Capstone Proposal

"The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today."

--Elbert Hubbard

Capstone Proposal

Due: Thursday, March 22

Respond to the following topics and questions. Use first person point-of-view. Feel free to use bullet points. Be correct, be precise, and be persuasive.

1. In 3-5 sentences, tell us about your topic. It might be a good idea to phrase it in the way The Craft of Research suggests: I would like to study ______________ because I want to find out ___________ in order to __________.
 
2. Why are you interested in this topic?
 
3. Are others interested in this topic? If not, how might you make this appealing to any audience?
 
4. Will this topic sustain more than superficial research? Please list the most valuable resources you’ve found so far. Do this in MLA format and provide a short annotation for each entry?
 
5. What exhibition products are you considering?  

Evaluate Your Questions

Once you've posed your questions, evaluate them. Not all questions are equally good. Look for questions whose answers might make you (and, ideally your readers) think about your topic in a new way. Avoid the following:

• Their answers are settled fact that you could just look up.
• Their answers would be merely speculative.
• Their answers are dead ends.

So, first step: answer your questions.

Once you have a few promising questions, try to combine them into larger ones.

Finally, combine those into a single more significant question.

60 Minutes: Howard Buffett

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

--Oprah Winfrey

"There is no passion to be found playing small--in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."

--Nelson Mandela

After watching the linked video, consider the following questions. Respond fully in your second blog post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4NyPjKFjUQ

1. What are your passions? 
2. How do your passions defy expectations? 
3. What steps have you taken to feed your passion? 
4. What (or who) gets in the way of you embracing your passions?

20 Questions

“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”--Tony Robbins
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”--Voltaire

Once you have developed a focus for your topic, you will want to rephrase it as a question. Ask yourself, what do I want to explore in my paper? What question(s) do I want my paper to answer? This will help you to articulate what information you need to look for and later can become the basis for your thesis statement. For example, a topic on using animals to test cosmetics might be rephrased into the following question:

• Is it ethical to use animals to test cosmetic products?

Next, brainstorm other possible questions that may be derived from your initial question.

• What types of animals are typically used to test cosmetics?
• How many animals a year are used?
• What are alternatives to animal testing?
• What are some arguments for and against using animals to test cosmetics?

Post your list of 20 questions as your first blog.