Research Proposal Report
The purpose of this assignment is to begin the research report by researching your topic. It is also to acquaint you with the use of appropriate memo format and good search strategies according to standard business practices.
Topics:
Please choose a topic that is business related and relatively current, within the past 5 or 10 years; it ought to be a topic with multiple perspectives. An example of this kind of topic would be electric cars in Canada. Your topic MUST have a Canadian or Alberta focus.
You may NOT choose a topic such as gender/racial harassment, profiling, or other related issues such as same sex marriage. You may NOT choose a topic such as euthanasia, abortion, legally assisted suicide, or the use of medical marijuana. You may NOT choose a topic that is too broad, such as the Alberta Tar Sands and environmental degradation, or military use of robots, or Facebook marketing.
Suggestions for topics:
Government Bailouts (Choose Bombardier or General Motors; Challenges and Opportunities)
Northern Gateway Pipeline (Challenges and Opportunities)
Aboriginal Entrepreneurs (Challenges and Opportunities)
Alternate Sustainable Energy Sources (Choose wind or solar, Challenges and Opportunities)
The Foreign Worker Program (Challenges and Opportunities)
Sustainable agriculture in Canada (Choose aquaponics or organic vs. conventional farming; feedlot vs. grassfed beef; Challenges and Opportunities)
Water Conservation Methods (Choose one, either individual or governmental; Challenges and Opportunities)
You may choose a topic of your choice, but put your request in writing to me and send it to me as an email message BEFORE you complete the Research Proposal Report. You also need to make certain that there are appropriate peer-reviewed academic articles on your topic.
Format in Memo Form:
To: recipient name and title
From: your name and title if appropriate
Date: submission date
Subject: request for approval of your topic
Use the following headings for the content of the report. Left-justify your headings, and single-space your paragraphs but double-space between each of them.
• Purpose statement: Clearly state the purpose or the “why” for the research project.
State the reason for your interest in the topic and what you plan to achieve in terms of improving your writing skills and knowledge about the topic. Include a brief and tentative timeline for completion of the research report. Use sentences and paragraphs as needed.
• Annotated Bibliography:
An annotated bibliography is a list of sources in APA format that also includes a description of the scope of the articles, each author’s authority and qualifications, any biases or interpretive lens that the author is using (ideological, political, religious, for example) and the overall purpose the article will serve in your research report. This part of the bibliography is called the annotation.
The annotated bibliography is intended to allow you to move into your research report, which is submitted later in the course, with the confidence that your sources are appropriate and that you know how to develop a reference source list in APA format.
Include 5 sources with full APA reference followed by a brief description of their contents and credibility of the source. List the sources alphabetically by author or title as APA requires, and follow each one with its own annotation. Each annotation is between 100 and 125 words, and you will have five.

Three of your 5 sources MUST be peer-reviewed, academic sources (at least 8 – 10 pages in length and written by an academic). One of your sources MUST be from one of the COMM 3321 textbooks and be directly or indirectly related to your topic. The remaining source can be a peer-reviewed article, social media posting, or website article. Remember you must format it correctly in APA. Please note that Wikipedia is not acceptable as a source in COMM 3321.
• Request for approval: Make this a friendly, closing sentence or two, written in the most polite way possible.
• Your name and contact details: As with most business writing, include these at the end of your proposal report should your instructor/supervisor want to contact you for additional information.
Your assignment will be approximately 3 – 4 pages in total.
Resources for research sources:
Contact the NAIT librarians should you require assistance with finding your sources.
Resources for APA format:
Use the text Cites and Sources, the NAIT library documents on APA (go to the library homepage and follow the links), or the Owl Purdue Writing Lab (Google it and save it to your hard drive) for assistance with APA.
Your proposal report will be marked on:
• Content, including the sources themselves and their appropriateness
• Report format and organization, including headings as required
• Appropriate diction (standard language level, no slang or jargon)
• Grammar and other writing matters correct
• APA format correctly done: Title page, Running Head, page numbers and documentation
Please be aware that any proposal report that does NOT meet the research requirement in terms of types of sources or number will automatically receive a grade of D (59%) or lower.
Please submit a print copy for marking and grading, and upload a copy into Moodle using the following file name: last name_first name_ PropRep.