here are my proposal and my professor’s feedback on it. unfortunately, I was not able to create an outline.
Inquiry Question: What kind of laws in the US for equal pay?
Primary Purpose
A. Questions:
How far into the year an average woman must work to earn what men earn?
How long has equal pay been an issue in the US?
How many states have pay equity laws in the US?
What is the Equal Pay Act 2010?
Are there examples from other countries of laws that could work in the US?
What policies or laws can the US improve to be successful on pay equity?
How can the US fix the wage gap?
Why gender parity matter for the US?
What is the best way for the US to use laws to address equal pay issues?
Is the US treating men and women equally under the laws?
b. Why am I writing this paper?
I want to inform my reader about how equal pay issues addressed in the US. Even though it is the 21. Century, equal pay for equal work is still a big problem in the US, also around the world. There are many countries have more effective laws that protect men and women equally than the US. Those laws would work for the US too. Im not writing to convince my reader that they have to act about it. However, I will include details about why it is important for all of us.
Previous Beliefs and Knowledge
Im a women rights advocate and feminist, so I know so many things about gender inequality and unequal pay issue. Also, I have experienced unequal pay situations when I was work as an anesthetist at the hospital. I believe that my generations can make a difference, both men and women together. I know that not everyone agrees on the equal pay issue. However, I assume that there will be more laws as strongly as possible in the future. I also know that there are many countries that apply different policies and methods that they are not yet applying in the US.
Develop Working Knowledge
I found an article about the pay equity from the Equity Methods. Link:
This source is explaining 15 burning questions about equal pay and gender inequality issues. It gives me information on what other countries are doing. Unfortunately, I learned a sad thing from this source was there is also big problem besides gender inequality that race and ethnicity inequality on equal pay in the US. It shows that the US needs to improve its laws.
Feedback:
This is a good research proposal. Right now the piece you are missing is question 2 about the primary purpose. It’s important to think about your primary purpose because it will guide how you write the paper. Are you writing to inform your readers about equal pay in the United States? Or are you writing to make an argument about what equal pay should be? Depending on your answer, your thesis statement will look a little different. Just keep that in mind as you are turning an inquiry question into a thesis statement.
Some of your questions are meant to inform and some seem to concentrate on change. Both are good! But since you say your intention is to inform, make sure the sources you include about changing are also more informational than argumentative.
One thing I want to emphasize as you’re doing the outline and continuing to research, is that your questions should be a guide to your research. Search for answers to the question instead of just general information on equal pay.
Ideally, in researching the answers to your questions you are able to then build those answers into different paragraphs and sections of your research paper.