Prospectus guidelines

  • Formulate your main research questions (1-2 paragraphs):

To produce an effective senior project, you must begin with clear and defensible research questions or with a clear rationale for creative work. Having coherent research questions or a clear creative agenda is essential to structuring your senior project. Present your research questions or rationale in the first paragraph of your prospectus.

  • Situate your research questions or rationale relative to existing scholarship or creative work (1-2 paragraphs):

If you are completing traditional academic research, it should add to existing scholarship on your topic. In your prospectus, briefly discuss the most influential scholarly works on (or closely related to) your topic. Explain how your project will differ from those established works.  If you are completing creating work, discuss the relationship of your work to existing work in your field or genre.

  • Explain how you will use primary sources (1-3 paragraphs):

Briefly identify the most significant primary sources that you will use in your project. What insights have you garnered from your preliminary survey of these sources? How do you plan to use them to support your project?

  • Explain how you will organize the body of your senior project (3 paragraphs):

If you are completing an analytical project, the body of your work will likely consist of three or more sections. Devote a paragraph to elaborating each of these sections. What are these sections, and how will their organization support your analysis? 

If you are completing a nontraditional project, discuss how you will organize and implement your work within your chosen medium.

  • Your concluding paragraph should reiterate how your project makes an original contribution to scholarship or creative work.
  • Finally, compile an extensive preliminary bibliography:

Your preliminary bibliography should be divided into secondary and primary sources. You need not have consulted all of the sources included in the preliminary bibliography. Try to be as comprehensive as possible. In compiling your bibliography, consult MIDCAT, America: History and Life, and sources included in the bibliographies of existing scholarship on your topic. Preliminary bibliographies should be at least 1 full page long.

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