1. The first paragraph identifies what research question you are going to try to answer or what claim you will be arguing. If you are in the social sciences, sciences, education, or human performance, you will most likely be choosing to seek the answer to a research question. If you are in the humanities, arts, or political science, you may be choosing to argue a claim. That said, there is overlap between disciplines, and some education majors may in fact argue a claim, while some artists or political scientists may decide they want to pose and answer a question. You can use this first paragraph of your proposal to identify which you’ll do and what format you’re going to use.

2. The second and third paragraphs will be an extended description of what you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it, and what you’re hoping to achieve. This is where you can say which option of the research paper you are planning to work on and describe what you think the outcome will be.

3. The fourth paragraph will be about the types of source materials you will use. Where will you get your sources? How will you use them?

4. The final paragraph will be a conclusion and doesn’t need to be lengthy, just a summation of the rest of the proposal.