Grading guidelines: Research proposal

The research proposal makes up 20% of your overall grade, including up to 2% for your class presentation of the proposal and up to 18% for your full written proposal that is due during finals week. Students are encouraged to focus on research topics that either link to their other areas of expertise or their favorite topics introduced during the course.

Flash presentation of the proposed research

Students will present the basic idea of their research proposal to their fellow classmates.

Full credit (2 points) for the presentation will be given when all of the following criteria are met:

  1. The presentation is between 2 and 3 minutes long (maximum!!)
  2. The introduction directly motivates the research question
  3. The research question is clearly posed
  4. The proposed methods are explained in enough detail to make specific predicted findings and issues
  5. Predicted findings are graphically presented

Presenting all this information in 2–3 minutes will be challenging; procrastination is not advised! ;)

Full proposal of research project

Dr. Casillas will grade each one with the following questions in mind:

  1. Is the research question clear, specific, and answerable?
  2. Is the research question novel and/or creative in some way?
  3. Does the proposed method of study and the proposed analysis give a targeted answer to the research question?
  4. Does the literature review support the relevance of the research question and the methods and analysis proposed?
  5. Consider how specific the results would be to a single context/population: Is that specificity appropriate to the scope of the research question?
  6. Is there thoughtful discussion of what it would mean if the results came out as predicted? This discussion should match the scope of the literature review and research question.
  7. Is there thoughtful discussion of what it would mean if the results DID NOT come out as predicted? This discussion should match the scope of the literature review and research question.
  8. Does the proposal demonstrate thoughtful integration of course concepts together with the student’s own ideas?
  9. Is the proposal well written, typo-free, and easy to understand?
  10. Are there at least 6 research papers cited, and are at least 3 from the course syllabus?

Dr. Casillas will assess each of these questions with the following scale and add comments for each in her assessment of the proposal:

No (0) — Somewhat (1) — Partly (2) — Strongly (3)

The answers to these questions, together with the minimal criteria (below), will be used to assess the final score for each proposal. Proposals that strongly fulfill most/all of the questions above, plus the minimum criteria, will be highly rated.

All proposals must fulfill three minimal criteria:

  • Be submitted on time: 08 March, 2022 at 11.59 Chicago time
  • Be between 10 and 15 pages long (single-spaced, one-inch margins, 12 pt Arial font)
  • Include all of the following sections:
    1. Literature review
    2. Research question
    3. Predictions
    4. Methods (for data collection and/or annotation)
    5. Analysis (including a graphical depiction of the expected findings)
    6. Discussion (interpretation of predicted and non-predicted results)
    7. References cited

Late proposal?

Please negotiate late proposal submissions directly with Dr. Casillas, as soon as possible.