answered: Instructions The research proposal is intended to provide yo

  

Instructions
The research proposal is intended to provide you with an opportunity to develop your research topic for the term paper. The research proposal requires that you critically reflect on a historical figure, event, artifact, or issue, and explain its historical and social significance. Given the nature of the course, the chosen topic should be historical in nature (i.e., roughly prior to the year 2000) and reflect a broader issue in sport and society. For example, while Sydney Crosby’s “golden goal” at the 2010 Olympics may be a historic event, it does not directly reflect or relate to a broader societal issue, thus making it a poor topic for the assignment. Instead, you’ll want to focus on a topic that reflects the key themes of the course (i.e., issues of race, class, gender, commercialism, nationalism and so on). If you are unsure if your topic is historical, don’t hesitate to ask!
The goals of the assignment are to familiarize yourself with a research topic, conduct preliminary research on that topic, and begin to develop an argument supported by primary and secondary sources. Each of these components can (and should) form the basis for your term paper, so choose wisely.
The research proposal should be completed via the “Research Proposal Submission Form,” which can be found in the assignments tab on Sakai. The form consists of the following components:
Identify the topic of study
What is the topic to be studied?
Provide of brief overview of the topic (1 paragraph)
What are the key ideas of the topic? Why did you choose the topic?
Historical and social significance of the topic (1 paragraph)
How is the topic historically and socially significant? How does it relate to the goals of the course?
Thesis statement (1-2 sentences)
What argument will you advance in your term paper?
Research undertaken (1 paragraph each)
What are the key ideas of the chosen sources? How is the chosen source relevance to your topic/thesis?
The research proposal should make use of a minimum of five (5) sources, two (2) of which must primary historical sources and three (3) of which must be secondary academic sources. The primary sources can be from newspapers articles, magazines, etc., but should be reputable in nature and of the time under study.
Please note that students are not permitted to choose a historical figure discussed in chapter 6 of the textbook. Further, the chosen topic should also be related to the Canadian context in some way, even if only tangentially (e.g., explain the impact of the topic on the Canadian context).