Research Paper

The Research Paper identifies a coherent research question, forwards a thesis that addresses it, and provides supporting findings and interpretation. It will build on the project components you have previously produced (Preliminary Research, Annotated Bibliography, and Method Design).

Your Research Paper should include at least four scholarly sources. (Additional sources, including popular ones, may be appropriate, but at least four scholarly sources are required.) The document should be approximately 2,000 words (not including Works Cited section) and in MLA format. Your Research Paper should include the following sections:

1. Introduction: Orients your reader to your specific subject
   • Discuss what is known about it
   • Identify something that isn't known and forward the associated research question the paper addresses
   • Provide the answer you found to your research question (your thesis)
2. Literature Review (based on Annotated Bibliography): briefly summarizes the scholarly conversation that your work fits into
   • Note relevant research arranged thematically (instead of just providing a disconnected sampling of publications)
3. Methods (based on Method Design): Articulates how your answered your research question
   • Identify the type of approach you took
   • Discuss the steps you completed so they are transparent and reproducible
   • Identify any tools you adapted from other sources (such as survey templates or psychological tests)
   • Show that your approach fits with existing practices by noting other scholarship that has answered similar questions with similar methods
4. Findings: Presents and interprets what you found when you applied your methods to your research question
   
   • Connect findings with your paper's broader scholarly conversation
5. Conclusion: Recaps and looks forward
   • Restate briefly what the paper found
   • Discuss where future studies could go from here
6. Works Cited: Documents the sources used in the paper
7. (optional) Appendix: Collects questionnaires or other relevant documents (if the questions they contain are not explicated elsewhere in the paper)

The Research Paper will be uploaded as a file. You should use existing authentic examples of academic scholarship as models, such as those you have identified in your Annotated Bibliography and the articles listed in our notes.