final paper

Assignment Instructions

For this assignment, you will follow the format as presented in your Lessons and summarized as follows:

Title Page of the Paper. The title of your paper should be brief but should adequately inform the reader of your general topic and the specific focus of your research. Keywords relating to parameters, population, and other specifics are useful. The Title Page must include the elements required in the 2012 End of Program Manual.

I.          Introduction. (8 pages) This section provides an overview of the topic that you are writing about, a concise synopsis of the issues, and why the topic presents a “puzzle” that prompts your research question(s), which you will include. This section will typically be 8 pages. This section can be preceded by an epigraph that creates interest in the topic. Ensure that you follow proper format for epigraphs!! For this section you can draw from your Research Question and Purpose Statement and Thesis Proposal assignments. 

II.         Review of the Literature (18 PAGES ) All research projects include a literature review to set out for the reader what knowledge exists on the subject under study and helps the researcher develop the research strategy to use in the study. A good literature review is a thoughtful study of what has been written, a summary of the arguments that exist (whether you agree with them or not), arranged thematically. At the end of the summary, you should have circled back to your research question that remains to be answered. It is written in narrative format and can be from 18 pages depending on the scope and length of the paper.

Continue Review of the Literature: All research projects include a literature review to set out for the reader what knowledge exists on the subject under study and helps the researcher develop the research strategy to use in the study. A good literature review is a thoughtful study of what has been written, a summary of the arguments that exist (whether you agree with them or not), arranged thematically. At the end of the summary, there should still be gaps in the literature that you intend to fill with your research. It is written in narrative format

III.        Methodology and Research Strategy ( 8 PAGES) This section provides the reader with a description of how you are planning to conduct research. It explains what research approach you have chosen, and why. It describes any special considerations and defines any limitations and terms specific to this project, if necessary. This section will range from 8 pages Please draw on your research proposal as you should have already developed a preliminary strategy for the Proposal that you submitted at the end of Week 4.

IV.        Findings and Analysis: (15 pages) This section provides the results of your research and the analytical arguments that will make as a result of your findings. In a quantitative project, this section would provide the results of the data collection and an analysis of what it illustrates in empirical terms. In a qualitative project, you will do the same even if there is no quantitative component. For an empirical qualitative project, you will provide your analysis of the variables you identified and explain what your research findings are. How did your independent variables affect the outcome (your dependent variable)? Did you prove or disprove your hypothesis? What new information have you discovered, if any? This section will range from 15 pages.

Continue Findings and Analysis: This section provides the results of your research and the analytical arguments that will make as a result of your findings. In a quantitative project, this section would provide the results of the data collection and an analysis of what it illustrates in empirical terms. In a qualitative paper, it will produce the findings that you have made from an empirical analysis of your variables. This section should also provide the evidence that proves (or disproves) the hypothesis. 

V.         Conclusions (7 PAGES) This section will contain the concluding analytical arguments based on what research has revealed to answer the research question. Like any conclusion, it should provide a synopsis of the project, the strategy, and the results and what they add to the body of knowledge. This section should also offer suggestions for avenues of future research for other scholars, as all knowledge is evolutionary.   This section can be 7 pages depending on the scope of the project.

References (or Bibliography): This section will contain all references, cited in Turabian format and alphabetically arranged. Entitle this section as either “References” or “Bibliography” depending on the type of citation you use in the rest of the paper. Refer to the Turabian Quick Guide for specific formats. You should have been compiling these and adding to them as you’ve gone along. They should be error free