reduction of gun violence by mandatory military service
- Introduction, Research Question, and Hypothesis: This section shall provide an overview of the topic that you are writing about, a concise synopsis of the issues, and why the topic presents a “puzzle†that prompts your research questions, which you will include. This section will be 1-2 pages. This section can be preceded by an epigraph that creates interest in the topic. Ensure that you follow proper format for epigraphs!! You did this section in HW2.
- Review of the Literature: All research projects include a literature review to set out for the reader what knowledge exists on the subject under study and helps the researcher develop the research strategy to use in the study. A good literature review is a thoughtful study of what has been written, a summary of the arguments that exist (whether you agree with them or not), arranged thematically. At the end of the summary, you should circle back to your research question that remains to be answered. It is written in narrative format and can be from 3-5 pages depending on the scope and length of the paper. You did this in HW4.
- Methodology and Research Strategy: This section provides the reader with a description of how you conducted the research. It explains what research approach you chose and why. It describes any special considerations and defines any limitations and terms specific to this project, if necessary. NOTE: SINCE YOU WILL NOT BE OPERATIONALIZING THE METHODS AND APPROACHES YOU CONSIDERED IN HW 5 AND HW6, YOU WILL PROBABLY WRITE A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER. SIMPLY STATE YOUR WORKING HYPOTHESIS AND THE VARIABLES THAT YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED FOR ANALYSIS.
- Findings and Analysis: This section provides the results of your research and the analytical arguments that will make as a result of your findings. In a quantitative project, this section would provide the results of the data collection and an analysis of what it illustrates in empirical terms. In a qualitative project – like yours – you will simply provide your analysis of the variables you identified and explain what your research findings are. How did your independent variable affect the outcome and your dependent variable?? Did you prove or disprove your hypothesis? What new information have you discovered, if any? This section could be 1-3 pages depending on the length of the paper and scope of the project.
- Conclusions: This section will contain the concluding analytical arguments based on what research has revealed to answer the research question. Like any conclusion, it should provide a synopsis of the project, the strategy, and the results and what they add to the body of knowledge. This section should also offer suggestions for avenues of future research for other scholars, as all knowledge is evolutionary. This section can be 1-2 pages depending on the scope of the project.
- References: This section will contain all references, cited in APA format and alphabetically arranged. Entitle this section as “References†and as you should use parenthetical citations throughout.