Crafting a Quality Proposal

In general, proposals that are most likely to receive a favorable review for inclusion in the program are those that are well suited for the unit to which they are submitted and which include a focused abstract that:

  • provides an overview of the argumentation, including a clear thesis statement and the main point(s) of the paper
  • clearly shows connections to the field’s literature
  • highlights the contribution the paper seeks to make to the field
  • and is 200 to 500 words in length.

Additionally the proposal should have a clear, concise, professional title that avoids jargon and sensationalism and is a maximum of 96 characters in length. We would recommend that you have several colleagues read and critique the proposal with these guidelines in mind.

Student proposals must include a recommendation.