Research Pitches & Proposals

Topic selection

Choose a topic that fits the scope of your assignment. Too broad and you will never be able to adequately deal with the real issues. Too narrow and you will end up repeating yourself endlessly. Look for these in your Wikipedia article:

• articles with 20-80 references.
• articles 3-10 pages long (excluding references).

Pitches

A pitch a very short (2-3 sentences) way of convincing someone that you should be allowed to pursue a project. Your pitch should talk about:

• what aspects interests you about this topic
• why this topic is important (or why more research needs to be done on it).

Example: Space elevators provide a way to reach space for a fraction of the current cost. Space elevators will further the cause of space exploration, and provide a way for everyday citizens to reach the stars.

Proposals

A proposal informs the reader of a specific topic, illustrates the writer’s expertise, and illuminates the issues surrounding the topic. Include the following parts in your proposal:

• Background: Introduce the topic by hitting the major points.
• Expertise: Go in-depth, demonstrating a thorough knowledge. Detail specific aspects, and why they’re important.
• Issues: What are the different sides (more than two!)? What does each side want, and why? What are the stakes? What happens if a side doesn’t see success for their view?
• Works Cited: Cite your sources as instructed.

The Realities of a Space Elevator (Example Proposal, yes, you must create a title)

            The concept of a space elevator was first proposed in 1895 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky as a structure like the Eiffel Tower. The idea underwent a radical change in 1959 when Yuri N. Artsutanov proposed a counterweighted cable design. This changes the concept from a compression structure—like most buildings—to a tethered structure—-like a taut rope. Rockets currently cost from $4,300/kg to $40,000/kg per launch, whereas the predicted cost of a space elevator would be $220/kg (“Space Elevator”).

            The main construction problem of the elevator has always been the material. Up until the recent inventions of carbon nanotubes and the stronger diamond nanothreads, no material has been able to bear the weight of the cable itself. The cable will need to “reach a geostationary altitude of 35,786 km (22,236 mi)” (“Space Elevator”)—roughly a trip around the world—without snapping. Longer cables have also been proposed to aid in deep space exploration.

Not only must the cable bear its own weight, it must bear the weight of the elevator car (called a climber) as well. These climbers will be quite large and heavy as they have to transport equipment as well as people, be able to make the climb in a reasonable amount of time, and have the power to make the climb. Unlike a normal elevator ride, a climber traveling “at the speed of a very fast car or train of 300 km/h (190 mph) it will take about 5 days to climb to geosynchronous orbit” (“Space Elevator”). Climbers will also need an efficient power source to make the journey

            Space elevators must also have mechanisms in place to deal with potentially catastrophic events such as: weather, satellites, corrosion, radiation, and vibration, just to name a few (“Space Elevator Safety”). Mechanisms such as these add complexity to an already complicated project, and a failure at any point will likely destroy the entire elevator, resulting in the loss of the financial and time investment, the services of the elevator as a way of reaching orbit, and human lives.

Many challenges surround this technology, all of which prove a barrier to it ever being developed. With concerns of the cost of development, safety, legal implications, and military considerations, space elevators have a lot to overcome. Politicians don’t consider it a practical consideration especially with legal and international concerns. Scientists think it is the only practical consideration given the prohibitive costs of rockets. The general public considers the elevator a waste of money given the huge initial cost. The public’s growing disinterest in all things space related also means that expensive rockets will also be cut, so the long-term cost savings doesn’t matter to them. But there is a reality to consider. Consumer electronics have a growing dependency on satellite connectivity, so a low-cost option is necessary for the future. The public and politicians will need to find common ground with the scientists’ desire for space exploration at a reasonable cost. The space elevator may be humanity’s next great construction project, like the pyramids or the Colosseum.

Works Cited (this will be on a separate page for your proposal)

“Space Elevator” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

“Space Elevator Safety” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator_safety

MLA

            When you use research, it must be cited so the reader can verify your information or follow-up to learn more. The format you use to cite is called a citation style. This handout covers MLA style, but different disciplines use different styles such as APA, Chicago, AP, or others.

• Each kind of source has a specific format (requiring different information).
• Consult a style guide or web page for the full list of kinds of sources.
• If you don’t have all the required info, re-evaluate the source (it may not be reputable).

Warning! An in-text citation must have a corresponding entry in a Works Cited page and vice-versa.

