How people and structure influences organizational Performance

Purpose: The purpose of the Research Proposal is to mold the preliminary ideas you have about your topic and to develop them in an academic manner. This development occurs as a direct result of your research on the subject. Therefore, this is your first formal articulation of your project. The Research Proposal is the next step towards writing assignments that will help you construct your Research Paper. Description: In this 500-600-word, essay-style Research Proposal, you will develop the project that you intend to write about for your final Research Paper for this course. If your Research Proposal is less than this word count, then it is likely you have not fully developed your proposal or adhered to the assignment appropriately, which can severely impact your grade for this assignment. Your Research Proposal will include the elements listed below. Your Research Proposal should also include a list of references in APA style and should adhere to APA convention throughout for in-text citation and style. When you write for academic or public audiences, it is imperative that you are supported by voices other than your own. In other words, even if you are an expert, you still must support your assertions. In a Research Proposal, the same is true. For this assignment, you will include at least one source in your description of your tentative argument. The source cannot be yourself, an interview, or your text book. You must research your topic in order to gain a valid academic source that speaks to your topic in some way. Elements: Your Research Proposal grade will be largely based on your inclusion of the elements listed below, as well as your development of the project. For assistance, you might want to refer to Chapter 1, Section 1a, of The Little, Brown Compact Handbook with Exercises (pp. 3-4). Your Research Proposal must contain the following elements: 1. Cover page and APA formatting: You will include an APA-style cover page for your Research Proposal. See the example on page 16 of The CSU APA Guide (6th edition). Your cover page should include the following: the title of your future Research Paper (this may be changed as your project develops), your name, and the name of your university (Columbia Southern University). The cover page must also include a running head which should include up to 50 characters from the title of the paper, along with a sequential page number in the upper right-hand corner. You can find instructions for formatting the running head on pp. 9-11 of The CSU APA Guide. 2. Purpose: Review the purpose statement on p. 333 of Strategies for Writing Successful Research Papers. You may also want to refer to Chapter 1, Section 1c of The Little, Brown Compact Handbook with Exercises (pp. 6-7). The following questions should be addressed in the first paragraph of your Research Proposal, which should be dedicated to establishing your purpose for doing this particular project. • What is your rationale for this project? • What do you hope to learn from the project, or what to do you want to see happen as a result of it? • Who is your audience for this project? Chapter 1, Section 1d, of The Little, Brown Compact Handbook with Exercises (pp. 7-8) • What role will you play in this project: investigator or advocate? 3. Statement of qualification: Address the following questions as they are applicable to your project. • What is your investment in the topic? • What personal experience do you bring to the topic? • What special qualities do you bring to the project? • How might your investment, experience, and special qualities make you particularly apt at developing this project? 4. Tentative argument: Your final Research Paper for this course will be an argumentative, research-based, academic paper. While it is unlikely that you will have a concrete idea of what your entire argument will be at this point in the writing process, it is necessary for you to articulate your argument as you understand it to be right now. Address the following questions. • What is the context surrounding your topic? In other words, is there some event that was a catalyst for bringing your topic into the public eye? (Optional) • What is your explanation or definition of the topic? • What is your analysis of the specific issue surrounding your topic? • What is your tentative thesis statement or hypothesis? 5. References: Include a references list as the last page of your Research Proposal. See the example on pages 6, 7, and 21 of The CSU APA Guide (6th edition). All entries are those that have been cited in the text. No others are to be included. No textbooks should be included on the references list. This long proposal example pulls together everything you have learned in this unit, following the elements listed above.

Id ; Assessing the wilting situatfers
Any writing you do for others occurs in a context that both limits and clarifies your choices. You are communicating something about a particular subject to a particular audience of readers for a specific reason. You may need to conduct research, YouH probably be up against a length requirement and a deadline. And you may be expected to present your work in a certain format.
These are the elements of the writing situation, and analyzing them at the very start of a project can tell you much about how to proceed.
Context
si What is your writing for? A course in school? Work? Something else? What do you know of the requirements for writing in this context?
® Will you present your writing on paper, online, or orally? What does the presentation method require in preparation time, special skills, and use of technology? § How much leeway do you have for this writing? What does the stated or implied assignment tell you?
Subject (pp. 5-6) ffi What does your writing assignment require you to write about? If you don't have a specific assignment, what subjects might be appropriate for this situation?

