I’m not sure what a formal proposal should be like. Is it simply my current developing thesis for the essay? Despite the fact that I am sure that things will change? And is there a length or any sort of requirement?
I’m not sure what a formal proposal should be like. Is it simply my current developing thesis for the essay? Despite the fact that I am sure that things will change? And is there a length or any sort of requirement?
i’m kind of confused also. I think that it probably does have to do with developing our thesis though, because it has to do with what we are going to write about and our thesis should explain that, so I guess that I’m just going to write about my thesis and maybe how I’m going to prove it…
Even more than developing your thesis, it’s about developing your motivating question or puzzle. Since you’ve barely started your research, it’s hard to imagine that you could offer a thesis that wouldn’t either be a complete fiction or that wouldn’t lead you to ignore evidence that doesn’t fit it. Neither strikes me as a great scenario. Think of this as an opportunity to reflect on and clarify your statement of 1) your interpretive question about the story in relation to some aspect of its historical period, 2) the research questions you’re asking in order to develop and respond to that interpretive question, and 3) the avenues of research you’ll need to pursue in order to answer those research questions and generate new ones.
It should be 300-500 words — over a page, but not much over two pages, in a standard, 12-point or so font.
Oh my…I have to start over then. I didn’t realize that the criteria were that specific or that I had to be that long. I’m worried that I don’t even know enough at this point to write about that many research avenues, but I guess I’ll find out. Thanks for clearing up the confusion though because I was just about to ask a similar question.
Thanks Dara! I came here exactly because I didn’t know the answer to that question.
Yes, thanks for the clarification. I hadn’t realized how much detail was needed and I didn’t know exactly what questions to address in this pre-draft. Now that I know how long it has to be, I’m glad that I’ve already started searching for sources through the library’s website — it helps to know what’s out there. (Although there is obviously much more than I have encountered so far)
Oops, I guess I should check the site more often, I had no idea they were supposed to be that long.