Research Proposal

                                     Research Proposal: Effects of Pesticides on Soil

Introduction: For my research paper, I am going to be writing about what the effects are of pesticides in soil. I think this is an interesting topic because I don't think many people think about dirt or realize that the world is losing fertile soil which will have negative effects. I want to discuss how pesticides effect the soil and then continue on to explain how those effect affect other things such as farming or groundwater. My purpose it to educate my readers about the negative effects and hope they take away something that they will keep in their mind next time they buy things like fruit that was sprayed with pesticides. I hope to bring awareness to my readers. The people who will be reading my paper will be my instructor and a few peers when we do an in-class workshop to review each other’s writing. I will also be posting it on my blog so whoever comes across that may read it as well.

Research Questions: What are the effects of pesticides on soil? How do those effects affect other factors of soil?

Review of Literature: When I first thought of this topic, the first source I thought of was the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. I feel like this book will give me good background information on pesticides and their effects. I will also be watching a documentary called Dirt! which I think will be very interesting and will have some great quotes that I can pull for emotional appeal. I have also found a few peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles including John Peterson's Down in the Dirt from 2006 and Tom Philpott's Talk Dirt To Me from 2013. There are also some studies that I have found but I don't want to use too much of those because I don't want my readers to get bored with all the numbers and long names. I want to keep my piece to awaken people, not put them to sleep.

Search Plan: I am going to continue finding sources online as I think I need more peer-reviewed journal articles. Online would also be a good place to look for news on my topic. I would also like to look for another book at the library but I'm not sure if I will have time to do so. I want to research what pesticide companies responses have been about the safety and effects of pesticides are so my evidence isn’t so one-sided. Although I will read critically because there is proof that negative effects can come from pesticides and the companies may state otherwise or not give the whole story. I have used EbscoHost to find some of the journal articles and will be looking again because I need to broaden my search in order to get some of the information I'm looking for.

Project Timeline: I have been looking for sources for about 3 weeks now and have 5 more until the final draft is due. I want to start reading my sources thoroughly and start Silent Spring within the next week. Then hopefully I will get good ideas on how my paper should be laid out and will start brainstorming and clustering. I want to try to start writing it early because I know I am the type of person to sometimes leave writing assignments until the last day and I don’t want that to happen with this one.

Key Challenges: I feel that if I really start to buckle down and work hard now, I won’t have very many challenges. I know that there is enough information out there if I look for it. So procrastination may be a challenge which I hope to avoid by starting to write as early as possible. I can do this by setting aside a certain time a day or two out of the week specifically for this project.