ONLY FOR SYNCO_SOLUTIONS

Following the model below (including bold headings), compose and submit a detailed research proposal. Remember that your final paper must include a minimum of 7 sources with at least 4 sources coming from peer-reviewed journals taken from the APUS library. Name Professor/Instructor Name COLL300 Date Proposal Background/introduction: In this section, you will present your research topic and explain its significance. Why is it an important topic to research? Be sure to include any background information your instructor may need. Description: Identify the main concern about your topic; include your research question and any relative secondary questions. You must include your working thesis statement, identifying it with the phrase: "My working thesis is...." You must also include the expected results of your research. Remember that a thesis statement is typically one complete sentence that is not a question. Plans, Methods, and Procedures: Explain how you plan to research your topic. Will you be conducting primary research (such as surveys or interviews) or relying mainly on library research (databases, department portals, specific search engines)? What note taking methods will you employ? How will you keep track of your sources? Include the documentation style you will be using and a working bibliography, formatted in that style, following the guidelines found at APUS Citation Guides.   This web site is the citation standard for the class and must be followed for all citation formats. Schedule: Include all course deadlines and any additional deadlines you have set for yourself. Decide when you will take notes and when you will compose the paper. (Some people do one and then the other; others alternate.) Approval Request: Ask your instructor for feedback and approval. Instructor/Professor____________, please approve my plan and include any needed feedback to improve my research essay.  

Sample Research Paper

Sheila Student

COLL 300

Research Proposal

Background/introduction: Infrastructure is essential to the successful transportation of goods and services. Without one you cannot have the other. Infrastructure in America is aging and is unfit for the modern transportation requirements in our current economy. Bridges, highways, railroads, airports, and seaports must be upgraded to support the increased amount of traffic which traverses them in the millions of tons daily.

Description: My concern is that America’s transportation infrastructure is in dire need of quality control inspections. These inspections are a critical step in requisitioning major improvements, leading to our nation’s success as a world power. Businesses of all sorts rely on moving their goods and services from point A to point B in a safe and timely manner.

My main questions are, What types of problems exist in all types of transportation infrastructure? Who is responsible for maintaining and repairing the faults? My secondary questions include, How does the quality of infrastructure affect the marketplace? What role does private ownership of infrastructure play, and what role should it play? What dangers are involved in private ownership of infrastructure? How will long-term funding help alleviate this problem? The thesis statement for this research will look something like this: In today’s highly competitive, fast paced, and changing global marketplace, it is the responsibility of the American public, through government funding, to improve the transportation infrastructure of pipelines, bridges, highways, railroads, airports, and seaports to facilitate the free-flow of commerce.

Plans, methods and procedures: I plan to investigate specific problem areas within each type of transportation infrastructure. Researching this topic will take me to various federal, state, and local departments of transportation websites, as well as approved journals and articles on the deep web. I will utilize quotes from experts in the field of logistics and engineering, which will be used to identify the specific problems

that exist and what should be done to remedy those. The tools I plan on using most is the EBSCO Academic Search Premier, Lexis Nexis, and the APU Ebrary because they are all jam packed full of great peer reviewed sources, very easy to use the citation help, and I really liked the advanced search functions to narrow my searches down.

Secondary sources:

Fixing America's foundation. (October 23, 2011 Sunday). The Washington Post, Retrieved from http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/hottopics/lnacademic

Herabat, P., & McNeil, S. (2004). Impact of reduced vertical separation minimum implementation on airport system infrastructures. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 130(6), 716-724. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-

947X(2004)130:6(716)

Reid, R. L. (2008). Report warns U.S. economy depends on transportation infrastructure and land use planning. Civil Engineering (08857024), 78(8), 28-30.

Schedule: My proposed schedule for composing my research paper and submitting it for grading is listed by each week as follows:

Week 2: Submit proposal, draft thesis statement, and create outline.

Week 3: Identify primary and alternate bibliographical resources. Start taking notes. Week 4: Complete drafting of all paragraphs.

Week 5: Conduct further analysis and research. Add additional quantifying information to research paper.

Week 6: Ensure all citations and formatting are accurate and precise according to the APA style I plan on using. Possibly submit paper to two friends, family, or classmates for peer review.

Week 7: Refine research paper based on peer review.

Week 8: Submit final research paper to instructor for grading.

Approval request: With your permission, I would like to continue with my plan to identify problem areas in America’s transportation infrastructure and solicit ways to impose a revolution in repairs and improvements. It is a rather large issue in all, but in isolating specific problems and proposing solutions to those that exist, in the future, I will be better prepared to solicit assistance through my local authorities for making changes to our infrastructure needs. The bottom line is that it is important to have a good infrastructure in place for safety purposes and is paramount to shipping goods and services in a timely manner to stay competitive in today’s global marketplace.

