In this proposal by Jeffrey Arnett from the University of Maryland College Park, Arnett walks through his proposal for a new theory for what he calls emerging adulthood. He argues that there is a period between adolescence and young adulthood called emerging adulthood which happens during the years of 18-25. He begins his proposal by laying out theoretical background and providing evidence for his theory by showing how this period of life is different demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity. He also gives reason for why emerging adulthood is different from adolescence and young adulthood in light of different life aspects such as romantic relationships, work, and worldviews. At the end of his proposal he explains in what kind of conditions emerging adulthood is most likely to exist and why.

The direction he seemed to be going in terms of structure was meta-analysis. He uses surveys, previous theories, research, and reports and with them all in collection he was able to come to a more general conclusions especially about American society where emerging adulthood is very prevalent. The type of data that would be gathered for his research would fall more under reports of acts, behaviors, or events because although he is drawing his own conclusions he is building evidence through previously made reports and tracking the changes as time goes on and as society changes. With his use of reports of acts, behavior, or events he will no doubt be collecting this data through the use of public records. His method of analysis would be thematic analysis because he is looking for themes in the collected data to show social trends.

After reading this proposal I feel like I have a better understanding of what I will need to write a proposal of my own. I thought Arnett was extremely convincing his proposal was very organized and as he went on it was easy to remember by the end what was read at the beginning because he kept all of his information linked together without any annoying repetition of information.

http://jeffreyarnett.com/ARNETT_Emerging_Adulthood_theory.pdf