Your task for the research paper is to do what we are doing in our Week 3 (At Bottom of Instructions) forum discussion with ATG and apply the criteria I have identified as defining a Great Captain to a leader of your own choosing (and not one we will consider in this course: ATG, Frederick the Great, and Douglas MacArthur). Based upon the way I have crafted the discussion prompt (which is quite intentional, to provide you with the opportunity to practice applying our analytical framework), I find that we usually have some posts in this week’s forum that provide an excellent example (on a smaller scale) of the type of methodical assessment you will have to produce for this assignment using each aspect of the MILS512 Great Captain definition as criteria for your assessment and supported by references to credible sources of evidence.
The Research Question and Purpose Statement will largely be the same for each of you (see below), as the requirement directs that you adhere to the assignment instructions presented above. For this assignment, it is most important that you identify an appropriate individual as the subject of your assessment and that you identify an appropriate number of credible sources relevant to your subject and to which you have access to support your research.
Format. Please use the components listed below as the subheadings for your paper to ensure you address all required aspects of this assignment. This means that your will use the following subheadings to structure your research proposal:
Subject and Tentative Title
Research Question
Purpose Statement
Hypothesis
Preliminary Literature Review
Bibliography.
For the proposal, here are the tasks you need to accomplish:
Identify the Subject of your assessment and a Tentative Title for your paper.
Present your primary Research Question, which will almost certainly be some variation of the following:
According to the definition of a Great Captain used in MILS512, does General George S. Patton qualify as a Great Captain?
A tentative Hypothesis. This should incorporate the components of our analytical framework as your Independent Variables and be your initial best guess at what you think the answer to your question will be. For example, “Napoleon qualifies as a Great Captain because he more than satisfies all three aspects of the MILS512 definition of a Great Captain, especially the aspects of ‘military genius’ and ‘master of the Art of War.'”
Preliminary Literature Review. Use a narrative format to identify and describe the initial sources you’ve found and how they will be useful to you. Also describe some of the sources you intend to search for and how they will assist in answering your research question. The purpose of this section is to ensure that you are able to find at least six credible sources, four of which must be scholarly books or peer-reviewed articles from academic journals, to support your research. If you cannot find at least six credible sources related to the individual you have selected to support your research, you need to select a different individual as the subject of your assessment.
Bibliography. Contains complete citations for all works identified and referenced in your Literature Review.
