Research Methods Project Requirements Summary [Undergraduate]

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Research Methods Project Requirements Summary

      • The formal paper for this course will be divided into 4 parts called “milestones.”  
      • You will combine all of the milestones into a final paper (Milestone 4)
      • Your overall project will be to write a proposal for an experiment; this is divided into two parallel parts.
          1. Your formal, written paper (milestones) will be a stand-alone literature review.
          2. The other elements of your research proposal will be written as discussion posts; your reply posts (2 minimum weekly) will be peer reviews of your colleagues’ work.  Discussions aren’t busy work in this class!  Take them seriously; they will be the most challenging part.

Literature Review Requirements Summary:   

          • All work must be submitted as a Microsoft Word file.
          • All work must be formatted according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Edition).  (hereafter called the Style Guide or APA
          • We are professionals–Don’t use the APA “student” template.   Use my professional template
          • Your final paper must be a minimum of 10 pages of substantive content (Don’t count the title page, abstract, or references).
          • You must cite a minimum of 10 empirical research reports (look for statistics) from peer-reviewed criminal justice journals (allied fields such as criminology are fine; law journals are not acceptable).
          • All journal articles should be cited per the APA as journal articles. (Don’t treat them as generic web pages or any other thing).
          • Your organizational structure should be thematic, based on your hypothesis (Don’t write an annotated bibliography).
          • You should not have any methods, participants, results, or analysis sections in a stand-alone lit review. (Save those for the discussion boards).  
          • This is a formal writing assignment, and you are expected to write in a formal style.
          • This is a scientific paper, and you are expected to write in an objective, scientific tone. (Don’t make an argument or try to write about an issue other than your hypothesis).
          • Your title should reflect an “X causes Y” hypothesis, and your overall project should be an experiment.
          • To be an experiment, your project should meet the following criteria:  You will manipulate X and observe Y to see if it changes.
          • Pre-experimental designs (you use a preexisting group and can’t manipulate the independent variable) may be approved by your professor on a case-by-case basis.  This is much harder to talk about, so don’t do it. 

Red Flags to Avoid (Because they result in terrible grades)

        • You want to write an essay on a policy issue
        • You want to make an argument of any kind (save it for law classes).
        • You can’t resist writing an annotated bibliography
        • You want to write about marijuana legalization
        • You want to write about the death penalty
        • You want to write about abortion
        • You want to write about the Second Amendment
        • You want to write about the death penalty
        • You want to write a law review/policy paper/historical review
        • You want to write a term paper (a very common mistake!)  
        • You want to write about something abstract that you can’t test experimentally
        • You want to write about something not related to criminal justice

            


Developed by Adam J. McKee.  

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Last Modified: 05/02/2023

 

 

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