Instructions
Write an introduction to your topic that incites interest and depicts the need for the study. Why should the reader be interested in this topic? What should the reader hope to gain from this project? Find a quotation, anecdote, news item, or some other element on the topic that can incite such interest as you open your paper.
Then, briefly describe the reasons for this choice of the topic and study, along with the other elements required as indicated below. Keep in mind, academic writing is supposed to be as objective and dispassionate as possible, which means you should avoid a conversational tone, all slang, and writing in the first or second person. Try wherever possible to write in the third person throughout academic writing. Even if there is some personal aspect that is to be addressed, there are ways to format such writing that do not involve using the first person.
This written assignment must include the following:
Introduce the topic.
Discuss your topic selection.
Explain its background and your rationale for choosing it.
Describe your personal interest in it.
Explore its relevance to professional life and of such a research project.
List the key words used to refine your topic or problem statement.
Provide the purpose of the paper (explain, analyze, or argue).
Identify intended audience (general or specialized).
Indicate your voice as the writer (informer or advocate).
Identify key points or main question to be studied.
Draft a preliminary problem statement, thesis statement, or opening hypothesis that includes mention of the context of your topic.
Provide a summary.
Guidelines
Organize your thoughts in such a way that every aspect of your work has the preliminary thesis statement or main question in mind. Do not allow yourself to be sidetracked by tertiary issues. All written assignments are initial drafts of the final capstone project, so your mentor will provide you with the necessary feedback best suited to the development of your ideas and the formatting of your work.
Include a title page.
All formatting should be in accordance with APA or MLA, depending on your discipline. Formatting conventions for each may be found at the Online Writing Lab of Purdue University.
Your assignment must be submitted as a Word document. Do not submit your work as a PDF.
provide at least 3 research questions:
1. What are the reasons for the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915?
2. What were the effects of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania?
3. Which scholarly explanation is the strongest for why the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915, sunk in only 18 minutes?
