The syllabus for the course states: "You will also write a term paper which will involve some independent research, basing the paper on one or more of the themes present in the films and readings." I ask for a written proposal containing the subject, sources, and a tentative thesis of your paper by October 10^th in the syllabus, a date I have now pushed back to October 31^st now. 

Here are some hints to help you do that. 
 

1. The FIRST thing you need to do is to pick a THEME. You can do that from the syllabus headings, or you could choose an EVENT, or PERIOD, e.g.,

Revolt of 1857
Partition of 1947
Britain's efforts to conquer Afghanistan! 
Gandhian Non Cooperation Movement of 1921-22

Or a more general thematic area

Peasant or Tribal Revolts
Colonialism and the Economy
Race and Colonialism
Gender and Colonialism
British Indian Army
Gender and Nationalism
Class and Nationalism
Caste and Class in Modern India

The MOST important part is that you PICK something YOU WILL BE INTERESTED IN!

2. RESEARCH is what you do next. That is you try to read as much as possible (with an emphasis on more recent writing) about what has been written about your selected theme in SCHOLARLY published books, and SCHOLARLY articles. I will NOT ALLOW WEB SITES as sources of data, as too many sites contain too much non-verified information. If you HAVE to use information only available on a web-site, please clear its use with me before citing it in your paper. 

HINTS:
a. For hints on where to start research on a theme, try MAUREEN PATTERSON's South Asian Civilizations : A Bibliographic Synthesis DS339.P38 1981 

b. For journal articles, use the ONLINE searchable Bibliography Asian Studies, http://ets.umdl.umich.edu/b/bas/ , you can also connect through the Cline Library server. 

c. BROWSE the library shelves. 

d. If you have SOME books you have found on a theme, or a topic, look up the subject headings of the book(s) you have found, in the library catalog. Then go check others with the same subject heading. OR... Follow the bibliography of the book(s) you have seen so far, and will see in the future.

e. DO use Inter Library Loan to get books and articles you can't find locally.

f. Finally, remember, I will evaluate your QUALITY of research, not QUANTITY. So, don't simply cite books or articles for the sake of it! 

3. AFTER research preliminary research, come up with a THESIS, about a TOPIC which will necessarily be more limited than the theme. Thus you may decide your TOPIC is a particular social movement, a certain group of men or women, a more limited time period, or a sub-theme within what you have investigated. Your THESIS will answer the "so-what" question, that is, the NEW, unique, contribution YOU are making to our understanding of a particular topic!
 

4. Your proposal will, therefore, consist of: 

A. TOPIC
B. THESIS, and WHY it is new, 
C. This it will do by referring to what has already been said/written about a topic. i.e. by referring to what has been written about a subject, that is a BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
D. Provide me with a list of the SOURCES you will use to write this paper and how you intend to use them. 

Hope this helps, and best of luck!