UWC Consultant Guide

Your second assignment in this course is to put together a Proposal for your Research Project on a topic related to Nature.  A proposal is just that – a proposal for something you have not yet undertaken. Don’t worry if your research changes a bit once you dig into it. The purpose of research proposals is to help you focus and envision your project, including the steps you’ll take to complete it.  Another crucial purpose of research proposals is to persuade others of the value and feasibility of your intended research. So keep in mind the rhetorical concepts of ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos as you draft your proposal.

The discrete elements of the proposal will become clearer after we read Chapter 11 and 12 in EasyWriter (“Conducting Research” and “Evaluating Sources”) and after we’ve gone over different research methods.

Here’s the basic structure of the proposal:

1. Title/Topic of Proposed Research: The title should be straight-forward and crystal clear. If it is also interesting, that is beneficial.

2. Description of Research: Here you explain your research topic, why it matters, and the goals or outcomes of your research. The challenge of this part is to be specific without going into a great deal of explanation. In effect, you are articulating a question that you want to answer with your research. This part needs at least 250, at most 500 words.

3. Research Methods: Here you explain the kinds of research you plan to do and why.

4. Time Line: Time lines do much to suggest the feasibility of your project. You have to show that you can undertake your project within the confines of this semester. The project has to be completed by Nov. 14, 2019, when your research project is due.

5. Bibliography of 8 Sources Total: Your sources should include at least 3 scholarly, peer-reviewed articles or book chapters (academic sources); at least 3 serious, learned journalistic sources (McKibben and Saini are good examples); and the rest could include non-academic sources such as magazines, serious newspapers, or websites of various kinds (e. g. experts’ blogs or pages), as long as you pay attention to their trustworthiness. (Review the distinction between scholarly and popular sources in EasyWriter, 11c.) You don’t need to read all of them really carefully at this point (reading the abstract might be enough for some of them); just choose some that look promising (check abstracts, bibliography, subheadings, etc.) Describe each source you plan to use. (Of course, this list will probably change by the time you are fully involved in the project.)

Please remember: all throughout this process, I will be available to help you along. You can come to my office hours or we’ll figure out an additional time to meet. Email is also a possibility.

All students are required to write a seven-page original term paper (about 2100 words). This is to be a either a research, or argumentative paper on: 1) any topic found in the text, OR, 2) related to the important, and emerging philosophy of restorative justice (e.g. victim-offender mediation, peacemaking circles, community policing, victims’ rights, reparative boards etc.) Topics are to be approved by the instructor (a 50-75 word paper proposal will be due by 10/31). You must include at least three outside sources (not the text), properly cited, such as books or journal articles. Papers must be typed (double-spaced) to ASA/APA criteria (if you are not familiar with them, look them up) and include, at minimum, three headings: Introduction (with no title), Body (with a title of its own), and Summary or Conclusions (titled Summary and/or Conclusions).
Worth 20 points, papers are due Dec. 12 th . More details will be provided in class, see the instructor if you are having difficulty selecting a topic.

Abbreviated Literature Review:

This assignment will provide you with the opportunity to think methodically about a topic that is significant to the social work profession and for which you have a strong interest.  In week 4 of class I will ask you to give me your topic so that I can provide you with feedback on the appropriateness of the scope you’ve chosen. My suggestion is that you use this assignment to begin your thinking, analysis, and research for the Policy Research paper.  This assignment should be 2-4 pages  each (Each article treated as a separate assignment). *Be sure to include a cover sheet and reference page with this assignment using APA formatting, which are not included in the assignment page count.

You will select 2 professional academic articles that are current (no older then 2000), scholarly and relevant to the social welfare issue you will address in the research paper.  Articles must be from a professional journal or professional text.  Online journals and Googled articles will not count.  This literature review will serve as foundational information for your Policy Research paper.  A good resource to use is the Encyclopedia of Social Welfare History in North America and/or Encyclopedia of Social Work both, are online at EMU’s library.   The text can be used as a reference or source but not included as one of the 2 articles.  For each source please use headers to respond to the following questions in one to two paragraphs per source:

1. Who wrote the article and what are their current credentials.
2. What is the thesis or argument of each article/author you read in regards to this policy issue [social problem]?
3. Give a brief summary of the article.
4. How does the author(s) attempt to prove their point?  For example, did the authors review the literature or present findings from an empirical study?
5. Would you use this source in your policy research assignment?  Why or why not.

The purpose of this assignment is to analyze a current policy in practice and make recommendations for change using evidence.  This policy can be related to administrative, quality assurance or patient safety issues that affect the delivery of care. 

You are to interview a current leader, staff nurse, preceptor or mentor in the health care setting and mutually identify a policy to examine for this assignment.   Examples include:  staffing policies, infection control policies, assessment policies (falls, pain), and documentation policies.  This list is not inclusive and other policies that meet the purpose can be utilized as well.

After examination of the policy, a 4-5 page paper (not including the cover and reference pages) will be written using the outline below.  The paper will be peer reviewed prior to submission and presented as outlined in the course schedule.   If you are not present for the peer review you will not receive the points for that criteria on the rubric.

The contents and breakdown of the paper are:

1. Policy/Issue

What is your policy?  Describe the policy and the rationale for choosing it.

2. Literature Review

Critically examine the literature/data bases related to your policy:

What is currently in the literature related to your policy? 

How does your policy/issue affect the delivery of care?

3. Interview

Describe the interview and reflect on the meeting:

Who did you interview and why?

What went well and what you would have changed about the interview?

4. Revisions

Describe how you would revise the existing policy and provide rationale

Do you anticipate any conflicts in implementation of a new policy?

What are the implications for future use of the policy on the delivery of care?  Values of the organization?  Finances?