How to Write a Proposal

Below is a suggested pattern for proposal writing.  Note that each number corresponds to at least one paragraph (you may well have more than one paragraph for each number, particularly under number 2). 

1.  Begin with your topic, usually with a teaser and a description to engage the reader.  Remember--this paragraph is designed to capture the reader's interest.  It deals only with the topic--not the thesis. 

2.  Explain how others have written about this topic--historiography.  This usually is chronological, but it doesn’t have to be.  This section could very well be as long as half a dozen paragraphs.  It is an extremely important section because it demonstrates your mastery of the subject.

3.  Legitimate/validate/separate.  This is where you begin to distinguish yourself from the other authors who have written about your topic.  It is also where you begin to demonstrate that you are contributing something original to the literature.  You can accomplish this by using marker phrases such as the following:

            --the question remains, however, . . .

            --disagreement

            --incomplete picture

4.  Thesis:  BOOM! This is where you demonstrate to the reader exactly how your study will be different.  My study is different because it . . . .  

5.  And this is how I’m going to do it:  Methodology, theory, approach, sources, perspectives, etc.

6.  Chapter descriptions

This template is really quite formulaic.  Follow it to develop your own proposal.