Instructor/Professor________________, please approve my plan and include any needed feedback to improve my research essay.

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Research Paper:

Write a 9 to 10 page research paper about a topic related to your major or intended career. The thesis of your paper should propose a solution to solve a specific problem. Use at least 7 credible sources (4 sources must be from peer-reviewed journals from the APUS library) to support your thesis. The paper must be original to this course--no recycling, please! Follow the guidelines provided for your particular field of study of your paper’s subject. You must choose one of the following documentation styles: APA, MLA, or Chicago. The citation guides in the APUS Library are to be used for citation format. They can be accessed through this link: APUS Citation Guides.

Length: The research paper should be 9 to 10 pages in length. The page count does not include the Works Cited, Reference, or Bibliography page, or Abstract (if your documentation style requires one). The page count refers only to the text of the paper itself. You will lose points on your final research project if you go over the 10- page word limit by more than 250 words. Part of effective writing is being able to complete the assignment within the designated limits set. Your final source page should contain at least 7 sources. You will lose points if you have fewer.

Points will be deducted if you do not consistently follow the format rules for the style you are using in your paper.

*Make sure you give your paper an appropriate title and use some creativity to stimulate reader interest.

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COLL300 Assignment Tip Sheet

Here are some notes about the COLL300 assignments that will help you for the whole term. All of them are designed to get you moving and keep you from having the essay creep up on you. Keep in mind that this is only one writing process. No single process works for everyone, and I can’t customize the assignments so that person A submits an outline followed by a thesis, while person B starts with an abstract and then goes into research.

My point is that it’s important to learn this process in this class. Test it. See if it helps you. Hold onto those elements you find useful. Follow the submission timetable. But allow yourself lead time. There may be times when you have to do part of the project your own way and then come back and complete the work for the class. (On time. If you need to do this, you’ll have to work ahead of yourself to avoid late penalties. I must have the assignments on time.)

One good starting point is to give yourself a very basic, extremely informal, working outline even before you submit the first assignment or forum. Give yourself permission to edit this outline every time something changes, if needed. You may also want to spend the first month developing a working draft to work backwards from in the second half of the course. Here are some notes about each of the major assignments:

Week 2: Research Proposition: You picked your major for a reason. This is your chance to go chasing down some really cool rabbit hole. The assignment instructions (“View Assignment Details”) tell you exactly what information I need and how to format it.

Week 3: Analysis of the Rhetorical Situation: One of the most common errors I see in these essays is that students assume that because I’m smart, I’ll be able to read their minds. They give me two or three facts and assume I know how the information relates to the thesis. Not so. Only in your analysis will I learn how your thesis and research interact.

So, in part, this assignment is to help you remember what it’s like to come at the subject from a perspective of complete ignorance, as it is likely I will be doing. You want to make sure you give me everything I need to evaluate your work fairly at the end of the class. In order to do that, you need to step back and consider your needs as a writer as well as my needs as a reader. Think about where you’ll connect the dots for me.

Week 4: Source Evaluation: This one is a grade saver. You must use reliable, scholarly research material. Failure to do so has the potential to earn you an F on the essay. It’s too easy to assume that because you agree with an author, that person is right. Or to assume that because you found the material in the library, the material is accurate. (Remember, the library collects all information. Its function isn’t to evaluate and sort it. That would amount to censorship.) Don’t be fooled by the question about “objectivity”. You can’t get away with saying, “This is an unbiased source”.

Everything has bias. Your job here is to find at least reasonably neutral sources and tell me what biases remain. Be honest with me and with yourself.

Week 5: Annotated Bibliography: This one is as much for me as for you. Though, in the end, you’re the one responsible for ensuring that you use reliable resources, the annotated bibliography gives me a chance to learn the theses of your sources and tell you if anything throws up red flags. I won’t guarantee that I’ll be able to see these from your submissions, but I’ll try. And I’ll look back at them when I’m grading the final essay to see if I think you’re misunderstanding something from your outside materials.

Week 6: Outline: There are two ways to use a formal outline. It can be a prewriting tool that helps keep you on task and heads off writer’s block. Or it can be a postwriting tool that you use to make sure you covered everything and organized the work the way you wanted. (It can also be both). Some people have to write a complete draft in order to complete a thorough outline. That’s fine. (And it will help you write the abstract). Just be sure you’re staying ahead of the assignment curve so you submit the outline to me on time.

Week 7: Abstract: If you did the outline on time, this should be painfully easy. String together your outline into paragraphs and hand me a finished product.

Week 8: Essay:

If you have been following a timetable, either this one or some other specific process, you should have enough information to complete a thorough draft and submit it on time. If you need more help with your writing process, drop me a line early in the term, and we’ll work out something that will allow you to submit your assignments on time and get the essay finished in something other than a last-minute-gasping-for-the-finish-burst-of-energy-burnout.