Propose:
Draft a funding proposal for URSA.
Compose:
This Google Doc assignment asks you to write persuasively, asking you to get your reader to recognize that what you propose to do with funds is feasible and that what you propose to do is significant to the problem you propose to solve AND that what you propose is relevant to the interests of the funding audience. This assignment asks you to create a research project–what could you do with the methods of your discipline (every discipline has methods! In humanities, one of our methods is to think carefully about research question and the books we are using to study our question) concerning this issue? What kind of resources would you need? What would URSA want to know about your plan? Who can you ask for help?
This writing is about translating your disciplinary expertise to areas of shared and wider academic concern. Study this kind of writing by visiting the URSA office online or off and asking for sample proposals. I will be reading this for how well you negotiate disciplinary translation.
Keep in mind: How do you write so that the background of climate change in your discipline comes through to a multidisciplinary audience, without losing your own disciplinary interest? What matters about how you craft your opening sentence? How can you create a sense of significance by what you propose to study while also acknowledging the researchers who have provided ways to do so before you begin?