor: Theresa (Terri) Senft Instructor’s Email: terri.senft@nyu.edu
Many students working on proposals find themselves panicked with "blank page syndrome." To
help, I have developed a tool for you. The first four pages are a worksheet to get you thinking
about your proposal. The final page is a template you can use to begin talking through your
proposal.
PRELIMINARY WORKSHEET FOR PROPOSAL
1. Topic, broadly defined
2. Resonance for liberal/cultural studies
3. History of your involvement
4. Your topic narrowed down
5. Names of experts in the field and their views
6. Your thoughts on the applicability of their views to your topic
7. Your hypothesis, aka your guesses re. your research findings
8. What you will do to test your hypothesis (e.g. what will you examine)
9. Your methodological approach (e.g. discourse analysis, ethnography,etc.)
10. Questions you will ask as part of your method
1. Your Topic, broadly defined:
For my research project, I think I’d like to _________ (examine, explore, analyze, interrogate,
etc) the _______________ (phenomenon, question, practice, etc.) of ___________________
(state your “object," here.)
(An example: "For my research project, I'd like to examine the phenomenon of Latinas
in the United States who blog."
Another example, “For my research project, I’d like to examine the practice of white
singers incorporating African American rappers into their recording projects.”)
2. Resonance for Liberal /Cultural Studies”
I think my research project would be of interest to Liberal/Cultural Studies because:
_________________________________
(An example: “Historically, cultural studies scholars have written about Latinas, and
about bloggers, but Latina bloggers are a relatively new phenomenon, and deserve
further study in their own right.”)
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3. History of your Interest /Experience in this Topic:
I’ve been interested in my topic ________________ (since we began class, for a few years
now, all my life, yesterday...) To tell the truth, I have ____________________(a great deal,
none, some) personal experience with the issues I’m bringing up here. I disclose this
information because I think my personal experience ____________(may, will not, not sure)
come up during my research and writing on this project.
(An example: "Although I am Latina myself, I only became interested in Latina studies
two years ago, and in Latinas who blog (I am one) only recently. Although I know I draw
on my contacts in the blogging world I cannot say yet how much personal information I
will use for this project.")
4. Your Topic, narrowed down:
Out of all the many directions one could take this topic, I’m particularly interested in
_________________(detailing, considering, exploring, etc) the issue (s) of
_____________________ and ___________________ (one or two particular features of your
object/question goes here.)
(An example: "Of the many directions one could take this topic, I’m particularly
interested in considering how and in what contexts Latinas switch from English to
Spanish in their writing. What do these switches signify for those who engage in them,
and for those reading them? How do these switches work as part of a larger
performance of Latin blogger identity and community, online? ")
5. Your observations of Experts in the Field
To think about my material in greater depth, I refer to ___________________(name a writer,
here)’s work on ______________________ (name a topic, here) and
_________________________ (name a writer, here)’s work on __________________________
(name a topic, here.)
(An example: "To think about my material in greater depth, I refer to Gloria Anzaldua's
work on border cultures as well as Cherri Moraga's work on authenticity and Latina
voice.
6. Your thoughts about experts’ suitability for your topic
(An example: Although Anzaluda’s work remains critical for anyone studying Latina
identity, her thoughts need updating to remain relevant to time dominated by Internet
communications. Likewise, I believe the addition of internet links and non-­‐Latin voices
on Latina blogs might complicate Moraga’s observations about Latina authenticity
through writing.
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7. Your hypothesis, or “educated guesses” for this project:
From my initial analysis of this topic and my limited background reading, my hypothesis
around this topic is as follows: __________________________ (state your hypothesis here)
(An example: "Literature on Latina self-­‐expression indicates that more than other
cultural groups, Latinas use writing to represent both their lived and imagined identities.
I believe that Latina bloggers will likewise straddle these two categories of identity (lived
and imagined), and also perhaps add a third category, which I tentatively call ‘digital
Latina identity.” )
8. Your plan for testing your hypothesis (i.e. exactly what you will DO in your research project):
To test this hypothesis, I plan to ___________________________(look, listen, attend, talk to)
the following _________________________(performances, documents, people):
____________________(list them!)
(An example: "To ground my project, I've been looking at a series of blog rings devoted
to Latinas, such as “Latinas Who Write” and “Verdad Latina,” as well as keeping abreast
of the postings on the website Latina.com. My methodological plan is as follows: First, I
will be conducting a semiotic analysis of the colors, fonts and images on these sites.
Second, I’ll be conducting a discourse analysis of the blogs,) I will be focusing specifically
on discussions that have taken place in the following venues:
• “What is Latina anyway” (Discussion on Verdadero begun 2/30/09)
• “We’re not all Sexpots” (Discussion on Real Latina begun 1/15/09)
• “Anyone else here love their Abuela?” (Discussion on TL begun 10/3/09)
10. What questions will you be asking as you examine your materials?
The sorts of questions I will be asking as I conduct my research are as follows:
____________________ (list your questions, here.)
The primary question of my semiotic analyses will be: What sorts of visual cues do each
of these sites have in common, and what sorts of images do bloggers chose to indicate
that their site has a Latina identity? The primary question of my discourse analysis is, “At
what times and for what reasons do users on Latina blogs switch from English to
Spanish? How do these switches function as tactical strategies of identity and
community making in the Latina community, and how are they interpreted by those
who find Latina sites through the greater internet?
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FINALLY, THIS DOESN’T GO IN THE PROPOSAL, BUT:
Your Lingering Questions:
Although I’m generally enthusiastic about the subject matter I’ve chosen for my final
paper/project, I still have a number of lingering questions about how to proceed in order to
turn in a strong final product. My questions are: (state your questions). Here are the steps I’m
am going to try to take to address those questions (state your steps.)
(For example, "Although I’m generally enthusiastic about the subject matter I’ve
chosen for my final paper/project, I still have a number of lingering questions about how
to proceed in order to turn in a strong final product. My questions are: is a mere textual
analysis of English/Spanish use sufficient to make claims about Latina blogger identity?
What if I coupled textual analysis of blogs with ethnographic interviews of bloggers
themselves? To address these questions, I am going see what Terri thinks. I'm also going
to ask her for resources on the practice of interviewing on the internet.")
SEE NEXT PAGE FOR FINAL PROPOSAL TEMPLATE
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Proposal Template for Class
DO NOT reproduce this language exactly! Use your own words.
Tentative Title of Paper: _________________________________
This paper (examines, explores, analyzes, interrogates, etc) the (phenomenon, practice, event,
etc.) of (your “object” goes here.) As a research topic, mine is a timely one for the fields of
Liberal/Cultural Studies because: (state your reason here.) Elements of this of this research that
are of particular interest to me are: (detail one or two questions/observations/etc, here.)
Throughout this project, I rely on a number of critical frames, including the work of (writer) on
(subject); (writer) on (subject); and (writer) on (subject.) While I find (writer #1)’s observations
regarding (subject) to be important when considering my topic, I think these observations need
to be (broadened, altered, updated, etc.) for the following reasons: ________________ (state
reasons here.) Likewise, (stick writer #2’s thoughts that are important but need to be added to or
altered in light of your research project. )
Given what has been written around this topic so far and my preliminary thoughts on the
matter, my working hypothesis is (state some guesses you are taking about how the research
will turn out, here.) I plan to test this hypothesis by (explain precisely what materials you will be
looking at, here.) Using (name your methodology here), I’ll be posing questions such as: (name
one or two questions you’ll be asking as you look at your materials.)
(Note: If you have personal experience with this material that you think would be useful to
acknowledge or highlight, you can discuss it here, or further upwards in the document. )
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