Commercial Music in Context

The Proposal

Project Proposal and Bibliography (1000 words)

Deadline for Proposal 15th December 2014

Essay structure

Front Cover with detailsInclude your name, course,

assignment, year List of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction

Main Text – divided into sub-

headings

Conclusion

References

Bibliography

Appendices

Start this task by considering the proposed

structure of your 4,000 word essay. Some of

these components will be part of the Proposal.

Proposal structure

Front Cover with details

Research Question

Explanation of this Research Question

(approximately 200 words)

Contextual background (approximately 500 words)

Proposed structure of the essay (approximately 300 words)

7) Bibliography (APA style)

8) Appendices

Your proposal should contain the following

series of headings in this order:

The Research Question and Structure part of the

Proposal will form the Introduction.

!Obviously there will be no conclusion to the Proposal!

!The Context part of the Proposal will become the

main text.

!! NOTE !!

As with the 4000 word essay, use sub-headings to structure your proposal

and to split it up. Sub-headings act as

signposts.

Research Question

There is a difference between having a Topic: The Hip Hop Genre

and having a Research Question: What were the social and cultural

contexts that gave rise to Hip Hop?

In one or two sentences you will focus on the main objectives of this essay.

It is these objectives that we will measure you against when assessing your work.

When constructing your question you need to ensure that you have the research material to enable you to answer

this question

Immediately following the one or two sentences that you have used to state your question, you should write one

or two short paragraphs that attempt to explain what your

question means.

Explanation of the Research Question

!! NOTE !! ✘ Do not write a lengthy

account at this stage in your proposal!

✔ Allow yourself 100-200 words maximum.

In some cases you may have a direct and simple research question; however many

research questions do require some explanation.

This should help to make it clear what you are trying to do but it will not be the answer to the

question you have set yourself.

This part of the Proposal will be the largest

component.

Contextual Background and

Referencing

This component of the proposal will enable assessors to determine your

knowledge of the chosen topic alongside your ability to write in an

academic format.

You are expected to write a 500 words of text, using APA referencing throughout.

Contextual Background and

Referencing

It is up to you how you compose this text. !

It may entirely be a background/history to your topic.

You could concentrate upon issues/theory - this will obviously focus on the core of your argument.

!! NOTE !! Many students use this section as a mini version of the whole essay they

intend to write which they then work upon throughout this academic year.

Even though you are at the early stages of this project we require you to produce an

‘essay plan’.

Structure of the essay

✘ It is not enough for you to simply state that you will write a history of your topic.

!✔ You will need to say what this history is and provide a suitable sub-headed title for the section. Likewise, this applies to the theory section

and the example section.

Following your context section of the proposal you will have provided a list of references (using APA

referencing style). !

Following the structure section of your proposal you will provide a full bibliography.

(This will obviously include some of the material that you have used in your referencing section).

Bibliography

!! NOTE !! You are being assessed on this research work so ensure that you have a good collection of books, articles, and

websites along side other research material.

Your text should be presented in the following way:

✔ The text must be word processed in 12 point Times New Roman font

✔ All pages of the work should be numbered sequentially

✘ Do not use the first person when writing

✔ Lines of text should normally be double spaced

except for quotations of more than 5 lines

✔ All work must be spell

checked and proof-read prior to submission

The text for your Proposal