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Week 3: Introduction to �Research Flow and the Academic Paper��

Emily LaTourrette & Ernesto Diaz

Faculty AP Capstone

Redwood High School

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Day 1:

Research Flow -

Backwards Planning and Methods Presentation��

Emily LaTourrette & Ernesto Diaz

Faculty Redwood High School

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Backwards Planning Sample

September/October:

  • Academic Paper Version 1.0 and 2.0 (Annotated Bib => Abstract/Intro/Lit Review)
  • Elevator speeches
  • 1st set of Peer of reviews

November:

  • IPF due 1st week
  • IRB due/approved
  • Academic Paper Version 3.0 (Methodology)
  • 2nd set of Peer reviews

December:

  • Conducting Research/Collecting data
  • Academic Paper Version 4.0
  • 3rd set of Peer reviews

January:

  • Formating results
  • Drafting Findings/Results & Data Analysis
  • 4th set of Peer reviews

February:

  • Drafting Conclusions
  • 5th set of Peer reviews
  • Drafting Presentation/Oral Defense

March:

  • Begin Revising Academic Paper
  • Finish Bibliography
  • Presentation/Oral Defense

April: Final Draft Academic Paper due end of month

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Research Methods Assignment

Depending on the Field and specific Project, there are a number of methodologies to collect data. Here are some examples

Research Methodologies

After you preview this document, we will look at the Research Methods Presentation assignment in Canvas; you will get a group and an assigned Method from this list.

You will have this week to prepare the assignment and everyone will present on Monday next week!

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Day 2:

APR Logistics, and the Academic Paper����

Emily LaTourrette & Ernesto Diaz

Faculty Redwood High School

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Academic Paper version 1.0

Please create the document “Your Name Academic Paper Version 1.0” in your drive

Transfer the structure of an academic paper in the next slide to the paper you just created. This will be your First Table of Contents

1: “How to write a conference abstract…” by Catherine Baker https://bit.ly/2mCdiTH

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Structure of an Academic Paper

    • Background and Need
    • Literature Review
    • Identified Gap
    • Research Question
    • Statement of Problem
    • Theoretical Rationale
    • Assumptions
    • Participants/Sources
    • Measures/ Tools/ Instruments
    • Procedures/Justifications

Abstract

Introduction

Methodology

Results

    • Summary of Major Findings
    • Analysis of themes and/or Inferential Analysis
    • Conclusions
    • Limitations of the Study
    • Implications for future research
    • Bibliography

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Academic Paper version 1.0

Your next step is to watch the lecture How to write a great research paper - 2012 Lecture 6 - Research Skills

Take notes in your PREP Journal about the main ideas, new insights or epiphanies, or anything else that seems important.

We will use this video as the foundation for writing an effective paper by the end of April.

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Why Researchers Review Literature

What is a literature review?

    • Systematic review of the studies and theories that are a part of the existing academic literature.

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Why Researchers Review Literature

Reviewing literature has many purposes

    • Frames current research in context
    • Helps researcher narrow their question
    • Allows researcher to establish a gap in current body of work
    • May help researcher identify a replication study opportunity
    • May discover ideas in existing studies that suggest “future research”
    • May uncover pitfalls or cautions
    • May find theories or concepts to adapt
    • May find useful measures to use
    • May learn how by example how to structure a literature review

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Why Researchers Review Literature

Replication Studies

Strict Replication

    • Researchers try to mimic the original study in all important respects to see if results are the same

Modified Replication

    • Researchers intentionally modify some aspect (population or measure) in the study to see if concept applies under different conditions/ for different groups.

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Why Researchers Review Literature

What does a literature review do?

    • Literature reviews can stand alone but are most common as a section of an empirical article, thesis, dissertation, or book
    • Literature reviews can provide context for the reader
    • Literature reviews demonstrate that the author is conversant in the relevant research
    • Literature reviews establish the context and justification for the gap they will try to fill

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Locating Literature in Electronic Databases

Ways to search databases

    • Identify the databases most commonly used in your discipline.
    • Create a list of terms and specific terminology that applies to your topic. Consider synonyms.

TECHNIQUE

    • Look up terms in the database(s) you identified. Review the standardized subject terms in database.
    • Learn how to use Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT to best combine terms and limit searches

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE

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Locating Literature in Electronic Databases

ABSTRACTS

    • A short, 50- to 300-word summary of article
    • Often provides research question, data collected, and key findings

ANNUAL REVIEWS

    • Articles that summarize the literature on specific themes and topics
    • Articles have bibliographies with lots of possible sources

Filtering your searches for relevant articles

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Locating Literature in Electronic Databases

Document your literature search

  • What databases did you search?
  • What parameters did you use? Keywords, combinations of words/phrases, etc.
  • How many items did it return?
  • How did you sort out which ones you wanted?

This information can be useful in writing up your research.

Additionally, as you move forward with scouring databases and beginning to build your Annotated Bibliography that essentially will be the start of your Academic Paper, consider using Raul Pacheco-Vega’s AIC (Abstract-Introduction-Conclusion) reading strategy since you have a lot to read and limited time: http://www.raulpacheco.org/2017/01/finding-the-most-relevant-information-in-a-paper-when-reading-a-three-step-method/

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Structuring the Literature Review

When literature reviews are part of a larger work (article, book) they are usually about 20% of the total.

Lit reviews often begin an article or are the next item after the introduction.

Recipe for starting a lit review

  • Compelling key statistic

  • Definition(s) of key terms from the literature

  • Trend information about statistic (increasing, decreasing or how little it has been covered) (optional)

Carefully ensure you know the meaning and details of how the compelling key statistic was collected.

Mix together using precise words with the definitions of key terms. Do not use dictionary definitions—draw from the literature and show differences in how the literature defines the term if they are meaningful.

Once combined, finish with optional trend information that supports its importance.

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Connecting the Literature to Your Study

Good Literature Reviews

  • Look for themes in the literature
  • Summarize the findings by themes or variable relationships
  • Do NOT cover one article at a time
  • Links the research and findings to the current project
  • Succinctly describes the methods and findings of articles in lit review

Additional resources that might be useful depending on your project

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Preparing to Write a Critical Review

TWO COMMON MISTAKES

  1. Novices may treat the results of each study as “facts” instead of scrutinizing for flaws/weaknesses
  2. Novices often try to discuss studies as if they are all equal in quality when some are methodologically superior to others

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Day 3:

Work Period–Methods Presentation and Bibliography v 1.0��

Emily LaTourrette & Ernesto Diaz

Faculty Redwood High School

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Weekly “Housekeeping” and Work Time

  • What new PREP entries from this week?
    • Backwards Planning Version 1.0 (Sept 14-Dec 14)
    • Cambridge Lecture on Academic papers (do sometime before end of Sept)
    • Literature Review notes
    • Weekly Reflection (end of class today)

Work Time

  • Methods Presentation slides due Friday EOD in Canvas; you will present Monday

  • Bibliography v 1.0–2 more sources (total of 4 by Monday); you will turn this in at the end of next week when you have 6 sources with citations and notes on how the source is helping your find a direction for your project, understand the context of your area of interest, and/or establish a GAP in the literature related to your project idea