Senior Seminar Thesis Proposal

New Main Research Question: How do young adults who aged out of foster care describe their post-secondary educational experiences and outcomes?

Will Be using past paper for this, but not completely maybe part of the audio interview

The thesis proposal paper is designed as an important tool to specify the direction you plan to take in your research. We will accomplish this by using the proposal to answer:

• What subject area within sociology does your research address? (Note: This is an introduction to the They Say portion of your proposal)
• What type of thesis are you proposing? (e.g. expanded literature review, more in depth analysis of previously collected quantitative or qualitative data, theoretical exegesis, research brief )
• What were your arguments and findings in your previous paper or project?
• What is your current research question?
• Why is addressing this research question important/relevant? Who will be most interested in learning more about this topic? (Note: This is your answer to the questions so what? and who cares?)
• Identify and briefly explain three outside resources (theoretical or empirical) that you believe have a strong potential for contributing to the development of your argument/analysis?

You are required to write a 2-3 page essay that synthesizes the above questions into a clear and concise proposal of your Senior Thesis topic, including an appropriate reference page for outside sources and annotated notes for each of those sources (I will present the basic requirements of these annotations in class). You will be asked to present this information to your peers so that all class members can be made aware of the on-going research projects in the class. This also gives us an opportunity to discuss these topics and offer feedback.

Please be aware that your proposal is not a binding contract. As your ideas develop and are work-shopped through the peer review process there will be opportunities to adjust or start down new paths. But creating a clear, well-conceived proposal will be a crucial starting point and should not be taken lightly. The proposal is due in class, week 3.