Proposal Guidelines (EC487)
Your essay proposal should contain the following:
Title
An informative title that emphasizes the main theme of the essay
Essay Subject
A short paragraph summarizing your essay subject and your main aim(s).
Extended abstract (max 1500 words)
Abstract should answer the following questions
What is the main subject of the essay?
Why is it interesting and important?
What the reader should expect to learn from your essay
What are the questions you would like to answer?
What is the main thesis of your essay?
Plan of the essay
 List the main sections and subsections of your essay
 Explain every section with one or two sentences (e.g., inform the reader about
what you plan to write under every section)
Reseach summary
 Summarize your research for this essay (what did you do before writing the
proposal?)
 Summarize your plans for this essay (what else do you need to do?)
 List the main sources you plan to use in your essay
For every resource, include a note (a couple of sentences) indicating
what it is about and how it may be helpful in writing your essay
List at least 4 resources
Notes:
 At least %70 of your sources should be academic articles, books,
reports, etc.
 Use web resources such as wikipedia, blogs, etc. with extreme
care. Normally, such resources should help you find your
research material, they should not be the main resources for your
essay. Well researched web-content (blogs by experts, newspaper
articles etc.) may be used, but remember that you need to cite
your resources carefully.
 Read the essay writing guidelines. You need to follow the
guidelines strictly! Essay writing guidelines will also help you in
writing a good proposal.
The next page contains a template for your essay proposal. Please use this template.
EC487
ESSAY PROPOSAL
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR STUDENT ID NO.]
Essay Title
[Write your title here]
Essay Subject
[Write your short-description of your essay here]
Extended Abstract
[Write your abstract here]
Plan of the Essay:
1. Introduction
[Explain what you plan to write in this section]
2. [your 2nd section]
[Explain what you plan to write in this section]
.
.
.
n. Conclusion
[Explain what you plan to write in this section]
Research Summary
A. [Summarize your research for this essay (what did you do before writing the
proposal?)]
B. [Summarize your plans for this essay (what else do you need to do?)]
C. List the main sources
1. [write your source here]
[Explain your source]
2. [write your source here]
[Explain your source]
3. [write your source here]
[Explain your source]
4. [write your source here]
[Explain your source]
[you may of course add more resources]