Summary of Research Prospectus

A research paper should. . .

• pose an interesting and significant problem
• respond to the problem with a contestable thesis*
• use sources purposefully and ethically

 Today, I elaborated on what constitutes a contestable thesis. Contestable means, to put it simply, that you can imagine a rational audience that may disagree with your point. It means that you have tension in your thesis. I gave the example of the girl who wrote a paper on heart disease without a point that could really be contested (or showed why her point might be contested--this is an important part of the paper).

I also explained the research prospectus which can be found on Sakai.

Topics Focus --> Question Focus

We now want to make sure we ask a good research question rather than just circle around a topic. Having a question focus will do 2 things:

• requires you to be a critical thinker who must assess and weigh data and understand multiple points of view
• encourages active construction of meaning