GEOG 380 – Spring 2019 Assignment 2: Research Proposal (max. 6 pages)

Due: Thursday May 23rd @ 11am to canvas

Note: You must choose a different disease than the one you studied for your poster.

For this assignment, you will be writing a research proposal. You must:

select a disease and review some of the literature on its disease ecology, broadly defined;

propose a research question for future study on the topic;

provide a brief analysis that justifies or argues why your research is important, and what gaps in the current knowledge it addresses.

Key parts of the research proposal:

Literature review: The literature review should be at least half (~3 pages) of your research proposal. A literature review should establish what we already know about the topic, as well as identify what the gaps in our knowledge are. It should set up your research question and justification. This is the portion of your research proposal where the majority of your sources will be used.

Research Question: Your research question should be clearly and concisely stated in the form of a single or multi-part question. Please highlight the research question in a bold font so that it is clear.

Justification: This portion of your paper can act as the conclusion. It should justify why the research question you are asking should be researched. Why is your research question important or significant outside the world of academia? What will it contribute to the academic literature? What gaps in current knowledge does it address? Note: This will be easier to do if you effectively demonstrate the existing gaps in the knowledge in your literature review.

Key technical aspects to consider:

You have a limited amount of space to work with — be concise and to the point in your proposal, and use a formal tone.

Papers should be up to 6 pages (not including the works cited page, which should be on a separate page at the back of the proposal), double-spaced, 12-point font size, in either Calibri (preferred) or Times New Roman fonts, with 1-inch margins; include page numbers.

Do not forget to include your name, the date, the course code, and section code. Do not put these in a continuous header.

No quotations from source materials in a paper of this length; synthesize and paraphrase information only.

APA citation style for both course material and outside sources (if it is not your information, cite it!).

You do not need to discuss the methodology of how you would answer your research question, nor should you include a research outline, schedule, or plan.

You must use at least 5 academic sources. Select them carefully, and use them thoughtfully.

You may also choose to include additional non-academic sources that are from reputable sources (newspapers, fact sheets, etc). Nowikipedia or personal blogs.

This is a W credit course — writing counts! Leave yourself time to edit thoroughly.

Grading will be based on: level of thought and detail; convincing and thorough argument about the necessity of your research, how it builds on existing research, and its benefits; use of evidence and sources; and writing quality (style, grammar and tone, etc.).

As usual, by submitting your paper, you affirm that you have read and have adhered to the UW standards for academic honesty: http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm

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