Preliminary Report

Preparing this short paper will force you to get your writing for this project started.  It will require you:

1.      to do some serious thinking about your topic,

2.      to analyze a few secondary sources that you are likely to use,

3.      to make you more familiar and comfortable with the material so that you will have less trouble writing clear, effective sentences, and

4.      to break the ice, so to speak, by getting your ideas down on paper so that writing the Research Paper itself will not seem so daunting.  In a way the Preliminary Report can be the foundation for your Research Paper.

The Preliminary Report should follow the structure outlined below.  To make it easier I have written the prompts in the form of questions that you�ll respond to; however, your paragraphs should not read like a question and answer format.  This should be a coherent short essay in its own right.

1st paragraph:     How do you interpret your topic in terms of the literature?  Explain how the topic emerges in the piece by citing specific passages.

2^nd paragraph:  What essay from A World of Ideas will you employ to enhance your discussion of the topic?  Provide a quote or two that pertains to the main idea and explain what it contributes to the discussion.

3^rd paragraph:  What pertinent information have you uncovered in your research thus far?  Explain how and why it will fit into your project. Cite your sources.

4^th paragraph:  Conclude.  White a synthesis paragraph that considers the three components you just discussed.  Talk also about information that you might still need to get and challenges you face in the completion of this project.