This Assignment is part of the Final Project’s Research Proposal that you will turn in at the end of Unit 9. In light of the fact that this Assignment will be part of your MSP Portfolio and should represent the very best of your writing, the project has been designed to be completed in portions to permit feedback and revision. The Assignment for this unit will produce a draft of your Introduction section; the Unit 7 Assignment will be a draft of the Method Section; and the Final Project in Unit 9 will incorporate revisions of both of these earlier Assignments as well as an abstract.

As noted, this Assignment represents the Introduction section of your Research Proposal. It will be written as a standard paper, with title and references page. When it is revised for inclusion in your Final Project, some changes will need to be made, but if you’ve done well here, those changes will be minor.

The Introduction section of a Research Proposal includes an explanation of the topic, a literature review of previously published research on the topic of the research being proposed, and a description of the proposed research question and hypotheses.

Open the Introduction section with an introductory paragraph complete with a thesis statement, just like any paper. From there, move into a discussion of the research topic: describe the topic and the issues around it, define terms that might not be known by the reader. Make sure that they understand the topic.

Once the reader understands the topic, move smoothly into a literature review discussing recent research on the topic (using the 3-5 articles you found while doing the Unit 2 Discussions and Assignment if you have remained with that topic). Describe each research paper’s hypothesis and method, and critique the methods used and the conclusions that were drawn. Was the research done well? Are the conclusions drawn sound? Did they miss anything?

After the literature review, transition into a discussion of your proposal’s research question. Explain the question itself and why it needs to be asked and answered. Describe the hypothesis (you may have more than one) that you have formulated and how it relates to the research question.

Finally, write a summary paragraph that recaps the research topic, the research question and hypothesis, and what the proposed research hopes to accomplish.

Assignment Directions

To recap in an outline format:

1. Formal title page
2. Introduction section
   1. Introduction paragraph (with thesis statement)
   2. Background material - ensuring that the reader understands the research topic
   3. Literature review – clearly and completely discussing recent research on the topic using three to five peer-reviewed, scholarly sources
   4. The proposed research – What is the proposed research, why is it important?
      1. Define the research question and why it is important or useful to ask and answer the question
      2. Describe the hypothesis and how it will answer the research question
   5. A summary paragraph
3. Formal References section

The Assignment should:

• Follow Assignment directions (review grading rubric for best results).
• Use correct APA formatting per the APA Publication Manual, (6th ed.).
• Demonstrate college-level communication through the composition of original materials in Standard American English.