=•Research Proposal In Chapter 8, Section F or your text.docx

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Research Proposal
In Chapter 8, Section F or your textbook, Handbook for College
Research, you will find information on how to write a Research
Proposal (pages 77 through 81). For the most part, this will be
your guide to how to write the Research Proposal. However, I
will be adding certain material that I will expect you to include
in your paper, and I will be changing some of the criteria based
on the early point in the semester that you are writing this
paper. Normally, a Research Proposal is written after you have
had time to choose your topic and do considerable research.
With this proposal, you will need to have done some research
into the topic, but you will not have had time to do extensive
research yet. I will make changes to the assignment to account
for this.
Your Research Proposal should present the topic you most want
to do for your final research paper, your favorite topic that you
hope will be approved and accepted by your Instructor.
However, you will also need to identify two other topics that
you MIGHT do if the first topic is unacceptable for some
reason. You may decide, as you do your research and get
further into the semester, that you simply don't have enough
information or the topic is not working out the way you had
hoped. For that reason, this proposal will have a section that
will identify other "backup" topics that you also might like to
do. If your main topic is not acceptable, I will identify another
topic from your paper that you can do.
Your research paper will be written in MLA format. The
sample Research Proposal will show you exactly how your
paper should be formatted for MLA and how you should use
headings over each section of the proposal. You will need a

title, centered, before you begin your proposal. Your sample
essay is for an informative paper, but you will be doing an
argumentative paper. That means there will be differences in
style and content of each section, and your Research Proposal
will be somewhat more formal than the one in your book. I will
explain this more in class and as we go through each section.
Your Research Proposal will be divided into four parts. Three
of those parts are identified on page 78 of Handbook for
College Research. The fourth section will be explained below.
Section One: A General Framework.
As your book states, your first purpose is to answer several
questions to explain your interest in and knowledge of the topic
you will be writing about. You will identify the topic you want
to write about, explain why you are personally interested in the
topic, explain what knowledge and experience you have with the
topic before starting your research, what you hope to prove
through your research, and also discuss how much knowledge
you believe your readers will have of the topic that you are
proposing. This is slightly different from how it is worded in
the book. Since this is an argumentative paper, you will explain
what it is you hope to prove instead of "What will you learn
through your research?" as stated in the book. Also, since your
research paper is written for a general audience, you want to
anticipate what they may or may not know about the topic. Is it
a topic widely covered in the media and well known to
everyone? Is it an obscure topic only people with a specific
interest would be aware of (Football fans, people who study the
American Civil War, Star Wars fans) and most people may need
help understanding the topic? You can use personal stories to
explain why the topic is of special interest to you or to
demonstrate what knowledge you have of the topic in advance.
One difference between the sample essay in the book and what
we will be doing is that you want to be slightly more formal.
Some of your topics are ones of national interest and debate, so
you may not have specific personal stories to tell, but you can
talk about how long you have been interested and through what

media (television, internet, books) you have kept informed
about the topic.
The second section of the proposal, "Establish a Specific
Focus", will explain for the reader exactly what you propose to
prove in your research paper and state clearly your thesis and
what arguments you might give to support and prove your
thesis. For example, if you were arguing that the American war
in Iraq was unjustified, you would explain the arguments you
would put forward to prove that thesis (Iraq did not attack the
United States, there were no weapons of mass destruction found
in Iraq, and the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan stretched our
military resources and troops too thin). You would explain how
you limited the topic by time (instead of covering sexism in
America, you are looking at sexism in the 1970s). How you
limited the topic by geography (instead or covering sexism in
the United States, you are looking at sexism in Indiana only).
Have you limited the topic by special circumstances (Instead of
covering sexism in the workplace, you are looking at sexism in
hiring coaches and staff in professional football). What
questions do you have that will need to be answered through
research before you can effectively prove your thesis? What
arguments from the other side will you likely have to overcome?
The third section is "Research Sources and Strategies". Since
you are only just beginning your research, you will not have the
long list of cited sources that the sample essay has. Instead,
you will explain what sources of information you intend to use
in order to find evidence to support your argument. You should
look through the library database for books on your topic, and
you should look through the many ISU databases for articles on
your topic from magazines, journals and newspapers. You
should also look online for professional websites devoted to
your research topic. It is very important that you have some
idea of what sources are out there before you begin. If there are
very few sources on your topic, you may wish to abandon the
topic for another one. In this section, you will explain what
kind of sources you intend to use for your research (books,

