Your proposal should be approximately 4-6 pages (double-spaced) and organized in three sections as outlined below. Use subheadings or numbers to delineate the sections and be sure to address the elements listed for each section.
Sections 1 and 2 must be written in narrative form – DO NOT format these sections as a series of questions and answers or a set of bullet points. Section 3 can be written in narrative form or as a set of bullet points or subsections. The timeline can be included as Section 4 or as an appendix.
1. Your research questions
- What research questions do you want to explore over the next two years?
- How did you arrive at these questions? What courses, research, work experience, extra-curriculars, personal experiences, etc. led you to be interested in these questions?
- What academic preparation do you have that will help you in answering these questions? How do these questions relate to your intended major and/or minor or to specific courses that you've taken or plan to take?
- How have other people in your field or discipline approached these questions? If applicable, discuss relevant literature or previous findings.
- Why do these questions matter to you personally? Why are they questions that you especially want to explore?
2. Research plans
- How will you work toward answering your questions? What elements do you plan to include (e.g., research, additional training, internships, conferences, leadership roles)?
- Are there skills or knowledge you need to acquire to help answer your questions? How will you obtain these skills or knowledge sets?
- How will you engage with your faculty mentor throughout the next two years? How does their expertise relate to your plan?
- How would you plan to use the funding available through the program? (Provide a summary but not an itemized budget in this section.)
- What kind of output would you like to achieve by the end of your senior year (e.g., honors thesis, article manuscript, certification, patent)?
3. Other considerations
- Do you anticipate any language and/or cultural barriers?
- Are there any potential safety concerns?
- Will you need to complete any training or certifications (if not mentioned in Part 2)?
- Anything else you feel is relevant?
4. Appendix/timeline
- List your Coulter Scholar plans by term starting from your junior fall through graduation
- If you plan to engage in scholarly activities during interim periods (e.g., winterim, spring break), include these in your timeline.
If there are one or more terms in which you do not plan to be engaged in the Coulter Scholars program for any reason, note that in the timeline.