 Works Cited

• Titled: Works Cited (centered). Goes at the end of essay, listing all the sources you used.
• All sources must be listed alphabetically by the first letter of the citation.
• Never use numbers or bullet points.
• Works Cited page is always double spaced, don’t skip lines.
• Use hanging indents for sources longer than one line (Google Search: Hanging Indents).
• Every comma, colon, and period (, : .) count. Put them in.
• You have to play detective to find all the required information
• Look at title pages of books, the bottom of web pages, library databases, etc.

Example formats

Legend: Author Article Title Publisher Place Date Written Pages Medium Access

 Book

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013. Print.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013. Print.

 Newspaper

Williams, Alex. “Quality Time, Redefined.” The New York Times. New York Times. 1 May 2011. ST1+. Web. 25 July 2015.

Williams, Alex. “Quality Time, Redefined.” The New York Times. New York Times. 1 May 2011. ST1+. Web. 25 July 2015.

In-Text Citations

• Always use after a quote or paraphrase from a source (right after or before the end of the sentence).
• Put them in parentheses as part of your sentence (period goes after).
• Do not put a comma (,) between the author (or title) and the page number (Bradbury 42).
• Use only the author for an electronic or internet source (Williams).

Examples

• “[The mean streets] [are] not a very fragrant world, but it is the world [people] live in” (Chandler).
• Concepts of law and order are highly-touted by people in the world, but seldom practiced (Chandler).

Tips

• Use a citation generator such as Son of Citation Machine, Noodle Tools, bibme, or MS Word.
• ALWAYS verify the format of generators. They can make mistakes!
• Use the generator’s export function. Copy and pasting can mess up the format.

Resources

“MLA Formatting and Style Guide”. Purdue OWL. Purdue University. Web. 25 July 2015.

“MLA Citation Guide”. Bibme.org. Bibme.org. Web. 25 July 2015.

Example works cited format

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliographies[1]

An annotated bibliography is a Works Cited page that includes an annotation—a brief (150+ words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph. Annotations inform readers of the relevance and quality of cited sources.

1)      Create a Works Cited entry in MLA format.

2)      In a new paragraph, summarize the central theme and scope of the book or article.

a)      Include all relevant people and entities, describing their roles.

b)      Include details, statistics, and conclusions.

3)      Include one or more sentences on any of the following:

a)      evaluate the authority or background of the author

b)      comment on the intended audience

c)      compare or contrast this work with another you have cited

d)      explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic.

Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51.4 (1986): 541-554. Print.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living. The article is aimed primarily at sociologists; however the language and material are explained to make it accessible to those without a deep background in sociology.

---

[1] Modified with permission from Olin Library Reference, Research & Learning Services, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, USA

Web Page Anatomy

How to Avoid Summarizing

     Summary is a chronological re-telling of what happened in a story or article in your own words. The sequence of events indicates it as a summary. You may think you're providing support for an argument, but you've gotten trapped in going through the sequence of events.
     When you summarize, the topic of your paragraph becomes the story or article instead of the idea. Because the topic becomes the article or story, it feels perfectly natural to continue talking about it throughout the rest of the paragraph.
     To avoid summarizing, focus on the topic sentence of your paragraph. If you state a fact from the story or article, you are summarizing. Focus on the idea you want to talk about, instead.
Examine the paragraphs below.

Summary
            Robert Dean is captured on a security camera in the lingerie store. The government uses his picture to find out who he is and that he has the photos from the crime. Then the government used the cameras in the tunnel to find Dean as he was trying to escape. Next, a camera was used to find Brill in the gas station when he bought something. So cameras are used throughout the movie by the government to find people.

Argument
            Cameras that are designed for the safety and security of people are subverted to track down those designated as enemies. The first use is against Robert Dean in the lingerie store by security cameras—designed to prevent theft—when his identity is captured. The use of cameras against Dean continues as the tunnel cameras, meant to relieve the flow of traffic and aid with accidents, are used to track Dean’s movements. Brill, too, is subjected to the abuse as the gas station camera is used to identify and implicate him. The use the agency puts these cameras to demonstrates how cameras not even designed for use in breaching privacy can be easily turned to that purpose, threatening privacy.

Integrating Quotations

    Quotations illustrate and support arguments.

The 3 ways to use quotations.

     Drop-in: (AKA lonely, naked): This quotation appears in its own sentence without any context or interpretation. Sentences before and after are isolated, so they can’t give context. Because the quotation is on its own, the reader may freely interpret it, making it useless as support.

