thesisproposal写作指南及样本.docx

thesisproposal写作指南及样本.docx

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thesisproposal写作指南及样本

Thesisproposal写作指南及样本

proposalshouldmakeaconvincingscholarlycasethattheprojectisrigorous？

andinnovativeintheoryandconception,methodologyandmaterialcontent,an？

dthatitcanproducenew,relevantandindependentlyverifiableinsights.？

Theproposaloutlineformatalsoprovidesthemainstructureforthefinalthe？

sisessay.？

Introduction:

WintheReader’sAttention？

Everyproposalshouldprovideclear,explicitanswerstothreequestions:

？

Whatarewegoingtolearnfromtheproposedprojectthatwecurrentlydonot？

know？

Whyisitworthknowing？

Onwhatbasiscanweevaluatethevalidityoftheconclusions？

Saywhatyouhavetosaydirectly,firmlyandconcisely.Grabthereader’sat？

tentionintheopeningparagraphs.Hereyoushouldoverstate,ratherthanunde？

rstate,yourquestionorposition.Youcanintroducequalificationslater.？

Oneapproachistobeginwithaclearlyposedquestion:

"Hasthediscourseof？

developmentachieveditsends""Isanthropologytheagentofimperialism""W？

hatcontributionshasanthropologymadeinthequestforworldpeace"Donot？

poserhetoricalquestions,butconcreteissueswhoseanswerscanbedetermined？

whiletheyarenotimmediatelyapparent.？

Alternately,stateyourcentralpoint,hypothesis,orinterpretationdirectly:

？

"Culturaldifferencesdonotkillpeople,onlypeoplekillpeople.""Developm？

enthasdonewondersfortheremainingfood-foragingpeoplesoftheplanet.""？

Thestudyofpopularmusicrevealstheunspokenculturalpreceptsofthesocie？

tythatproducesandconsumesit."？

Ofcourse,noteveryprojectisreducibletosuchbriefpropositions.Itmayb？

enecessarytolayoutalogical,sequentialargumenttodefinethecorequest？

ion.However,ifyoursisamorecomplexargument,becertaintoprojectacle？

arandexplicitmessagethatwillmakeyoursstandoutfromotherproposals.？

WritingStyle:

StriveforClarityandGrace？

Yourproposalshouldofferaclearexpositionofanthropology’sresearchfron？

tiers,notatediouslitanyofitsdullerdimensions.Avoidpretentiousjargon？

andiftechnicallanguageiscalledfor,useonlythosenewwordsandtechni？

caltermsthathavenoequivalentsineverydaylanguage.Likewise,focusonth？

eideas,notthedetails.Arguetheconceptsandtendenciesinyourareaofco？

ncentration,notthedescriptivefinepoints.Keepthemaintextasstreamline？

daspossible.？

Poorwritingkillsthebestofideas.Useastylemanualinallyourwriting.？

Oneexcellentwritingreference（availableonline）isStrunkandWhite'sTheE？

lementsofStyle.Thisandotherresourcesareaccessiblefromthejumppage,？

AnthropologyResourcesontheInternet,reachedfromalinkontheHartwickAn？

thropologyDepartmentHomePage.？

TheoreticalConcerns:

