The point of the Research Essay Proposal is to express, for your own benefit as well as for the audience, your understanding of the topic and what you intend to prove about your topic; therefore, building this document requires you to first engage in the writing process in order to develop your own ideas and to synthesize those ideas with the informed perspective granted through interaction with the general reference works represented in the annotated bibliography at the end of this document.
First, you will select an argumentative topic on which to base your proposal and research. Do not settle on a topic without first exploring whether or not there are appropriate sources available for that topic. You are beginning to develop a working research thesis, so ask yourself lots of how and why questions to begin to get at the heart of the matter. This is a building block toward your Research Essay. You are free to write about any argumentative topic EXCEPT for the following: 1) abortion 2) gay marriage 3) legalization of marijuana 4) gun control 5) overtly religious topics (i.e. does God exist?).
The Research Essay Proposal should offer a brief summary of about three hundred words on your chosen topic, present a working thesis statement, and give a statement of intention, which is an overstated version of the working thesis wherein you explain what your topic is and the rhetorical strategy(ies) by which you plan to develop it. This summary should be informed by your understanding of the sources with which you have interacted; it should not merely present research information—these are your own words informed by reading.