Here are some details on what's expected for the various parts of your "paper prospectus" assignment.    Think of this assignment as a "work-in-progress", a current status-report on where you are now in your approach, organization, and research.  It's expected that almost everyone will want to submit a revised version after getting some initial comments.
 

• working title for your paper

The title lets your reader know right away what your topic is and indicates  how you're approaching that topic.  Clever/cutesy titles are acceptable, but you should also provide a sub-title which indicates what the paper is actually about
 
• draft of your introductory paragraph, setting forth the context of the problem and your thesis -- i.e., a proposed answer to your "animating question"

This paragraph launches your paper and alerts your reader as to what to expect in the body of the paper.  You can rewrite this paragraph as many times as you need/want to.
 
• outline of the whole paper, indicating the structure of your argument, and as much as possible of the nature of its substance; i.e., you don't have to list all your facts, but at least indicate what type of facts you'll be providing

The outline provides a means for quickly assessing how you're going to build the case for your proposed thesis.  Therefore, please use a standard numbered outline format (which most word-processing programs should be able to provide automatically), with each sub-level appropriately indented.  Do not use PowerPoint-style "bullets".  Use short phrases (which makes skimming easier) rather than long sentences (and certainly not full paragraphs).  As a general rule, if you have only one sub-heading under any given heading, then you should rethink your organization.  By "types of facts", I mean, for example, that if you were writing about the growing impact of the opium trade on China's 19th century economy, your outline should indicate where you would plug in the data on the increase in the number of chests of opium imported between 1767 and 1838, but you wouldn't have to give the actual figures in your outline.
 
• current bibliography
• alphabetized by author
• repetition of an author's name indicated by seven underscores (i.e., "________.")
• single-space within each entry; double-space between entries
• "hanging-indent" format

• all of your previous submissions and my comments, stapled underneath your prospectus
  

It helps me keep track of your progress if all of your work is collected in one place

• more on formatting:
• double-space all your text
• indicate page numbers (upper-right corner preferred)
• don't bother with any kind of fancy cover
• for further guidance on formatting and style for your paper as a whole, see my Stylesheet for Term Papers