Conspiracy Theory
PWR 1 Fall Quarter 2008
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford University

Peer Review Questions for Research Proposal

For our peer review workshop of the research proposals, please use this set of questions to respond to your classmate's Research Proposal.

1. Is the research question sufficiently specific and concrete and is its scope appropriate to a 12-15 page research essay? What would improve the way the question is framed?

2. What is the researcher's initial hypothesis? Does it seem reasonable, and reasonably testable?  What questions do you have about it?

3. Does the project identify a good “archive”—a set of sources that it will analyze to make its contribution to its field? Does the archive need to be better specified, or more fully described? Are there other resources the project might examine?

4. What are the stakes of the research? Does the proposal convince you that the research is interesting and important? What could be changed to better convince you that it is a worthwhile inquiry?