The goal of the research proposal is to let you practice how to frame a research paper or a research direction. Imagine you are writing it to apply for a fellowship. We will start to work on this research proposal from mid-quarter with an iterative process. We will dedicate a few lectures across several weeks to exchange, discuss, and iterate your proposals. 

What to do

Stage 0: Ideation.  Starting from the beginning of the course, you should begin to think about what topic or direction you want to propose. 

Stage 1: Proposal Discussion (Nov 2). You should already have chosen the topic of the proposal. You will need to have a title and a short description of your proposal (300 words max) and submit them on Canvas by Nov 1, 11:59pm.  During the lecture, each of you will have 3 minutes to describe your proposal to us, followed by a short Q&A.  It's up to you whether to use visual aids. The goal is to get the ideas across and get some initial feedback about the direction.

Stage 2: Proposal Discussion (Nov 16). By now, you will have an outline and more than half the content, which is submitted on Canvas by Nov 15, 11:59 pm.  In the lecture, we will spend the first 30 mins to exchange our proposals so that we can read and leave comments for each other. We will then reconvene to discuss and share feedback.

Stage 3: Proposal Discussion (Dec 7). Similar to Stage 2, but you should have your full draft ready.

Stage 4: Final Submission (Dec 10). 

Final Submission

By Dec 10, you will submit your research proposal in a single PDF to Canvas. The final research proposal should:

• be 2 pages long, 1 inch margin,  single line spacing, 10pt font size, not including reference.

• describe your major research initiatives.

• explain what makes the research initiatives impactful.

• explain what makes your approaches especially innovative.

• describe what are the concrete steps of research.

Grading Rubric

Grades will be based on the following:

Stage 1 (5 pt)

• (5 pt) The minimum requirement is met.

• (0 pt) The minimum requirement is not met. 

Stage 2 (5 pt)

• (5 pt) The minimum requirement is met.

• (0 pt) The minimum requirement is not met. 

Stage 3 (5 pt)

• (5 pt) The minimum requirement is met.

• (0 pt) The minimum requirement is not met. 

Stage 4 (15 pt)

• (3pt) Does the proposal clearly describe the research question?

• (3pt) Does the proposal clearly describe why the proposal question/approach is novel?

• (3pt) Does the proposal clearly describe why the proposal question/approach is important?

• (3pt) Does the proposal clearly describe the research plan?

• (3pt) Overall writing quality.