Research Paper

II. Academic Honesty Statement:

This statement can be found on D2L. Please print it out and sign it.

III. Acknowledgements page (optional)

Acknowledge any debts (help) incurred in researching the topic (people, institutions, etc.)

IV. The Table of Contents

Should be on a separate page and should offer the name of each chapter or division, any appendixes used, and the bibliography. Each of these sections is to be identified by the page number on which they begin.

V. Chapters

Each chapter must begin on a separate page and should follow in smooth transition. Each chapter should include an introduction, body and conclusion.

· Chapter 1: Introduction

· In the introduction of your research paper, you need to give the reader some basic background information on your topic that suggests why the research question you are investigating is interesting and important. You will also need to provide the reader with a statement of the research problem you are attempting to address and a basic outline of your paper as a whole. The problem statement presents not only the general research problem you will address but also the specific hypotheses that you will consider. Please note that many researchers / writers finalize this part of the paper more toward the end of the writing process.

· Chapter 2: Literature Review

· It is essential to include a literature review section which analyzes what other researchers have written on your topic. As insightful as your ideas may be, someone else may have had similar ideas and have already done research to test them. By reading what they have written on your topic, you can ensure that you don't repeat, but rather learn from, work that has already been done. Second, to demonstrate the soundness of your project and methodology, you will need to indicate how you have borrowed from and/or improved upon the ideas of others.

· For example, what does existing research and public opinion data indicate about levels of civic engagement of different age cohorts, the relationship between perceptions of women’s roles in Chile and women’s participation in politics, or the role ‘anti-immigration sentiments’ in Europe play in shaping immigration policy. Based on this research, what are your specific expectations?

· By referring to what other researchers have found on your topic, you will have established a frame of reference that enables the reader to understand the full significance of your research results. This also establishes your credibility, and that you have “done your homework” to show others that you are joining an academic conversation/debate, not just parroting headlines from the press, or social media.

· Chapter 3: Research Design

· In the research design section, you will explain to the reader: what data you used to investigate your research topic and why you used that data, from where/how the data was gathered, what the key variables are, how those variables are measured or assessed, what hypotheses the research will test, and what specific methods the researcher will use to test the hypotheses.

· For example, did you conduct interviews, use statistical analysis and survey data, collected crime statistics, analyzed legislative records or court decisions, or some combination of all of these methodological approaches?

· Be sure to explain and justify why you chose to research your topic in this manner, make references to precedent established in prior research.

· Acknowledge any weaknesses in your research design.

· Chapter 4: Findings

· What did you find in terms of overall trends? Given previous research, was this expected?

· In presenting these findings, you will need to refer back to your original hypotheses and explain the manner and degree to which your results fit with what you anticipated you would find. If you see strong support for your argument or perhaps some unexpected results that your original hypotheses cannot account for, this section is the place to convey such important information to your reader.

· Did different groups of participants respond differently to your questions? This means that you might analyze subgroups (men vs. women; African Americans vs. Latinos vs. Whites, old versus young, etc.) Was this expected? Does it support findings, patterns, or trends you described in the previous section?

· What are the implications of your results in terms of broader political issues (e.g., globalization, relationship between the U.S. and Latin America, public opinion in the U.S., federal and/ or state and/or local politics, in terms of university policies, etc?

· Given your results, what kind of changes would you like to see? Why? Any specific policy recommendations?

· Chapter 5: Conclusion

· Finally, conclusion to your paper, you should reiterate the significance of your research and your research findings and speculate upon the path that future research efforts should take. This is also the place where you should discuss the limitations of your research (e.g., your findings might give insights about the political attitudes of Chester County’s migrant labor force, but might not be generalizable to migrant laborers nationwide / your findings might give insights about the future of economic cooperation between China and the United States, however, they might need to be revised in the light of new data on economic growth in China.

VI. Illustrations: All charts, figures, graphs or other images

If used, they should be listed on a separate page and numbered consecutively in each chapter. Figures or charts may be helpful in presenting certain types of information.

VII. Reference Page

Endnotes or footnotes must be in proper form. Follow any standard writing manual and be consistent.

Overall Manuscript Formatting:

The manuscript itself should be neatly word processed on one side of white standard 8” x11” paper. Corrected typographical errors usually are acceptable but too many make the product unworthy of the time and work invested. The body of type should be arranged neatly on each page, with plenty of room at the top and bottom of each margin. The text should be double-spaced, but single-verse, extended prose quotations, and footnotes using APA formatting, unless approved by the instructor for other formats.