Practicum Research Project

The research project is in the form of a prospectus: a proposal for writing up a research project. Here, it will involve four to six pages of discussion and analysis, as well as an annotated bibliography. It comprises the following elements:

1) a brief description of the topic and central research questions (no more than three pages or so).
2) a survey and assessment of relevant historiography (this will be a briefer summary along the lines of the historiographic essay and its criteria) and primary sources (using Rampolla, 10, as a guide). The student will include a minimum of four secondary and four primary sources for the finished project.
3) a discussion of preliminary arguments (i.e., the hypotheses, the ideas you have about the subject which you will set out to demonstrate).
4) a discussion of methodology (how one is planning to approach the topic, which are one’s central categories of analysis; what kinds of primary sources will be used)
5) an annotated bibliography (see Rampolla, 29-33).