There are many instances in which academic writing can make or break you, including thesis writing, dissertation writing, and the research proposal generally necessary with both of these assignments.  When applying for a research degree in particular, the proposal is paramount.  You have to write it and for the sake of your future, you have to write it well.

Many students find themselves wondering, “Just what is a research proposal?”  Succinctly, it is exactly what the name implies: when you submit a research proposal, you are turning in a proposal for the research you need to do in order to write your thesis, dissertation, et cetera.  PhD candidates especially have to do this assignment; whether or not they receive their degree depends on it.  You also have to realize that you are competing with other students when you write a proposal.  All of you are fighting to outshine one another so that your work can be recognized as being beneficial to your chosen field of study.

Your proposal begins, as most papers do, with an introduction.  It needs to be powerful and you should try as hard as you can to capture your reader’s attention right from the beginning.  One of the best ways to do this is by building a strong, specific, and concise hypothesis.  It should be one phrase but should still clearly have the potential to lead to advancement in your field.  In this type of paper, the hypothesis takes the place of a thesis in other papers.

You also have to be very careful when considering just what you want to research.  The best proposals deal with something which has not been previously studied.  Sometimes this is not possible, but at the very least you should stay away from subjects which have been discussed exhaustively.  That is going to bore your readers for sure; when you bore your readers, you might just have to kiss that coveted degree good bye.

The methodology chapter is a hugely important part of your research proposal.  Therefore, you definitely need to know how to write methodology before you begin writing.  This is the portion of the proposal which most students find the most difficult.  For that reason, you may want to take a look at some proposal examples in order to make sure you know what you are doing.  Put simply, the methodology chapter chronicles the methods you use to achieve your research results.  You need to be very detailed in this portion of your paper.  That is why examples offer so much proposal help.  Perhaps, for instance, you conducted surveys; perhaps you even conducted some medical research.  Whatever the case, you need to document your methods and your findings thoroughly.  Your reader needs to be with you every step of the way; he or she needs to completely understand what you found, how you found it, and why you decided to conduct your research the way that you did.

The literature review is another important part of the research proposal.  This is yet another portion of the proposal which confuses a lot of students.  It has come to the writer’s attention, in fact, that many readers still are not sure how to set up the literature review.  Worry not; this article contains the bare bones of proposal writing.  Stay tuned for more in depth examinations of both the methodology chapter and the literature review – with sample formats included wherever possible.

The National Book Award was established in 1950 by the National Book Foundation, which was a collection of publishers, editors, writers, and critics, with a mission to, "celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America" (National Book Foundation).

The National Book Award is awarded to books in four categories each year, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature. In addition, two Life Time Achievement awards are also given out annually. Over the last sixty years, the National Book Award has become one of the most influential and coveted awards in America.

After its inception in 1950, "The National Book Awards (NBA) quickly established a reputation for recognizing literary excellence" (National Book Foundation). Over the years, it has honored authors such as "William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, Wallace Stevens, Rachel Carson, Ralph Ellison, W.H. Auden, Marianne Moore, and Bernard Malamud – authors who have helped shape the foundation of American literature" (National Book Foundation). The National Book Awards' reputation for recognizing literary excellence has allowed them to become one of the most influential literary awards in America.

In the nineteen seventies and eighties the book awards began to expand from the original four categories to include, "Science, Philosophy and Religion, History and Biography, Arts and Letters, Translation, Contemporary Thought, Autobiography, First Novel, Original Paperback, and Children’s Book" (National Book Foundation).

This expansion led to the creation of the American Book Award, which gave out 28 prizes in 16 different categories (National Book Foundation). By the mid-eighties, "it soon became obvious that so many categories diffused the Awards’ impact" (National Book Foundation).

In 1987, the National Book Awards were reestablished and the expanded categories were subsumed into the original categories by 1996, with the addition of the award for young people's literature (National Book Foundation). Fewer categories allowed the award continue to have a focused impact on American literature and American writers.

The National Book Award has a reputation for being an award "given to writers by writers" and is chosen by a panel of five judges in each category, the judges, "have written and published works in that category" (National Book Foundation).
Only books by American citizens published in the United States between December 1 and November 30 of the current year can be submitted for consideration (National Book Foundation). Authors cannot submit their own work, only publishers can nominate a book to be considered, although panel chairs can also nominate a book not nominated by publishers (National Book Foundation).

Five finalists in each category are announced in mid-October and they each receive, "prize of $1,000, a medal, and a citation from the panel jury" (National book Foundation). Jurists meet on the day of the National Book Awards Ceremony in November to choose the winners who are then announced at the Ceremony that night. The winners receive, "$10,000 and a bronze sculpture" (National Book Foundation). Finalist and winners also receive the public recognition for having written an excellent piece of literature.

Although the National Book Award jurists create "their own criteria for awarding the National Book Award and discussions are held independent of the Foundation," recently the wisdom of the jury process has been widely questioned (National Book Foundation). The critically acclaimed best-seller Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen, who won the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction, was conspicuously absent from the finalist list.

This sparked a veritable war on Twitter no less polarized than the Oprah fiasco of 2001 (Fenske). National Book Foundation executive director Harold Augenbraum is noted as stating, "Obviously, Freedom is the big book of the year, but the question is what the National Book Awards are supposed to honor. We tell the judges just to look at the books, and that outside chatter is not important. We go with that every year" (Italie). Only time will tell if the jurists made the right decision.

