EDUCATION RESEARCH PAPER

Research Paper

TOPIC: Your topic can be anything related to education and/or school counseling. It can be a

topic you’ve learned about from your text, class discussions, or any area of interest to you.

Please remember this is a mock study and that no research can be conducted on human subjects

without Institution Review Board (IRB) approval (see chapter 4 of Creswell text and week 8

assignment for more details). To keep you on track with completing this assignment, tentative

dates have been noted to have each section completed by. You will not be submitting each

section on suggested weeks and do not need to follow these dates; these are simply suggestions

for you to stay on track with the assignment. If you have questions about sections, content, etc.,

please post them in the open discussion forum in the classroom and/or contact your professor in a

private message.

SECTIONS:

 Title Page- Follow APA Style Manual

 Introduction- (approx. 1-2 pages) Complete by end of week 2

This section should give a general outline of what your paper is about. Why is this an important

topic? What is the paper going to tell the reader? What does each section include (generally)? In

this section you will develop your problem in the most logical fashion and cite relevant research

supporting the need for your research. When you state your problem, be sure to include the

variables to be studied as well as your hypothesis.

 Literature Review- (approx. 6-8 pages) Complete by end of week 3

You need to have 6-8 scholarly resources that you refer to in this paper. When citing research,

briefly state purpose, method, results, and conclusion. How is this information significant to your

topic? What information does it contribute? This is your opportunity to present the results of

similar and/or relevant research and tie them into your idea. Your literature review section

should include:

 Define your topic: What is the issue/concept/area you are exploring?

 What is out there in terms of research on your topic? (Scholarly resources published

within the last 10 years)

 Are there conflicting results in the research on your topic?

 Are there pros/cons or strengths/weaknesses associated with your topic?

 Based on your research, what are your conclusions about this topic?

 Method- (approx. 3-4 pages) Begin working on week 4 and have complete by end of week 5

The purpose of the method section is to tell the reader exactly how your research would be

conducted. The “Method” section contains several subheadings.

 Participants- This is where you will specify your sample and population. Be sure

to include how the sample was drawn and any restrictions on the selection of the sample.

The total number of participants including the number in each condition should be clearly

stated.

 Apparatus/Materials- All relevant aspects of the apparatus and materials need to

be included in this section. It will be important to describe the apparatus in detail.

Materials such as survey instruments and tests also need to be described in this section.

 Design- This is where you say what type of design you used (ie. qualitative

research- factorial, correlation, matched groups, etc.). Be sure to specify your variables

 Procedure- You will go step-by-step through the study in a way that makes it

understandable and replicable to the reader (much like a recipe in a cookbook). The trick

is that if you cannot replicate the study from reading the Method section, especially the

Procedure, then you have not written it in sufficient detail. Describe here exactly how the

participants will be seated, manipulated, tested, monitored…everything that happens up

through debriefing them and thanking them for participation. Include how the

independent variable will be administered and how the dependent variable will be

recorded. Any techniques used as control in the experiment should also be mentioned

here.

 Data Analysis and Interpretation- How will you analyze the data you have

collected? How will you compare and contrast data sets to identify common themes and

patterns?

 Findings and Application- (approx. 2-3 pages) Complete by end of week 6

Describe how you plan to implement what you have learned from your research as an

educator/school counselor working in the field of education. How do you plan to use this

information? How will you share the findings you reported in the previous section?

 Conclusion- (approx. 1-2 pages)

Complete by end of week 7& compile each section for submission

This section is a brief synthesis to conclude that the paper did what it intended to do. Should

corroborate the “intent” that you established in your introductory paragraph.

 References- Follow APA Style Manual

PROOFREAD FOR GRAMMATICAL AND TYPING ERRORS! No contractions, watch

subject/verb agreement, run-on sentences, spelling, etc. Be sure your entire paper is in APA 6 th

edition format.