Worksheet: Writing a Paper Proposal - Terri Senft

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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