Like all honors that are subjective, there will always be a question as to the validity of the awardees. More importantly, the current debate about this coveted and important literary award shows The National Book Award is still influential enough to stir the emotions of a media driven nation.

After sixty years, the award "given to writers by writers" still garners the respect and attention of the American public (National Book Foundation). Even if one does not agree with the juries' choices, the nation is still in agreement that the National Book Award should be a significant meter for excellence American literature.

Joining the English 1A class has been very beneficial in equipping me to be a better reader, writer and thinker. By exposing me to a lot of reading material and writing assignments I have been helped to look critically at my own skills and to acquire new ones. In the whole process I have found that there is a relationship between being a good reader, thinker and writer. The better one is in any of these, the better the chances of being good at the other two. 

When I entered the class, I had a passion for writing. My passion made me keen to learn and practice what I learnt with diligence. This has been a strength that has served to make learning enjoyable for me. However I am not good at English since it is not my first language. I have had to read a lot to enable me to have fairly good grammar. One of my weaknesses other weaknesses was that I was not familiar with many writing skills. Therefore I need a lot of practice to write fast and well in the new skills like argumentative writing. To be able to write a good piece and to stop looking for someone write my essay, I had toprepare the material thoroughly, do enough research, present all sides to a story and apply grammatical rules and technicalities of writing like proofreading. Every step is important and leads to a better work. 

Putting cohesive and logical work on paper is not as easy as it may seem. I learnt that in the writing process it is important to know the style of writing being used so that I could know what approach was best. For example, in summary I was reducing the material and highlighting the major points. In narrative, I was exemplifying the material and expanding it, filling the main points with details. In argumentative, I was presenting evidence for arguments to my points which often seemed contradictory. In analysis, I was making deductions and giving a critical view in the writing. In synthesis I was blending a production of works. 

Apart from writing I have gained a lot in reading. I now know that to understand reading it is helpful to have some background information on the writer, time that the work was written, reasons why the work was written and even other people’s thoughts on the work. Sometimes knowing the writer enlightened me by creating a context for the work thus I was able to better understand it. Being familiar with writing techniques helped meto hear the voice of the writer better. For example, in reading Keith O’ Brien’s “Single Minded” I was able to hear his arguments by concentrating on his every thought so as to pick every argument. I could not his work like prose. 

Even when I was not working alone but was involved in group work, I was able to acquire further knowledge, skills and confidence. One of thegains was that I was able to get more sides of any work than mine alone. I got other new ideas on the topics of discussion. By presenting my own sharing I developed my skill to articulate. I became more organized, vocal and learnt to summarize and present my work in a logical coherent manner. Through it I became more confident, more focused on my work and learnt to respond quickly and to the point. Knowing I would be sharing my work with the whole class motivated me to do a thorough job and to prepare on time. Having discussions with my peers allowed me to freely share my thoughts on the topic especially since we had fairly close thoughts and ideas. As a result of the discussions and sharing, I have learnt to think more critically. I have learnt to approach information and ideas with a more open mind. Instead of automatically picking the side I agree with, I now want to hear the other side and see if it has any valid points to offer. Even when I may still chose my side. I can appreciate the valid points on the other side. When reading a newspaper now, for example, I examine if the writer has presented conclusions that are supportedby evidence and facts within the story. If the story and facts do not agree, then the conclusions are not credible. I can also pick the writers own thoughts and opinions which helps me to know the core parts of the story and the peripheral parts. I have also learnt to value sources in given works. Having credible sources gives authority to a piece of work. 

Critical thinking has also helped me to know more about my own beliefs, thoughts and ideas. By reading about other people’s ideas, I find myself examining my reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with them. I can not blindly follow or support any argument presented to me without critically examining it. The themes in the different units gave opportunity for some critical thinking. The readings came in different writing styles which meant that I had to read each carefully to get all what was presented. During the discussion, I heard different views especially on marriage and family. While some people supported the single life, others did not, all with valid reasons. 

When I was writing on conformity, I drew mostly from my own experience so as to agree or disagree with the writer. I showed how my ownexperiences supported the findings of the writer. In writing about marriage I synthesized the arguments in a written article that advocate for single lifestyle against the experiences of a character in a film which show the tribulations of marriage. In writing on advertisement, I analyzed theeffects of advertising as presented in an article highlighting the findings. On writing about poverty I examined facts presented and reached my own conclusions about the topic. Out of all the units, it is the one on single life-style that impacted my thinking about the topic the most. This is because it presented data that showed that marriage is losing its position in the many societies today as one of key steps in life. While I hear about divorce and separations a lot in America compared to my home country Hong Kong, the article showed that many are opting not to try marriage at all and chose a single lifestyle right from the beginning. This will impact greatly on future generations that will have to adjust to ideas about family and relationships. 

In the papers I wrote, I aimed to write intelligibly about the topics and to execute the writing style in a better way while reducing grammatical mistakes. I wanted to bring out the key points that I wanted to make and support them well. I can say the assignment that most challenged me to be a better writer was the advertising. It required careful reading of the material and presenting arguments for and against advertising in a logical and balanced manner. 

Taking this class has made me a better reader by exposing me to varied readings. It has also made me a better thinker by introducing me to critical thinking. And finally, it has made me a better writer by assignments that combine my reading, my thinking and the writing techniques I have learnt. As a result I feel more confident in my writing.