Essay Proposal Guidelines:

Proposals are designed to help you, i.e., to give feedback before you actually
hand in your essays.

The proposal is to be handed in during your usual tutorial on the week

of 15 August.
The proposal must include your name and student ID# as well as your
chosen question, and your tutorial details, clearly written at the top of
the page.
The proposal should be around 200 words (excluding sources, your name,
and the question etc.) Be careful to not write too much over or under this
word limit (plus or minus 50 words each side would be considered the
maximum allowable limit)
The proposal should begin with a brief explanation as to why you chose
this particular question.
This should be followed by a brief summary of how you plan to structure
your argument.
To finish you should include what you expect your main conclusions may
be.
Finally, you must include a properly formatted (see Coursework Guide,
on CANVAS) bibliography citing a minimum of three academic sources.
More is fine, but make sure that theyre strictly relevant to the topic
chosen.
All proposals should follow department guidelines regarding proper
grammar, punctuation, etc. Again, see the coursework guide on CANVAS if
you are unsure

Helpful hints:
How to find resources: The library. The textbook chapters and sources.
Google scholar (not just a normal google search. Databases. Other
appropriate academic sources (not Wikipedia or the like!) Please do not
use online sources such as Te Ara or NZHistory.
When describing how the argument will be structured: An essay
is an argument, so you need to pick a side and argue it. This doesnt mean
that you wont present evidence for both sides of the argument, but you
will need to come to a conclusion of some kind. Outlining structure in this
exercise is akin to planning an essay, so you might write something like:
paragraph one will talk about the continuing popularity of the monarchy
due to reasons x, y, and z or the essay will begin by presenting data
from x that shows that the monarchy enjoys y% popularity in NZ.
Reason for the selection: This should be very brief. If the subject
interests you thats great, but simply writing this is insufficient: you need
to tell us why. Dont just tell us why in general terms, either: a response
 that says I chose x topic because its interesting, and its interesting
because its important is not what were looking for! Tell us why the
subject is important academically, politically etc. Come up with at least
one really good reason. This section is there to help the markers get an
idea of where youre coming from.

You are not restricted by your proposals. If you decide to write your actual
essay on a different question that is ok. Essays can end up coming to different
conclusions to the ones outlined in the proposal, and thats okay too - in fact its
a very common outcome of academic research!

Because the proposals are handed in during tutorials, they do not require a cover
sheet.

POLITICS 107/107G 2016 Essay

Proposal
Student name, ID number: Tutorial time, day, tutors
name:

Question in full:

Why did you choose this question?

Summary of how you plan to structure your argument:

What do you expect your main conclusions to be?

Sources consulted:

Please note: if you have any basic questions (about referencing, academic
sources, structure, for example) regarding this proposal, you are encouraged to
consult the syllabus, the coursework guide and the essay proposal guidelines (all
on CANVAS). Tutors and course convenors are here to help you, but we do
expect you to be able to answer these kinds of questions by consulting the
resources available. Happy writing!