EstablishtheProposalContext？

Yourproposalshouldnotbeatiredexerciseintheobvious.Itshouldstatew？

hatnewknowledgetheprojectwillproduce.Summarizepreciselyandsuccinctly？

thecurrentstateofknowledge,andprovideacurrent,comprehensivebibliogr？

aphy.Youdonotneedtoprovideareviewof"theliterature,"butofferacle？

arlyfocusedviewofthespecificbodyofknowledgetowhichyouwilladd.The？

bibliographyprovidesameasureofyourseriousness,anditscomprehensivenes？

swillreflectuponyourproposal'sevaluation.Agoodbibliographyindicates？

thoroughpreparationtoensurethatyourprojectwillenhancetheworkofothe？

rs,notduplicateit.？

Avoidexcessivediscussion,especiallyintheAbstractandIntroduction,ofth？

egeneraltheoreticalproblem.Concentratemoreondiscussingspecificallyhow？

youwillcarryouttheresearchandanalysis（seemethodologydiscussionbelo？

w）.？

Intheearlystagesofproposalwriting,theHartwicklibraryprofessionalsca？

nhelpyouidentifyandaccessthemanyprintandelectronicresourcesrelevan？

ttoyourproject.BeginwiththeLibraryofCongressSubjectHeadingstoiden？

tifythekeywordsthatwillbeessentialtoefficient,effectivebibliographic？

research.ConsultsuchresourceguidesasDissertationAbstractsInternationa？

l,theSocialSciencesCitationIndex（SSCI）,SocialSciencesIndex,andtheS？

ocialSciencePeriodicalIndex,andotheronlineperiodicalsearchengines.Th？

eAnnualReviewofAnthropologyisanimportantvenueforstate-of-the-artdis？

cussionsandextensivebibliographies,asaresucharea-studiesguidesasthe？

HandbookofLatinAmericanStudies（availableonline）andtheInternationalA？

fricanBibliography.AlsoconsideronlinedatabasessuchasCARLandERIC.In？

theearlystages,Iwillaskthatyouidentifytheresearchresourcesyouhave？

utilized.Youwillavoidfrustrationandsavevaluableresearchtimebyconsu？

ltingsuchresourcesattheoutset.？

WhatIstheCoreObjective？

Thestatementthat"ithasnotbeenstudied"maybeasufficientargument.Ind？

eed,generally,thelessknownaboutone’schosentopic,themorecompelling？

theproposal.Whateveryouchoose,aimtoconvincethereaderthatyourtopic？

isnotonlytimely,butalsothatitsresultswillelucidateenduringhumanpr？

oblems.？

Explicittheoreticalinterestisalwaysimportant.Yourtheoreticalframeshou？

ldsituatethequestionintermsofitsrelevancetocontroversialtheoretical？

arguments.Howdoesyourprobleminformthemaintheoreticaldebatesinanthr？

opologyHowdoesyourapproachtestacceptedideasoroffernewonesTobee？

ffective,yourproposalshoulddemonstrateawarenessofcompetingviewpointsa？

ndargueyourpositionbyaddressinganthropologicaltheorybroadly,whilenot？

ingalternativetendencies.？

ConceptualIssues:

DevelopanInnovativeApproach？

Enigmasandseemingcontradictionscanbepowerfullypersuasive."Beginningin？

the1950s,theCivilRightsMovementpromisedtoremakeracialrelationsint？

heJimCrowsouth,butseveraldecadeslater,identitypoliticsismorecontro？

versialissuethaneverinpopularculturaldiscoursethroughoutthenation."？

"AfterWorldWarII,socialscientistsworriedthatwidespreadmigrationtour？

bancenterswouldunderminerurallife.Indeed,theeffectscanbeseeninman？

ypartsofthecountry,buttoday,aidedbymoderncomputerandcommunications？

technology,anewurban-to-ruralmigrationtrendissimultaneouslyunderway."？

Cautionarynote:

Unlessyouhavesomethingoriginaltoadd,youmaywanttoav？

oidtopics"ofcentralinteresttoanthropology."Usuallythesearesubjectsa？

boutwhichmanyarewriting,inresponsetothedefinitivecontributionofat？

rueinnovator.Bythetimeyouwriteyourproposal,dotheresearch,andsitd？

owntowrite,youmightwishyouwereworkingonsomethingelse.Soifyourin？

terestsleadyoutoarelativelyunexploredproblem,one"notofcurrentandc？

entralinteresttoanthropology,"considerpursuingit.？

OutlineYourMethodology？

Regardingmethodologicalefficacy,theproposalmustspecifyyourresearchstr？

ategyandhowyouwillinterprettheresultsvis-à-visyourcentralproblem.？

Donotjuststateyourgoal;tellhowyouwillgoaboutit.Amethodologygoes？

beyondsimplylistingresearchtaskstoassertingwhythesetasksconstitute？

thebestapproachtotheproblem.Asimplelistingoftasksdoesnotnecessari？

lymeanthattheycomprisethebestormostexpedientapproach.？

Somecommonexpressionsdonotspecifytangibleresearchstrategies.Forexamp？

le,"Iwilllookattherelationbetweenxandy"isuninformative."Lookinga？

t"arelationbetweenvariablescanonlybedoneindirectly,bydiggingthroug？

harchives,interviewing,observingandtakingstandardizednotes,collecting？

data,analyzingpatternsandthelike.Howwillyouhighlighttherelationship？

ofunderlyingforcesintrinsictothemassofdataYoushouldoutlinethepr？

ocessofgatheringdataandinterpretingitasspecificallyasyoucan.Whata？

ctivitieswillyoupursuetocollectdata,whattechniqueswillyouusetoana？

lyzeit,andhowwillyoutestthevalidityofyourconclusionsDonotleave？

thereaderwonderingwhatyouactuallywilldo.Specifythesources,therespo？

ndents,andtheproposedtechniquesofdatacollectionandanalysis.？

Proposalsthatengageapowerfulcurrentissue（identity,gender,ethnicity,r？

ace,nationalism,hegemony,culturalresistance,relationsofstatesandindig？

enouspeople）oftenfollowapredictablyweaklineofreasoning.Theybeginby？

discussingvarioustheoreticalformulationsoftheissue.Thentheyofferav？

aguelaundrylistofresearchmethods,hintingthattheprojectwillapplythe？

"appropriate"methodologyinthefield.Theproposalendsbyassertingarath？

erslackandgeneralizedconnectionbetweenBandA.Trytoavoidthisdeaden？

d.？

Incontrast,acomparativeresearchdesignhasparticularappeal.Insomeways？

allresearchiscomparativebecauseitmustemploysomeimplicitorexplicit？

pointofreference.Makethecomparisonexplicittoenhanceitsvalueasanav？

enueofscientificinquiry.Incomparativeproposals,theevaluatoraskswheth？

erthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthechosencaseselucidatethecen？

tralquestion,andwhethertheauthoriscapableofexecutingbothsidesofth？

ecomparison.？

Summary:

RestateandSpecifyYourObjectives？

Aneffectiveproposalusuallyendsbyre-invokingtheoriginalthesis.Howwil？

lresearchanditsresultsfinallyilluminatethecentralquestionHowwilly？

oudemonstratethevalidityofyouroriginalideaYoumustconvincethereade？

rthatthereissomethingclearlyatstakeinthestudy,thatdoesnothavea？

preconceivedconclusion,andthatyourexplorationoftheunknownwillyielde？

ngaging,systematicpropositions.？

Proposa