Assignment: Culminating Research Paper

Assignment: Culminating Research Paper

Assignment: Culminating Research Paper

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Question Description
For the culminating research project in this course, you will be choosing ONE of the topics listed below:

Risk Taking
There are many ways in which troubled tweens express themselves. For some, it’s through risk-taking. But troubled tweens are the only ones who take chances. Risk taking is common among tweens and teens in general, largely because they truly do believe they are invincible.
Risk-taking manifests in many different ways. For some preteens, that might include binge drinking, having sex, and taking chances with their own safety.
Substance Abuse
Many parents mistakenly believe that the risks of smoking, underage drinking, and drug use are solely reserved for teenagers. Unfortunately, many preteens engage in underage drinking, smoking, and other abusive dangers, such as inhalants.
Depression and Anxiety
Depression and anxiety can affect children and adults, and in both cases, it can be a difficult and challenging obstacle. Children who are depressed often pull away from friends have trouble sleeping or change their eating habits, among other symptoms.
Obesity
For obese and overweight children, life can be tough and troubling. Youth who seriously struggle with weight often face social issues and may have trouble fitting in. In addition, they also have higher rates of depression and other behavior problems.
Self-Esteem Issues
For many troubled teens, self-esteem — or the lack thereof — can be a huge problem.
School Safety

You MUST choose one of the topics listed above. Once you have chosen your topic, email me to let me know which topic you chose. Note: Bullying/Cyberbullying are NOT topics you should be researching for this project.

Assignment: Culminating Research Paper

Assignment: Culminating Research Paper

You will:

Research the topic,
Evaluate and discuss its effects on the local community, then
Present some possible solutions.
This is a comprehensive, culminating activity which will involve a significant investment of your time and effort.
The time allotted to this project is four weeks
Your final project should be a total of 12-16 pages including:
Cover page
4-5 pages of peer-reviewed research from Academic Journals ONLY! It should include originally designed data tables and graphs and/or statistics on the topic.
2-3 pages of your own analysis of the research.
2-3 pages of how this information relates specifically to the local community.
3-4 pages of possible solutions (MUST BE SPECIFIC AND DETAILED!)
Reference page
For this project, you must use Academic Journals found in an SPC Library or the SPC Library Online. View this resource for help using the SPC Library Online. Try to ONLY use recent (within the last 7-8 years) articles in your research. Your entire paper MUST be done in APA format.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.