Research Project Pitch

The Pitch

Your first research project task is to make a pitch about what you wish to research and write about.  We often think about this stage as the one in which you identify a topic, though you may find it easier to think about this as a question—or set of questions—you hope to answer or an idea.

You are not proposing a thesis or controlling idea yet; that will come later.

It is important that you think through this carefully. Once I’ve approved your pitch, you’re stuck with it.

The Written Pitch (you’ll turn in to me on Canvas).

Your written pitch should be in the form of an essay (more than one page, less than two) in which you answer the following questions:

1. What is the topic (or question[s] or idea) you want to explore?
   1. The more specific the better (though it’ll probably still be pretty broad)
2. What makes you want to explore this topic?
3. Why is this topic worth your time?
4. What do you know already about your proposed topic?
5. What is the purpose of your research?
6. What do you anticipate you’ll need to learn about your proposed topic? What are some preliminary ideas about what you anticipating finding out about, issues you’ll be dealing with, contexts (history, relationships, definitions, etc.), claims, etc. you have? Or, more simply, what’s the purpose of your research?

The second part of the written pitch is a list of THREE scholarly secondary sources that seem as though they’d be useful/relevant to your proposed topic (if you can’t find three, you should probably re-think your topic) AND THREE primary sources (novels, short stories, plays, poems, memoirs, personal essays, autobiographies) relevant to your proposed topic. (Again, if you can’t find three, you should rethink your topic.)

1. You need to either have physical possession of the full text version of the sources[1] or be able to demonstrate that it’s practical for you to obtain them.
2. You should list these sources as a preliminary bibliography in MLA 8 style appended to your pitch essay (i.e. It should be a separate page at the end of your document.
3. N.B. The requirement to use at least one secondary source from Chaminade's library is waived due to the lack of physical access to our campus by students.

You do not need to ultimately use these preliminary sources (though you might); you’re simply trying to demonstrate that what you’re proposing is do-able, given the requirements of the project.

[1] e.g. You have the book, a PDF, a printout, a URL that leads to a full online essay/article, etc. OR you can provide a screenshot of a local library catalog entry (i.e. you could go there and get the source).

N.B.: Make sure your document is in MLA 8 format and that your sources are listed on a separate page (also in MLA 8 format).