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Proposal
Summary
For the project, you will undertake research to write two main
professional writing documents:
- Proposal (new page)
- Recommendation Report (this page, below)
For your project, you will undertake original research that
culminates in your writing a research-based Recommendation Report.
Report topics
To discover possible Report topics, keep alert for problems you encounter
on campus, at your job, and in your community. The word problems
is used in its broadest sense, not limited simply to "snafu"
situations but extending to include unfulfilled opportunities.
Some of the best reports are written out of students' employment, educational,
and social environments. For example, if you have a job, consider the
possibility of researching an inefficiency in the work process and writing
a report for your employer. If you are a member of an organization, such
as a club, consider the possibility of researching an unfulfilled opportunity
relevant to the organization and making recommendations to the leadership
of the organization.
Report criteria
Test your possible Report topics against the following four criteria:
- Problem: The Problem situation you select must be real and
yet feasibly "solvable" (i.e., the situation, if it can't
be entirely solved, can at least be improved upon) through the small
amount of research you will do to address it.
- Feasibility: Your Problem and its solution(s) must be fully
researchable in one month and fully presentable in approximately 1500+
words.
- Audience: You should be able to identify a real person or
executive committee that has decision-making powers, first, to commission and approve
your proposed Recommendation Report and, second,
to act effectively on your research recommendations. (You will not actually
have to present your work to this audience, though some students do
and can be well rewarded from their Audience for doing so.) Usually,
such a person or committee would have those decision-making powers because
of their leadership role within an organization.
- Research Methods: Your Recommendation Report will have to incorporate at
least two research sources, obtained through either primary or secondary
research, that have a significant instrumental role in your Report's
argument.
Report specifications
The body of your Report (i.e., including prose sections such
as the introduction, background, methods, results, analysis, discussion,
conclusion, and recommendations, but not including attachments such as
the cover page, appendices, etc.) should be at least 1500 words long.
The Report should have a meaningful and specific title. To document your
sources, you may use any established scholarly format (e.g., MLA, APA)
as long as your documentation is consistent and complete. As befitting
a professional document, the Report document should be well-formatted.
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