Science, Technology, and Society

What is a Conference Prospectus?

Your conference prospectus should be about 2 pages long and consist of FOUR PARTS (roughly corresponding to three paragraphs of text plus bibliography):

1.      Introduction and statement of topic/concept

This paragraph concisely states your topic (or concept – if it’s a creative piece) and explains briefly how it’s related broadly to the themes of the class.

2.      Statement of Research or Project Questions

In this paragraph, detail the specific questions that you hope doing project will help you answer.  In general try not to frame your queries as “yes-or-no” questions (e.g. “did science fiction film deal with the social issues posed by the dropping of atomic bombs during World War 2?”) or as “answers-of-fact” (e.g. “when was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein first made into a film?”) because these almost always represent ‘dead-ends’ or stopping points.  Rather, think in terms of broader, open-ended questions that you can dig your teeth into for the rest of the semester -- e.g. “HOW did science fiction film deal with the social issues posed by the dropping of atomic bombs during World War 2?” or “WHY was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein first made into a feature film in 1931?”).

3.      Statement of Planned Activities

Here you explain your research and/or creative plan for the rest of the semester.  You should address such issues as

–        What books/articles/other sources—like interviews, web sites, films, etc do you plan to use and how will each shed light on your questions?

–        What research question(s) will require more sources to answer – and what kinds of materials are you looking for to address this/these issue(s)?

–        How will you explore your creative concept – and what is your estimated timetable for completing such things as storyboard and/or interview questionnaire, lab work and/or developing, shooting film, editing, etc.?

4.      Working Bibliography

A list of all the sources you’ve accumulated thus far in your work on the project – regardless of whether you’ve read or seen them yet or know if they’ll make the ‘final cut’ in your paper.

KR 2/13/01