professional journal articles, documentaries, government
websites, etc.) and name any sources you have found already
that look promising. Unlike your sample essay, you will have a
combination of written text explaining where you hope to find
source material, but you will also cite (as is done in the sample
proposal) any souces you have found that you think you might
use.
The fourth section, which is not in your sample essay, is called
'Other Potential Research Topics" and will give me two other
possible research topics that you might do should the first
research topic fail or not work out for some reason. You want
to explain clearly what you would seek to prove and what
arguments you might put forward, but keep it brief. You will
write this out in sentences and not just use shorthand phrases
like "Climate Control" or "Animal Cruelty". You would say
"Another topic I would enjoy doing would be to argue that
Climate Change is real and a serious threat to your world
because of rising sea levels, more intense storms and flooding,
and the danger of extinction of animal and insect species". Or,
you would say, "I would also consider arguing that the laws
punishing people who commit acts of animal cruelty should be
much tougher than they are now." This will not be a long
section, but is important you include this section.
Your first draft of the research proposal is due Monday, June 9
for in class peer editing. Your final draft will be turned in to
me on Wednesday, June 11. You will submit your first draft
and final draft in a folder to me in class. You will also need to
submit it to the Turnitin link on Blackboard on June 11.
Surname 1
Surname 1
Name:
Course:

Tutor:
Date
The effects of social networking on privacy
General Framework
Many could term social networking as a whole as an inhibitor to
privacy but it is undoubtedly a great invention. Social
networking is a structure that comprises social actors such as
organizations or individuals and fixed connections among the
social actors. It mainly comprises a community of people who
use technology and websites like MySpace, Facebook, Linked,
Friendster, twitter and other social media to share information
and communicate with each other. Social networking websites
are designed to let multiple social actors to publish any subject
or share information, personal messages and ideas to their
employees, mates, friends and employers. However, many
people arbor the view that social networking has only served to
hinder people’s privacy. This is despite its positive impacts and
the measures the various sites have taken to assure of people’s
privacy. I will therefore, in my research, seek to weigh the
various security measures the sites have adopted versus the
privacy risks associated with social networking.
The intrusion of privacy and access to classified personal
information could cause rifts both at the individual and family
set ups. This has the potential of adversely ruining family
relationships. This due to the publication of personal and family
information online which gets permanent online and end up
being visible to many people. The fact that the social media is
used by both the elderly and the teenagers, the children get to
know immoral habits and other classified secrets of their
parents. On the other hand the parents are also able to access
the depraved communication their children make with their
peers. As a result of this exposure of family issues and personal
information, the nature of privacy on social media is a complex
issue that needs to be researched well.
Most privacy intrusion incidences are linked to the lack of
knowledge or ignorance of users. For instance, people share

such intimate information on social sites without regard of who
the consumers of such information are on the sites. Users in the
sites are thus able to link the intimate posts with the personal
information the user has provided on their profiles. The
personal information targeted includes both residential
addresses and contact information. This could be taken as abuse
of the freedom of expression that social media provides.
However, it is a responsibility of the site developers to
enlighten users on the sensitivity of the information they
provide and how disastrous it could turn out to be. Examples
could be warning banners or video clips in addition to the terms
of use they provide. In the study, I will therefore gauge the
response of users to the diverse efforts of the site developers to
disseminate proper usage policies. It could be the users to blame
and not entirely the social sites.
Specific Focus
Social sites play an important role in the society. For instance,
LinkedIn is a professional networking that plays a significant
role in linking job seekers with potential employers. It profiles
both the job seekers and available opportunities. This
information could be used harmfully when it gets to wrong
hands thus soiling the good intention of the site developers.
Important research considerations will therefore revolve around
the issues of impersonation and illegal data mining.
Though it is true that social networking has advanced the
performance of many workplaces globally, it is still facing the
challenge of securing the information of its users. The latter is
what many critics term as an infringement to the right to
privacy. This is because social networking has turned into a
large data treasure of individual records that include names,
schooling and residence details and a track of someone’s
activities. Research and advertising organizations will definitely
find this data treasure enticing. It will therefore be interesting
to find out how the various social sites protect user data from
interested agencies.
Wikileaks, founded by Julian Assange provided snapshots on

