Topic Proposal for Persuasive Research Essay
Selecting the right subject matter is important to every writer. To help you make your ideas clear
and to strengthen your commitment to your topic, here is a proposal sheet that asks you to
describe your ideas about your subject before you begin writing. Although as you write your
ideas may change a little (they will almost certainly become more refined), thinking through
your choice of topic now may help you to avoid several false starts. Answer the following
questions, using complete sentences, and submit to turnitin.com by Monday, April 18.
1. What is the subject of your persuasive essay? Is it controversial? Debatable? Write a
rough statement of your opinion about this subject.
2. Why are you interested in this topic? Is it important to your life somehow? State at least
one reason for your choice of topic.
3. Is this a topic that will really interest other people? Why? What particular audience
would you like to address?
4. At this point can you list at least two reasons that support your opinion of this topic?
5. Who opposes your opinion? Can you state clearly at least one of your opposition’s major
criticisms of your position?
6. What difficulties, if any, might arise during the writing of this paper?
7. Include an annotated bibliography for at least 4 sources you have found to include in your
research paper. Instructions on how to do this can be found on the next page.
WORKS CITED
(Below are sample entries for books, magazine/journal articles, and Web pages. You probably
won’t need every type of entry for your paper. Find the entry below that best matches the source
you used for your paper. Highlight each section and type in the appropriate information. If you
have several sources of the same kind, copy and paste as necessary. After all your items are
entered, rearrange the items so the final version is in alphabetical order. Don’t forget to save this
to your own disk (often!), and be sure you remove gray text such as this.)
The first seven examples are for books or chapters in a book:
Last Name, First Name. Title of a Book With One Author, Title Underlined or Italicized, With
Significant Words Capitalized. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book in a Second Edition. 2nd ed. Place of Publication:
Publisher, Year of Publication.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. If you paste citation information
into this template from a Web page, Word will over-ride this template and try to replicate
whatever format appeared on the Web page,. This is only one of many annoyingly “helpful”
things Word does. The way around it is to copy from the Web page as usual, and select
“Paste Special” from the Edit menu. In “Paste Special,” choose “unformatted text,” and
you’ll be good to go.
Title of a Book Without an Author, Title Underlined or Italicized. Place of Publication:
Publisher, Year of Publication.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Last Name of First Author, First Name of First Author, and Second (and third, if necessary)
Author's Name in Normal Order. Title of Book With Two or Three Authors, Title Underlined
or Italicized. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Last Name of First Author, First Name of First Author, et al. Title of Book With More Than
Three Authors, Title Underlined or Italicized. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Organization Name. Title of Book With a "Corporate Author," Title Underlined or Italicized.
Place of Publication: Publisher, Date.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Author(s). “Title of Article in Quotation Marks.” Title of an Edited Anthology, Underlined or
Italicized. Ed. Editor’s Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page numbers of the
specific story or essay you're using.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
The next five examples are for magazine, newspaper, or professional journal articles (use the last
example for articles downloaded or printed from online services such as ProQuest):
“Title of Newspaper or Magazine Article With No Author Listed, Title in Quotation Marks.”
Title of Magazine or Newspaper, Underlined or Italicized Day Month Year: page numbers.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Author(s). “Title of Newspaper or Magazine Article in Quotation Marks.” Title of Magazine or
Newspaper, Underlined or Italicized Day Month Year: page numbers.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Author(s). “Title of Journal Article in Quotation Marks.” Title of Professional Journal With
Continuous Pagination Vol (Year): page numbers.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Author(s). “Title of Journal Article in Quotation Marks.” Title of Professional Journal With Each
Issue Paginated Separately Vol.Issue Number (Year): page numbers.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Author's Last name, First name. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Underlined or Italicized
Date of publication, volume number and issue number if scholarly: page numbers. Name of
database (such as ProQuest) underlined. Subscription service name (UMI for ProQuest
articles). Subscribing library and location. Day Month Year of access <Online Provider URL
address in angle brackets>
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
The next three examples are for Web pages. Citing Web pages can be tricky, and these three
examples don’t cover all the possibilities. Ask your instructor or a librarian if you are unsure:
Author(s) if Given. Name of Web Page. Date of Posting/ Revision. Name of
institution/organization affiliated with the site (if any). Date You Accessed the Site
<electronic address or URL>.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Name of Web Page When No Author is Listed. Date of Posting/ Revision. Name of
institution/organization affiliated with the site (if any). Date You Accessed the Site
<electronic address or URL>.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.
Author(s) if Given. "Title of Specific Web Article." Title of Web Magazine or Publication the
Page is a Part Of. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with
the site (if any). Date You Accessed the Site <electronic address or URL>.
Highlight this passage and replace it with your annotation. In a descriptive annotation, you
merely describe what the book, web page, or article is about. In a critical bibliography, you
provide a descriptive annotation, and you evaluate the success or reliability of the book, web
page, or article. You might also compare or contrast the source with another source on the
topic. Ask your instructor which kind of annotation you are expected to write. Notice that in
this template, the annotation is indented and single spaced. Make sure your instructor is
satisfied with this format before you do the entire assignment.