•  “He thinks a complicated murder scheme which baffles the lazy reader, who won’t be bothered itemizing the details, will also baffle the police, whose business is with details.”

• What does the quote mean? Is it all necessary? Who is ‘he’? What is the essay writer’s point?

Introduced: Introduced quotes have a short phrase to give context or identify the speaker. Sciences favor these as they are more interested in the source and authority of the quotation than the essay writer’s words.

• Chandler states, “[mystery writers] [think] a complicated murder scheme which baffles the lazy reader, who won’t be bothered itemizing the details, will also baffle the police, whose business is with details.”

• We know what Chandler thinks about mystery writers and complicated murders.

• We do not know the essay writer’s point.

Integrated: Integrated quotations blend the support for an argument with the actual argument. They are the preferred form of quotation for argumentative essays.

• Complicated murder schemes are the easiest to solve by the police “whose business is with details” and will go about “itemizing the details” methodically to deduce the murderer (Chandler).
  • The argument is about how easy it is for police to solve complicated murders.
  • The quotations are short and simply support the argument’s position.
  • Because the quote is integrated with the argument, there is no other way to interpret the quote.

How to Integrate Quotations

• Have an argument: above, the argument is Complicated murder schemes are the easiest to solve by the police. Prove the statement with support.
  • ONLY quote when you need to support an argument.

• Only quote what you absolutely need to in order to make your point. Long quotes add clutter.

• Understand the quotes: Make sure you know what they can actually support.

• Use verbs and other words that show causal relationship:
  •  demonstrate, cause, show, suggest, illustrate, because, since, etc.

Using Brackets

Use brackets to show words in the quotation have been changed from the original quotation. Change words to make your argument and quotation flow together.

• POV: Quotations need to be entirely objective, so remove all 1^st and 2^nd person pronouns.
• Explanation: Replace pronouns when it is unclear who (or what) they refer to.
• Verbs: Verbs must match the tense of your essay and agree with changed pronouns.

     Do not replace whole phrases in brackets. Each word changed must get its own pair of bracket.

• Wrong: “It is not a very fragrant world, but it is the world you live in”
  • What is ‘it’? The pronoun is ambiguous so I don’t know what’s being talked about.
  • Using 2^nd person makes an assumption about me. I don’t live in this world, so I can disregard what this statement says simply because it doesn’t apply to me.

• Right: “[The mean streets] [are] not a very fragrant world, but it is the world [people] live in”
  • The ambiguous ‘it’ has been replaced with specific nouns, and the verb has changed to match.
  • The ‘you’ is now ‘people’ applying the statement to a broader population.

Using Ellipses ( . . . )

Ellipses show words have been removed from a quotation as the extra words detract from the meaning. Arguments with integrated quotations are best when kept  to one sentence, two at the most.

• Only use ellipses to show words missing from the middle of a quotation.

• Do not use an ellipsis at the beginning or end of a quotation.

• DO NOT CHANGE THE QUOTE’S MEANING. It’s wrong and a form of plagiarism.

• “A complicated murder scheme which baffles the lazy reader . . . will also baffle the police.”

• The quote’s meaning has changed even though the words haven’t.

• Example: “The realist in murder writes of a world . . . where no man can walk down a dark street in safety because law and order are things [people] talk about but refrain from practicing.”

Block Quotes

     Block quotes are long quotations (more than 4 lines) useful for explaining something very technical, or where all of the original author’s words are necessary to the point. However, most of the time block quotes:

• Take up space (popular among students)
• End up summarizing instead of supporting.
• Lose readers to the original point to be supported.
• Require too much explanation to be useful.

If you must use a block quote (it’s very rare that you must), it takes special formatting.

• Double indent from left and no quotation marks.

     The realist in murder writes of a world in which gangsters can rule nations and almost rule cities, in which hotels and apartment houses and celebrated restaurants are owned by men who made their money out of brothels, in which a screen star can be the fingerman for a mob, and the nice man down the hall is a boss of the numbers racket; a world where a judge with a cellar full of bootleg liquor can send a man to jail for having a pint in his pocket, where the mayor of your town may have condoned murder as an instrument of moneymaking, where no man can walk down a dark street in safety because law and order are things we talk about but refrain from practicing.

• Break up blocks with ellipses or your own words.
  • “The realist in murder writes of a world” where “law and order are things [people] talk about but refrain from practicing.”

Quotation Mechanics

     All capitalization and punctuation belong to you because it is your sentence in your essay.

