Library Lessons This Week

The only lessons we have this week is an overview of the contents of the final draft of the research proposal as a reminder and the final exam objectives for studying.

Lesson 1

Final Draft of Your Research Proposal

As a review, the main elements of your Research Proposal will be:

1. Statement of the Problem
1. Topic for the study appropriate for your field
2. The research problem within this topic
3. A justification for the problem based on past research and practice
4. Deficiencies or shortcomings of past research or practical knowledge
5. The importance of addressing the problem for diverse audiences
2. Literature Review (Study-by-Study)
1. Analysis and synthesis of the primary research that assist in validating and supporting the research problem using a study-by-study approach grouped under broad themes
2. Summarize major themes and present reasons for a proposed study or the importance of studying a research problem
3. Specifying a Purpose and Research Questions or Hypotheses
1. A concise statement of the purpose of the study based on the research approach chosen (qualitative or quantitative)
2. The research questions or hypotheses to be addressed as appropriate for the research approach
4. Methods
1. Statement of research approach and research design
2. Setting for your study (what type of access do you have?)
3. Participants and how selected (sampling)
4. Instrumentation - Provide necessary operational definitions of variables, identify types of data needed,  and instruments or measures used.  Include actual copy of the survey or instrument as well as evidence of reliability and validity
5. Summary of data collection procedures
6. Summary of data analysis techniques that will be employed
5. References
6. Appendices

As you tackle the task of completing your final draft this week and next week, I want to review what should be included in the document you turn in.

The document you turn in should contain the following elements:

Front Matter

Title page

Body of the Paper (everything in the above outline)

Back Matter

References

Appendices

Lesson Activities

• Do not forget to proofread, proofread, proofread. 
• Your entire proposal should be in a single continuous document with everything in appropriate order and sequence.
• View the rubric I will use to grade your final proposal
• As a final reminder, I have compiled all of the APA tidbits presented over the course of the semester in a single page so you can review and recheck your document to insure you have appropriately applied APA style. Of course, you should not rely only on the tidbits covered.
• Turn in the final draft of your research proposal no later than Monday, August 3rd at 5:00 PM. Send it to your instructor as an attachment.

Lesson 2

The final exam is worth 150 points towards your final grade and will consist of approximately 40-75 questions.  The questions will be true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching and short answer.  The exam will open at 12:00 AM on Thursday, August 6. The exam will be given online using the elearning system you have been using all semester for your chapter quizzes.  For security purposes, the exam will only be open from 12 AM to midnight with NO exceptions.  Please be sure that you will be able to take the final exam sometime during this window of time.  This gives everyone a 24 hour window to access the exam.  The exam should take you approximately 3 hours to complete (the normal time a final exam is scheduled).  From the time you log in to the final exam you will have 4 hours.  This should give you time to also review your answers. Please note that this means you should be prepared to answer questions as you would in an in-classroom testing situation. It is intended to be a closed book exam meaning that if you choose to not study thinking that you will look up answers in your text as you go through the exam then it is not likely you will complete the exam in a timely manner. To assist you with your studying, the following provides a comprehensive list of objectives. All of these objectives have been assessed in your chapter quizzes. Test questions will be sampled from the objectives. Chapter quizzes you have had should give you a good idea of question format and emphasis within each chapter.

Lesson Activities

• Here is a copy of the list of objectives in Word or rtf format for you to print out for studying

Lesson 3

Contact the
Library Staff

Need Help?

Have a question but can't find the answer? Here are some options:

• Check the Course FAQ page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Check the Proposal FAQ page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email the Head Librarian (Dr. Curda)*.
• Email the Assistant Librarian (Melissa)*.
• Check with the other library patrons.

*Remember to include your name and the course name (Educational Research) or number (EDF 6481) in your message.