Description
Please see the “Sample research proposal” enclosed to help you understand the expectations for this final assignment.
This assignment is something that you will be able to draw upon moving forward in the program. A research proposal is a very common start to a research project as it helps to frame out the importance of the project itself and show the knowledge gaps that currently exist in the literature. Typically after a solid research proposal is written, the paper unfolds from there as you have a clear framework to follow moving forward.
This assignment requires you to write a proposal that states your research question and your research strategy for addressing it. As mentioned throughout your previous assignments you may draw upon each one to help you build your proposal.
Research Proposal:
The research proposal must be between 8-10 pages in length not including title page, table of contents, abstract, or references.
Your title page should include the working title of your research project, your name, date, and course title. You should also have an abstract on your title page.
Your proposal should have the following sections:
Cover page
Abstract
Introduction: The introduction is where you identify your specific research question and where you set the general context for the study. In this section you need to include:
a statement of the problem or general research question and context leading to a clear statement of the specific research question;
background and contextual material justifying why this case or topic should be studied; and
a purpose statement.
A hypothesis. Please make the hypothesis clear (if/then statement), and place it at the bottom of your opening section. I should not have to search to find your hypothesis.
Literature Review: Your literature review can be the same as the one you used earlier in the course — just adjust it in light of my feedback. This short preliminary literature review section reviews the literature important to your specific research question. The literature review focuses on discussing how other researchers have addressed the same or similar research questions. It introduces the study and places it in a larger context that includes a discussion of why it is important to study this case. It provides the current state of accumulated knowledge as it relates to your specific research question. In this section you should:
Summarize the general state of the literature (cumulative knowledge base) on the specific research question. For example, if you discuss other studies that have been conducted you would summarize the researcher’s findings, how those findings were obtained, and conduct an evaluation of biases in the findings.
This section should provide a broad overview of the primary arguments related to the topic and organizes the general views on the main aspects of the topic by theme, which could be the prevailing arguments or schools of thought, or commonly held beliefs that your particular topic may challenge.
Include a short conclusion and transition to the next section. Do not use the heading “Conclusion” in this section, though.
To really drive this home you want to end your literature review with a discussion of the current knowledge gaps. This is an opportunity to once again promote the importance of your own research. How will your research fit within this larger body of knowledge? What are you doing differently? What gaps will your research fill?
From here you would then include a transition into your methodology section: your proposal.
Research Design and Methods: Do not forget to include this section. Describes how you will answer your research question or test the hypothesis. This section describes your overall research design and how you plan to collect, synthesize, and interpret your data. This is NOT another literature review, nor should you explain how you plan to conduct another literature review in the future. It should include:
identification and operationalization (measurement) of variables;
a sampling plan (i.e., study population and sampling procedures, if appropriate);
justification of case studies used;
data collection/sources (secondary literature, archives, interviews, surveys, etc.);
a summary of analysis procedures (pattern-matching, etc.); and
the limitations of the study and bias discussion.
Conclusion: Reemphasizes the importance of your study and ties the proposal together.
Reference List: As with all academic papers you need to references the works that you have cited (direct quotes or paraphrases) in the text of your document and incorporate a complete reference list or bibliography at the end. This list needs to be in the style used within your field. APA= Criminal Justice, Turabian for all others in this course.
Remember that the references you use demonstrate your knowledge of the topic area. This research proposal is meant to convince your professor that you not only have identified a worthy question in need of investigation but that you are also capable of carrying out the research involved to successfully answer that question. At the very least you should have referenced 12-15 peer-reviewed sources in this proposal.
Since multiple writing styles are in use within this course, on your title page, please note which style you are using within your assignment. This will help me cater my comments to the style you are using. The style you use needs to be the one that is used within your program of study.
Format:
Standard academic format will suffice: 1-inch borders on all four sides, double spaced, with times new roman 12-point font.
As you proof read your assignment I encourage you to work with Belcher, Wendy Laura. 2009. “Editing Your Sentences” In Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success. Sage. This resource has a nice step by step process for enhancing your writing.
The research paper must be submitted as a Word Document Attachment in the Assignments section of the classroom by Sunday, 11:55pm EST at the end of week 8.
Entitled (NameFINALW8.doc) and upload in the Assignments sections.
Good luck!!
