5 Article Reviews 2 Pages long totalling 10 pages.

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING ASSIGNMENT #2 (Choose Option #1 or #2) Option #2: Research Paper, Due on or before Sunday, April 23, 2017 Associated Learning Objectives: Examine theories, definitions, concepts, and issues related to CSCW. Communicate IS concepts, designs, and solutions effectively and professionally in online discussions and in papers. Write an effective research paper that captures the essence of a current research trend in CSCW. Develop skills in identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing scholarly literature effectively. Purpose: To explore a topic of choice from one of the research tracks below and describe key research literature that discusses current trends, theories, issues, and concepts, applications, and effective practices related to that topic. Overall task: The student will prepare a research paper that identifies and explores a significant problem or issue in CSCW. This research paper requires your attention to extensive literature research and synthesis of review. The paper should approximate 15 pages of the main content and without counting the title page or list of References. Topic Selection from Course Tracks for the Research Paper

A paper focusing on a specific topic of your choice related to CSCW is required for this assignment. Your topic should focus on a current research trend and relate to one of the weekly schedule of tracks from the course schedule. The tracks focus on research, application, and effective practices and emerging technological tools in CSCW. Please see the Detailed Course Schedule for explanation of tracks, but the track titles are:

Groupware and Collaborative Technologies CSCW Research on Teams/Groups Evaluating CSCW CSCW Coordination and Workflow Collaborative Search, Information Sharing, and Social Motivators for Community

Participation Think of the paper as if we were to hold a symposium on CSCW; using the tracks and the

descriptions as potential current research trends, the paper would focus on a specific thread or problem area within that track. To start, pick a track, review the required readings from the track, and in doing so, find a common and consistent topic and problem of interest to develop into a paper. Synthesize the current and most relevant research around that specific topic and problem area. I provide some examples below but please understand these are general ideas and do not cover the range of potential of issues that are possible as you begin to think about the scope of your own topic.

For example, from the Groupware and Collaborative Technologies track, you may be

interested in delving into the evolution of a specific groupware (like a shared editing tool or a well-known synchronous or asynchronous software that has evolved over time to support group work). Perhaps your company expects mobile collaboration, but the right tool for the right collaborative purpose has yet to be found. You would present the solid research on the success

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(and perhaps non-success, or both) of groupware or collaborative technologies and discuss the scalability of certain tool(s), having evolved from research on theory and practice. You have to think creatively here not just to write about groupware basics and functionality about a particular groupware tool, but how the evolution clearly shows a pattern of effective theory and practice. One would think that groupware and collaborative technologies are evolving still -- what is the next generation of collaborative technology?

Another example, from the CSCW Research on Teams/Group track, you may be

interested in learning more about the challenges of supporting Agile distributed teams or groups. You may want to understand more about how and why online groups or teams perform well -- how group composition plays into online collaborative work. What understandings have researchers achieved about trust and trust development in teams or groups? How does CSCW help the co-located, the distributed, or virtual team? What problems persist with group decision- making performance when groups are distributed? What does the current research show about the choices (perhaps even the opportunities and challenges) given to synchronous and asynchronous interaction that support online teams or groups?

Another example, from the CSCW Coordination and Workflow track, you may be

interested in learning more about how coordination and activity theory and effective practices with collaborative technologies help in an organizational process or specific context like software development. What do researchers understand about workflow given coordination technologies need strong awareness mechanisms to keep work activity on track? What is awareness in CSCW and what is needed in future designs of collaborative systems to support it? What is online creative collaboration?

Another example, from the Collaborative Search, Information Sharing, and Social

Motivators for Community Participation track, what research is being done on collaborative search or on information sharing or on goal-setting online communities? What is an online "collaboratory" and how would one improve information sharing? What are the "issues" around collaborative search that researchers are zoning in on?

Again, so you can see, I give "examples" of possible topics and focus of topics based on

initial readings from the course tracks, but do not let my examples impede your interests or your creative thinking about a trend in CSCW that you want to learn more about!

We will have a forum thread on Research Paper Topics so that we can discuss and seek

general advice on topic selection and topic focus. Organization of the paper and importance of literature integration

The paper must be scholarly and grounded in theory and also provide a clear connection

to effective practices. To accomplish this you must dig deep into the literature to address an identified problem area -- a relevant problem about the topic that serves as the conceptual basis for the paper. In addition, your topic, and the organization of your paper, should start with a title of your paper on a title page and, on a new page, an introduction that describes what the paper is

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about including, problem definition and research goals or questions (what problem and what issues are you focusing on related to the topic). The remaining part, and most detailed part of the paper, contains an extensive Review of Literature where you are describing in detail the current and most relevant published research about the topic. Essentially, the paper weaves throughout current trends, theories, issues, and concepts, applications, and effective practices related to that topic. In some cases, a depth approach to technological tools that have impacted effective practices would also emerge in the paper.

A few more tips about the paper: Once you’ve selected a topic, you need to focus on a specific problem or issue related to the topic. Besides a title for the work, an introduction should contain a clear and compelling problem statement with literature substantiation, a description of the significance of your topic, and what the proposed research paper will cover. Present one or more research questions that will help you organize the conceptual framework for the paper. For example, what is the goal of your paper? Research questions could include questions like, “What are the barriers to activity awareness in CSCW? What are the positive outcomes of coordination that are being discussed in the literature? (These questions, of course, pertain to the topic of coordination and activity awareness in CSCW.) Be creative with the questions. By giving concrete questions you will achieve two things: you will be able to use these to help you retain focus throughout the paper, and you will inform the reader (me, the Professor) how the paper will be organized.

Current and relevant literature synthesis involves including literature sources (2014-

present) to bring support to the discussion in the paper. You must synthesize the literature by comparing and contrasting work presented by the experts in the field of study. The paper must conform to the format guidelines established in the APA Manual 6h edition. Peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and texts should be used as sources. At least 10-15 references should be used for this paper. Web sites that are only highly professional and peer-reviewed (such as those articles contained in formal online journals and organizational websites) may be cited, but be mindful about this. ONLY USE THOSE ONLINE JOURNALS AND ORGANIZATION CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS LISTED under Acceptable Journals and Conference Proceedings List for Use in Assignments.

The entire assignment is worth a possible total of 100 points. Papers will be graded and

points awarded for quality of content, depth of content, quality of sources selected, topic focus, current and relevant synthesis, organization, presentation, references style and accuracy, language and style and presentation accuracy, and overall quality of writing. IMPORTANT!!! The articles that you select to review for Assignment #1 can be used as literature material to integrate into your research paper for Assignment #2! So, be sure to carefully consider the article selection for Assignment #1 and Assignment #2 so that you can leverage your work in this course! Don’t forget to see the section on Basic Requirements for All Assignments. “General” Format for the Research Paper: Title page: including title of paper, author full name, full contact information, course number.

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Beginning on page 2: Title of paper Abstract – no more than 100 words summarizing the paper Keywords Introduction Includes problem statement and research questions Review of Literature –Here is where you give a thorough synthesis of the literature and deep examination of the issues. Use section headings as appropriate to maintain organization as you may be shifting or advancing several issues on the topic. Conclusions – What new research lies ahead for this topic? Reference List End of Assignment #2, Option #2 Instructions