What interests you about the subject? What do you already know about it? What questions do you have about it? ; What does the assignment require you to do with the subject?
Purpose (pp. 6-7)
What aim does your assignment specify? For instance, does it ask you to explain something or argue a point? Why are you writing?
What do you want your work to accomplish? What effect do
you intend it to have on readers?
How can you best achieve your purpose?
Audience (pp. 7-8) * Who will read your writing? What do your readers already know and think about your subject? Do they have any characteristics—such as educational background, experience in your field, or political views—that could influence their reception of your writing? How should you project yourself in your writing? What role should you play in relation to readers, and what information should you give? How informal or formal should your writing be? What do you want readers to do or think after they read your writing?
Research (7 pp. 371-431) ; What kinds of evidence will best suit your subject, purpose, and audience? What combination of facts, examples, and expert opinions will support your ideas?
Does your assignment require research? Will you need to consult sources of information or conduct other research, such as interviews, surveys, or experiments?
Even if research is not required, what additional information do you need to develop your subject? How will you obtain it? What style should you use to cite your sources? (See 7 pp. 430-31 on source documentation in the academic disciplines.)
Deadline and length
When is the assignment due? How will you apportion the work you have to do in the available time? « How long should your writing be? If no length is assigned, what seems appropriate for your subject, purpose, and audience?
Document design
What organization and format does the assignment require? (See p. 54 on format in the academic disciplines and 2 pp. 129-40 on format in public writing.)

A subject for writing has several basic requirements:
m It should be suitable for the assignment, s It should he neither too general nor too limited for the assigned deadline and paper length.
It should be something you are willing to learn more about, even something you care about.
When you receive an assignment, study its wording and its implications about your waiting situation to guide your choice of subject:
s What's wanted from you? Many writing assignments contain words such as discuss, describe, analyze, report, interpret, explain, define, argue, or evaluate. These words specify the way you are to approach your subject, what kind of thinking is expected of you, and what your general purpose is. (See pp. 6-7.) s For whom are you writing? Many assignments will specify or imply your readers, but sometimes you will have to figure out for yourself who your audience is and what it expects of you. (For more on analyzing your audience, see pp. 7-8.) № What kind of research is required? An assignment may specify the kinds of sources you are expected to consult, and you can use such information to choose your subject. (If you are unsure whether research is required, check with your instructor.) m. Does the subject need to be narrowed? To do the subject justice in the length and time required, you 11 often need to limit it. (See below.)
Answering questions about your assignment will help set some boundaries for your choice of subject. Then you can explore your own interests and experiences to narrow the subject so that you can cover it adequately within the space and time assigned. Federal aid to college students could be the subject of a book; the kinds of aid available or why the government should increase aid would be a more appropriate subject for a four-page paper due in a week. Here are some guidelines for narrowing broad subjects:
® Break your broad subject into as many specific subjects as you can think of. Make a list.; For each specific subject that interests you and fits the assignment, roughly sketch out the main ideas. Consider how many paragraphs or pages of specific facts, examples, and other details you would need to pin those ideas down. This thinking should give you at least a vague idea of how much work you'd have to do and how long the resulting paper might be. m Break a too-broad subject down further, repeating the previous steps.
The Internet can also help you limit a general subject. On the Web, browse a directory such as BUBL LINK {bubLac.uk/link). As you pursue increasingly narrow categories, you may find a suitably limited topic.
1. 1C \ fj-efmlng yoiir purpose
Your purpose in wilting is your chief reason for communicating something about your subject to a particular audience of readers. It is your answer to a potential reader's question, "So what?*' Most writing you do will have one of four main purposes:
s lb entertain readers. ® To express your feelings or ideas, в lb explain something to readers (exposition), ; To persuade readers to accept or act on your opinion (argument).
These purposes often overlap in a single essay, but usually one predominates. And the dominant purpose will influence your slant on your subject, the details you choose, and even the words you use.
Many writing assignments narrow the purpose by using a signal word, such as the following:
a Report: Survey, organize, and objectively present the available
evidence on the subject. ® Summarize: Concisely state the main points in a text, argument, theory, or other work, ш Discuss: Examine the main points, competing views, or implications of the subject. m Compare and contrast: Explain the similarities and differences
between two subjects. (See also pp. 48-49.) ® Define: Specify the meaning of a term or a concept—distinctive
characteristics, boundaries, and so on. (See also pp. 47-48.) я Analyze: Identify the elements of the subject, and discuss how
they work together. (See also p. 48 and 2 p. 81.) is Interpret: Infer the subject's meaning or implications.