Information on Assignment Due by Monday, September 28, 2020
Cover Page. The cover page should consist of only two things: (1) the topic of your research paper (the one you previously submitted to me) and (2) your name.
Summary. The next page of your assignment should consist of a summary of your academic/scholarly references. (See last week’s class notes regarding what are considered academic/scholarly references.) Recall, from your syllabus, that by September 28th everyone should have a minimum of 15 academic/scholarly references. (Note: your final paper should have a minimum of 25 academic/scholarly references.)
Your Summary should discuss only the major findings that have been identified in the academic/scholarly references that you have found and reviewed by this time in the course. For example, if one of your references indicates that homicides in Southern states noticeably increased between 2010 and 2018, then you should highlight that in your Summary.
Basically, what I want to see in your Summary is what the research studies that relate to your topic have found. If a few of the references have findings that are similar, then you want to point this out in your Summary. If, on the other hand, the studies have dissimilar or even very different findings then you should discuss this.
The Summary part of your assignment should be at least a page, perhaps a little more, but certainly nothing less than a page.
Original Data Source or Sources. In the next part of your assignment you need to (1) clearly identify your original data source or sources and (2) discuss, in approximately a page or so, what this data is suggesting or telling you. Because in your final paper everyone must provide data analysis of your original source or sources, it is important at this time to have a reasonably good idea of what the data is saying.
Some good examples of original data sources are as follows: FBI Statistics, US Justice Department Statistics, US Labor Department Statistics, Census Bureau data, CIA Statistics, United Nations’ Statistics, and data from state and local governments.
Most, if not all, of this type of data can be accessed online.
Some of you may want to consider using a survey with a questionnaire as an original data source, which is fine. Using a survey would allow you to interview respondents or distribute a questionnaire to respondents; or, perhaps you might want to both.
If you plan on using a survey as your original data source, then in this part of your assignment you should discuss the details of the survey, who will be your respondents and/or who you will interview. You should also give at least a few examples of the questions you will asking individuals that participate in your survey. The number of respondents should be approximately 25.
Bibliography. The last part of your assignment is the bibliography. In this part of the assignment you need to list the 15 (or more) academic/scholarly references that you have identified thus far in the course.
Below is the proper formatting style that you should use in your bibliography.
Books
Author’s last name, first initial. (Publication date). Book title. Additional information. City of publication: Publishing company.
Examples:
Allen, T. (1974). Vanishing wildlife of North America. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
Boorstin, D. (1992). The creators: A history of the heroes of the imagination. New York: Random House.
Nicol, A. M., & Pexman, P. M. (1999). Presenting your findings: A practical guide for creating tables. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Searles, B., & Last, M. (1979). A reader’s guide to science fiction. New York: Facts on File, Inc.
Toomer, J. (1988). Cane. Ed. Darwin T. Turner. New York: Norton.
Journal Articles
Note: Do not enclose the title in quotation marks. Put a period after the title.
Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.
Note: Any book or article accessed online should also include the web address (www.etc.) and the date that you accessed the reference.
