not really a discussion, more of a conference / you may NOT use your FREE PASS on this

This week you don't have a typical analytical discussion topic; instead, you are going to use this space to discuss your upcoming Research Paper with me. If anyone wants to comment on someone else's Research Paper Proposal here, that's fine, but it's not required.

Yes, that means this week you need to post your Proposal by Friday before midnight, but you do not have to put up ANY replies, though I will be replying to your Proposal, possibly making suggestions, and you may need to revise what you put here on the board.

Once you get your Proposal APPROVED (and you will know because I will write "APPROVED" in a reply to you), you will earn a full 20/20 for the week. See special note about "NOT APPROVEDj" at the bottom of this page.

this is not an optional step (and it may take more than one try); read this carefully; look at the samples

Before you turn in a proposal be sure that you have read all of the information about The Reseach Paper on the class website. I also strongly recommend you look at the Student Samples in the weekly Readings folder on Canvas; use those as models. There are very specific requirements about acceptable topics, what the paper must include, and so on. For example, if you try to write about anything that does not cover one of the three topics on the Research Paper assignment page; it will not be accepted.

The Research Proposal (which you will be Posting to the Discussion Board this week for review) asks you to do a few things:

  1. briefly write some background (about a paragraph) intruducing your topic
  2. craft a thesis statement that must follow a prescribed format (see below)
  3. produce a tentative Works Cited page (don't worry about spacing or font here on Canvas, but all of the information should fit MLA-8 documentation format); you should have at least three sources, though those may change without getting a new Proposal APPROVED.

more on the thesis statement

  1. it must begin with the word "Although" because you will give the "what the world believes side first"
  2. the "what really happened" part of the thesis will follow
  3. it must name names (accusing a specific person or persons, not an organization) of a crime or cover up.
  4. it will be long (most good research thesis statements are long) and specific

Here are some examples (there was one on the assignment page as well):

Although Marilyn Monroe's official cause of death is accidental overdose, her murder was actually orchestrated by John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy because they feared her drunken behavior would expose scandlous affairs that would harm them politically.

Although the killer in the Jack the Ripper murders was never discovered, they were actually carried out by Aaron Kosminski.

Note how direct and emphatic those are; this is a position paper, not a "maybe this," but "maybe that" paper. It does not blame NASA or "the government" or The Illuminati because you cannot take those to court; they are huge organizations.

If you cannot be that direct and exact, then change topics sooner rather than later.

a few important final notes

Yes, this may take more than one try; it often does. Try to get your Proposal on the Discussion Board early.

If you do not get your Proposal onto the Discussion Board on the due date (or before), you will have to type it up in full MLA format and send it to me as a Word docx attached to an e-mail. You won't earn the DQ points for it, but I will still go over it to see if it is acceptable or if it needs a bit more work.

Likewise, if your Proposal has still not been APPROVED by the Discussion close date/time, you will have to type it up in full MLA format and send it to me as a Word docx attached to an e-mail. In this case, however, it will earn the DQ points because it was posted on the board on time.

I will not read a Research Paper if the Proposal has not been APPROVED, so you cannot skip this step. Late Research Papers are subject to late penalties, and they will not earn any grade if they are more than a week late.