Here, you will propose to conduct research on Substance Abuse Among Youths. Then, you will create a plan for studying this topic in a way that allows you to move beyond a “common sense” or conventional understanding of it toward a more scholarly and discipline-specific kind of awareness. The proposal should address the following four questions:

1. Why would you like to research the topic you’ve chosen? In other words, why is it meaningful to you?

2. How is this topic popularly understood and what do you currently know about it?

Here, you should explain the common assumptions the general public often makes about your topic. Also explain what you, yourself, know (and don’t know) about it. For instance, say you have decided to focus on researching the most effective training strategies for mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters. To address this question, you might suggest that when people think of how MMA fighters train, they often envision these athletes spending hours in the gym lifting weights, sparring, or doing some form of cardiovascular endurance training. Maybe you know that this kind of physical training occurs, and maybe you know quite a few details about the specific exercises it entails. That said, perhaps you (and most people) don’t know as much about the role psychology and counseling play in preparing fighters mentally for competition. This is the sort of information you would want to include when answering question #2.

3. What more do you hope to discover about this topic by engaging in scholarly inquiry?

Please be as specific as possible when addressing this question. Again, if you were to pursue the example of MMA fighters’ training, you might want to find out a number of things like the following: how much time do fighters tend to devote to psychoanalysis or counseling sessions? What sort of psychological exercises do they often perform? Do they rely on hypnosis?…vocal affirmation?…creative visualization? If so, are certain techniques more effective than others?

4. Where will you get your information? That is, what sources you will likely consult?This step requires a bit of preliminary research. . First, you’ll need to search for peer-reviewed journal articles on your topic.Then, you should read the abstracts of the articles that seem most relevant, and skim through their text to reaffirm their appropriateness. Next, settle on what you believe are the four best articles for your topic. Once you’ve made this decision, explain or justify your selections briefly. You might state something akin to the following: “In order to learn more about _____________, I will examine (title)by (author),which discusses _________________ in detail.” Finally, create MLA works cited or APA reference entries for each of the four sources you select at the end of your proposal under the heading “Sources Consulted”