the sensitivity of personal records uploaded on social media. In
fact, Julian is quoted as saying that social networking “is the
most hateful spying tool” in use to date. He made the statement
when referring to the access of social networks, especially
Facebook, by spying agencies. In the wikileaks releases, he
quotes the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and
FBI as having obtained user personal records from Facebook
without the knowledge of the owners. In fact, worldwide states
have been reported to having been allowed access to personal
records of users under criminal investigations. Though this
could be necessary to prevent instances of cyber-attacks, users
should be informed on what information they upload will be
available to state investigation agencies. The research will
therefore seek to study the various support information, terms
and conditions that the sites provide to users as their open their
accounts.
Another interesting research area that I would like to expound
on my research is the instances of cyber-attacks or physical
attacks directed at innocent individuals due to the accessibility
of their personal information. Targeted personal information
includes places of residence, work, relationships and contact
information. Cases have been reported where employers
victimize employees based on information collected from social
sites. It will therefore be important to also outline how the
various sites categorize personal information so that not all
information is available to the public. This would a perfect
insurance to the protection of personal data.
Another research point that would be of immense importance is
the user policies that the various companies that run social
networks apply. The user policies should be aimed at protecting
the users and ensuring that they understand the various risks
they are exposed to when they upload classified information.
Also an aspect of user policies that I will be interested in
demystifying is the profiling and usage of user data. Certain
user policies such as Facebook, state that the sites can use
information collected from other social networking users to

supplement one’s profile. An example is the “tagging”
Facebook feature. Posts or pictures on which one is “tagged”
are added onto ones profile. Most of these “tagged” posts are
events. An intruder could therefore use these posts to track and
note one’s activities and movements.
Another issue would be the reliability of the password
protection feature. I once heard my friends say that they were
able to open multiple Facebook accounts from their own
accounts. What was surprising is that once they logged in to the
accounts they were able to upload information and edit user
data. I never substantiated the truth in their claims but it will be
interesting to get the truth about the claims from further
research.
Like any other product in the market, social sites would face
obsolescence if they never insisted on research and development
activities. Research and development activities enable the site
respond well to customer requirements and as a result enable it
maintain its market status. Research and development in social
sites has led to the growth of new applications with each
passing day. Most of these applications, for instance Flixter or
Band profile, require a lot of personal information to execute. It
would be important to know the security of the information
collected under these apps.
It will be interesting to assess the greatest contributors to the
end of privacy on social networking. This is because it has the
ability to wind-sweep the value of networked communication.
What is the contribution of young people, the Y generation, as
they are touted as the greatest users of social networks? Do they
share unnecessarily personal information? Are they also the
greatest victims?
The research would also seek to answer the question, what are
the risks involve when unauthorized persons access personal
user data on social networks. Privacy advocates would be quick
to point out that “shared information may jeopardize personal
safety”. This could be true because once the information of an
individual is accessible to everybody, especially criminals; the

life of that person is endangered. With that information, they
are able to trace her/his movement and get want they want from
the person. Further, the online information that is accessed
through social media can be used to attack someone, a process
the U.S government refers as “social engineering attacks”. The
impersonators are able to use the basic information like
hobbies, location, friends and interest to violate the rights of the
person or impersonate him.
Who are the consumers of illegally mined data from social
networks? One would be quick to point an accusing figure at
research and marketing companies. This is because the
performance of many industries relies mainly on these two
departments due to their ability to determine sales levels. Only
those organizations that have managed to understand the needs
and wants of their customers are performing well in the market
place. So do the marketers do illegal data mining on social
networks? Information shared on social media through the
internet, online social networks, smartphones and location-
tracking could be used to strategize sales and marketing
activities.
It is a fact that the number of info-thieves will keep on
increasing, what bearing do they however have in people’s
privacy on social networks? The situation could be explained by
public blogs where people lift the information of other persons
in social networks and paste them in the open internet. This
could be to so as draw attention to their blogs hence increase
revenues. The situation of information privacy has further
confused the users of social networking because they are not
sure with the setting of password and security cord. People are
getting lost and unable to control their privacy in social
networks. She further shows the seriousness of the situation by
representing the number of people who gets confused as a result
of privacy of the personal information.
What are therefore the mechanisms that people can apply online
so as to protect their privacy? Most of teenagers are reported to
have devised the mechanism of deleting all the messages and

