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Announcements: Office hour appointments filling up – get yours today! Don’t delay on getting started on next TWO assignments. Research design paper is due the week after UNM Fall Break. I am available to meet with students in my office that evening. Please schedule a time.

APA Tip of the Day: Publication year in citations “Omit the year from subsequent citations after the first nonparenthetical citation within a paragraph. Include the year in subsequent citations if the first citation within a paragraph is parenthetical” (APA, 2010, p. 175).

Examples of year of publication in in-text citations:  Blah, blah, blah (Gomez, Smith, & Wen, 2010). Gomez et al. (2010) additionally argued that… Gomez et al. further stated that…

Questions, quandaries, or concerns?

Today’s Topic: Research Design Issues – Part II

Parts of a Research Paper: 1.title page 2.abstract 3.introduction 4.method section 5.results 6.discussion (including implications)

Title Page: The title should be an accurate and clearly identifiable description of the contents of the article.

According to APA (p. 23): “a title should summarize the main idea of the manuscript simply and, if possible, with style. It should be a concise statement of the main topic and should identify the variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them.” Title Page:

Abstract: “An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article; it allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly and, like a title, it enables persons interested in the document to retrieve it from abstracting and indexing databases.” (APA Manual, p. 25)

Abstract:  Accurate  Self-contained  Concise and specific  Nonevaluative  Coherent and readable

Introduction: 1.Introduce the problem. Why is this study important? 2.Develop the background. Literature review 3.State the purpose and rationale. Purpose should include either the hypothesis/hypotheses or the research questions.

Literature Review: The author(s) should provide a comprehensive, thorough, well- organized and articulate synthesis of the professional literature that is relevant to the presented study.

Introduction: 1.Is it clear what problem the study attempts to address ? 2.Is it clear how the study relates to previous research? 3.Are the hypotheses or research questions clear and do they follow from the author(s) previous arguments?

1.Are the participants adequately described (i.e. students with learning disabilities)? 2.Do you understand how the data was collected and do the procedures appear trustworthy? 3.Do the methods appear to be able to answer the research question(s)? 4.If there are multiple researchers involved, is it clear exactly who did what? Method Section:

In the Results section, the author(s) should “summarize the collected data and the analysis performed on those data relevant to the discourse that is to follow.” (APA, p. 32). Results:

“Analysis of data and the reporting of the results of those analyses are fundamental aspects of the conduct of research. Accurate, unbiased, complete, and insightful reporting of the analytic treatment of data (be it quantitative or qualitative) must be a component of all research reports.” (APA, pp ) Results:

Discussion: Interpretation of results Qualification of results (e.g. limitations) Inferences Conclusions Theoretical and practical consequences of results Concluding commentary on the importance of the findings.

 Are the conclusions supported by the results and the relevant literature?  Do the implications seem reasonable? (Do you ‘buy it?) Discussion:

Quick Write What new ideas did you learn about the parts of a research paper that might help you read articles more critically? How did you extend your understandings from last week?

Small Group Activity: Look at the articles that you brought to share. To what extent to they meet the criteria just discussed for a quality research paper?

Looking ahead… Critical Concepts in Quantitative Research

Please take a minute for the minute paper. And don’t forget to turn your phone back on.