With this assignment, you are beginning your work on your research paper.
Research Papers distinguishes between a report and an argument (pp. 2-3). I will want your research paper to not only provide information about your topic, but to come to a conclusion about it, and make your case for that conclusion.
What your topic will be, is completely up to you. It may be something about the literature we are covering in this class. It might have something to do with your major field of study. It might have something to do with an interest you have outside of school, or with an issue arising in current events. Just make sure that your paper is more than a report on your topic; that it comes to a clear conclusion about it.
In a Word or RTF document, I would like you to provide me with a prospectus (p. 13) for your research paper:
- A narrow topic that your paper will focus on
- The working, or first-version thesis or hypothesis for your paper (covered on pages 10-13)
- Describe, in a paragraph, your interest in the subject
- Problems you anticipate with the research