prohibited without express written permission W r i t i n g

I. Research Prospectus
Choose your field of study (accounting, education, criminal justice, etc.), and then
identify a problem within the field that can be researched and discussed. Your research
prospectus will develop a specific direction and research question that the essay will
address. To get started, be sure to do the following:
• Choose a topic about which some degree of research is available.
• Develop a research prospectus that identifies the audience, purpose,
major research question(s), and a working thesis statement for your
project.
• Develop a schedule that includes strategies that will be used to complete each
phase of the writing process.
• Locate at least five reputable sources to be used as support.
• Submit this with the final draft of your research paper.

II. Literature Review
Now that you have chosen a research question, topic, and five reputable sources to support
your thesis statement:
• Review the five expert sources you have chosen to use to support your thesis
statement.
• Provide a summary of the sources you are going to include in your paper.
• Explain how the sources align with the ideas presented in the thesis.
• Explain the credibility of each source.
• Provide the literature review at the end of the Research Paper, before the Citations
and References Page.

III. Research Paper
Use the steps in the writing process to research and develop an effective and polished
essay that includes the following components:
• An introductory paragraph that engages the reader and ends with a positional
thesis statement.
• Body paragraphs that develop the thesis statement through examples, research,
and analysis.
• Use of borrowed, supportive ideas that are cited and support main points.
This should make up no more than 30% of the total content and is taken
Interdisciplinary Reading, Writing, and Research
© 2015. Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited without
express written permission. Students are expected to maintain the integrity of the assignment by
refraining from reproducing or posting the assignment or their completed work where it can be
viewed by current or future students.
from the research completed above. A minimum of five sources must be
used.
• At least one source that identifies a counter-position (the essay should
include a rhetorical analysis of that source to identify the author’s audience,
purpose, and message as part of a response to the counter-argument). It
may include a longer analysis of why the source is effective or ineffective.
• A concluding paragraph that restates the thesis and summarizes the main
points of the essay.

IV. Citations and References Page
• Ensure that all sources are cited within the research paper, with the appropriate
formatting for in-text citations.
• A reference should be included at the end of the paper that lists of all sources
cited in the text. This should also be formatted according to APA guidelines