photos that had been posted in their walls before logging out of
their social media accounts. This mechanism is meant to prevent
the friends from altering and accessing their personal
information. But are there better ways?
According to research that was conducted by the
association of digital company, 72% of the employees are able
to access the personal information of the organization.
However, only 50% of them understand the need to keep that
information confidential and secret. Therefore, from the
research it is clear that the risk of personal information of most
companies is due to lack of knowledge among the employee on
the need to keep the information secrete. Therefore, the
insecurity of information of most companies is due to their
ignorance and negligence (Greenfield and Yan 83 -86).
The situation of social networking insecurity has trigged the
minds of many people and a solution to the problem has been
designed by professionals. Privacy tools have been devised to
curb or eliminate the case of information disclose to strangers.
One of the tools is sensitizing people about the importance of
keeping their own personal information confidential and
secrete.
As the companies try to secure their user data, they have
provided the necessary tools and sensitized the users about the
importance of privacy in the work place. Examples are that one
can restrict contact persons and other major customization
settings that include who can view what specific elements on
one’s profile. On the other hand, they should limit the
information that the employee access in the company as a way
of keeping their information safe and within themselves.
Further, the company and the employees should update their
knowledge with the new technology to have the understanding
and the ideas on the way to prevent disclosure of this
information. Final, the management of the company should
make the policies that govern the employees and other members
of the company concerning sharing the confidential information
that belong to the company.

Due to the severity of the concerns as highlighted above, social
networks have continued to improve its security policies to
ensure user data is rightly protected. For instance, Facebook has
phased out aspects such as who can look up one’s timeline by
name search, in one of the most visible measures. This is geared
to protecting users from unwanted friend requests and similar
unwanted messages. It has also limited post audiences to
include only one’s friend or friends of friends. The proposed
research will therefore seek to identify such measures against
the privacy requirements of the users and determine whether the
right balance is being met.
List of Potential Sources
Abraham, Ajith, and Aboul E. Hassanien. Computational Social
Networks: Tools, Perspectives and Applications. London:
Springer, 2012. Internet resource.
Altshuler, Yaniv. Security and Privacy in Social Networks. New
York, NY: Springer, 2013. Internet resource.
Andrews, Lori B. I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You
Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy. New York: Free
Press, 2012. Prin
Bjarnason, Thoroddur, Birgir Gudmundsson, and Kjartan
Olafsson. "Towards a Digital Adolescent Society? the Social
Structure of the Icelandic Adolescent Blogosphere." New Media
& Society. 13.4 (2011): 645-662. Print.
Campbell, Online social networking amongst teens: friend or
foe? Studies In Health Technology And Informatics, 2011,
print.
Chbeir, Richard, and Bouna B. Al. Security and Privacy
Preserving in Social Networks. , 2013. Internet resource.
Greenfield & Yan, Social Networking, and the internet: A new
field on inquiry in development in Social Networking, 2006.
Print.
Hinduja & Patchin. Bullying, cyber bullying, and suicide.
Archives of suicide research official journal of the International

Academy for Suicide Research, 2010, print.
Jessica. 'The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Facebook.'.
HubPages. N. p., 2014. Web. 8 Jun. 2014., 2011. print
Leaonline.com,. Teaching of Social Networking '. N. p., 2014.
Web. 8 Jun. 2014.
Ruff, Lori, and Winn Schwartau. #privacy Tweet: Addressing
Privacy Concerns in the Day of Social Media. Cupertino, Calif:
THINKaha, 2010. Internet resource.

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