Narrative Format

For your final research paper in this course, you will write an analytical research paper addressing a major issue of your choosing from among the topics covered in this course. As a research paper, your paper will have to answer a significant puzzle related to a course topic. 

For this assignment, you are essentially doing the first three elements of your research paper outlined below. The length of this document should range from five (5) to nine (9) pages in length.  Be sure to include your reference list and to properly cite sources in APA throughout your paper. 

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 title, name, course name and number, and Professor’s Name.

Introduction, Research Question, and Hypothesis:  This section shall provide 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 questions, which you will include. This section will be 1-2 pages. End your introduction with your research question.

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 and can be from 4-6 pages depending on the scope and length of the paper. 

As a literature review, this section should identify the common themes and theories that the prior research identified. In this section, what you do is look at the conclusions of prior research and identify what the common themes are you see in those conclusions.  

Scoring Rubric:

A copy of the complete scoring rubric for this assignment is provided in the Writing Resources module within the course lessons. The following is a synopsis of that rubric.

Area of Evaluation

Maximum Points

Focus/Thesis

20

Content/Subject Knowledge

20

Critical Thinking Skills

20

Organization of Ideas/Format

20

Writing Conventions

20

Technical Requirements:

Length: 5-9  pages, double spaced, 1″ margins, 12 pitch type in Times New Roman font, left

Citations/References:  You must use the APA style for this assignment.