• Capitalization: Capitalize the quotation as if it were not in quotation marks: First word of your sentence and proper names are capitalized, but nothing else.
  • Murder requires a corrupt world where “law and order are things [people] talk about but refrain from practicing” (Chandler).
• Punctuation: In the example above, there is no comma before or at the end of the quotation.
• Question marks: Change question marks to periods when using quotes to support arguments.
• Exclamations: Change exclamation points to periods. Arguments are about logic and reason, not excitement.

Common Mistakes

• Repetition: Instead of making an argument, you repeat and summarize the quote.
  • Chandler points out that the world is unpleasant, but it’s the world people live when he says “[The mean streets] [are] not a very fragrant world, but it is the world [people] live in”
• Too little. One and two word quotations don’t have enough material to convince the reader.
  • Chandler points out that it’s not a “fragrant world” where mobsters are in charge and people live.
• Exchanges: Back and forth dialogue exchanges between characters are confusing and only summarize.
  • Carmen Sternwood isn’t very bright since she doesn’t understand what Marlowe says. “You’re making fun of me.” “Uh-uh.” “What?”

Developing a Thesis

    Imagine a courtroom television drama. The judge calls out to the prosecutor, “Opening Arguments.”
    The prosecutor stands, buttons his jacket, turns, and faces the jury. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, on the evening of October 15th, Jim Pembrooke was in the bathroom getting ready for bed when he heard a man’s voice in his bedroom, talking to his wife. He left the bathroom to see a man, the defendant Bill Thompson, threatening his wife with a gun. Jim jumped to the defense of his wife, struggling with Thompson for control of the gun. Thompson threw Jim off. Thompson then shot Catherine. Bill Thompson—”
    STOP! We’re going to interrupt. Everything so far has been an introduction. The prosecutor is setting up for his thesis, what he intends to prove during trial. But at this point, what does the jury need to know?

• The scope. How broad or narrow is this argument? The thesis needs to tell, specifically, who is involved.
• The idea. This will be the what and the why of it all. Remember, a thesis is an argument, not a fact.
• The direction. This indicates the kind of evidence that the prosecutor will present.
• With clarity. The audience must clearly understand the thesis.

Let’s look at two examples of how the prosecutor can finish with a thesis.

1. “Bill Thompson is now accused of viciously murdering his ex-wife, Catherine Pembrooke, in the first degree, which indicates premeditation, because he was jealous of her success and happiness with her new husband, Jim Pembrooke.”
2. “Bill Thompson premeditated and murdered Catherine Pembrooke.”

The two statements contain similar information.

• Bill Thompson is the killer of Catherine Pembrooke. (The scope and the idea)
• He intended to kill her, and he planned the whole thing. (The scope and direction)

Analysis of the first statement

• 34 words long. The core issue of premeditated murder is hard to dig out. Thesis lacks power and clarity.
• passive verb phrase “is now accused.” Make the thesis action oriented. Who is doing what to whom?
• adverb “viciously” describes the murder but doesn’t add to the argument’s scope or direction.
• new information: “of murdering his ex-wife,” “in the first degree,” “of her success and happiness,” “with her new husband,” “which indicates premeditation,” “new husband, Jim Pembrooke.”
• The information is better served as evidence of the argument, not in the thesis.
• It repeats information from the introduction. We already know Jim and Catherine are married.

Analysis of second statement

• 7 words long. It’s impossible to misunderstand. The message is powerful and clear.
• Uses active verbs premeditated and murdered to indicate scope and direction.
• Free of excess information. We move forward knowing what we need to know.

Guidelines for a good thesis

• Be short and specific. Every word counts! Keep it to fewer than 12 words.
• simple sentence structure: subject, verb, object.
• Use the active voice, not passive. Choose powerful, evocative verbs to send meaning
• Avoid is (was, were, being, etc.), have (has, had), and do (did)
• Declare answers to questions; do not ask a question with a thesis.
• Do not burden thesis with unnecessary information. Save it for the argument’s evidence.

Difference between thesis and paragraph topic sentence
     There isn’t one. A paragraph topic sentence refers back to a thesis. The thesis encompasses the entire essay, whereas a paragraph topic only deals with that paragraph. It now becomes a question of organizing the essay’s structure. Plan and outline the essay with thesis statements and paragraph topic sentences.

Argument Guide

Essentials	Logic	Structure
Outlines	Support	Thesis
Research Proposals	MLA	Annotated Bib
	Web Page Anatomy

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