To begin to write your research paper, the first step is to think about a topic. You can choose to research virtually anything as long as the topic involves groups of people that live within the United States, social factors and social institutions. Just to forewarn you, developing a good concise research question may be the most thought-provoking part of the research paper so remain optimistic and expect challenges!
Step one: Think about a topic that interests you. Please avoid choosing a topic you think may interest the reader. I can find and read about subjects that interest me. Do you like college sports, socializing with friends, watching movies, criminal behavior, music, etc.? Once you have a topic that interests you then move onto step two. For example, let’s choose the topic of college.
Step two: Develop an initial research question. Do you even wonder how culture is created? Do you have a hobby such as shopping, playing video games, etc.? Are you interested in what attracts certain people to each other, crime in certain urban areas, economic growth in the middle-class, etc.? Developing our example of college we can tentatively ask this question, what is the student success rate from graduating college?
Step three: Make sure to include social factors and social institutions to refine the question. Once you have the initial question, make sure to narrow the question by focusing on factors to specify the players (specific group(s) of people). We can also include social institutions as well. You can refer to the “Question Template Actions ”. For example, what are the outcomes between Latino women middle-class and working-class junior college students in California?
Notice how the question is becoming more refined. Make sure you have a good understanding and definition for each word in the research. This is important since a clear question can have a clear answer. Try to develop the best research question so you can move forward to begin to search for peer-reviewed journal articles. I suspect after reading the peer-reviewed journal article sources, the research question may change. Modifying the question is normal. Keep in mind the research paper may try to answer the one research question. No research paper answers all the questions. This is impossible so do not even bother attempting to answer everything.
Step four: Send me your research question and motivation behind the research question. The topic is the general topic or research idea. The motivation is the reason why you want to research the phenomenon. Lastly, submit the best research question you can develop. This entire assignment should be about two total paragraphs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkzfpPqlkJg (Links to an external site.) Rubric
Research Question
Research Question CriteriaRatingsPts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Research Question This is a concise research question. The question should include social factors (sex, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, social class, etc.) and social institutions (family, education, religion, economic, work, military, sports, etc.) The question avoid conjunctions (and, or, for, etc.) unless they are connecting the social factors and/or social institutions.2.0 pts
Full Marks
This is a detail question that includes the social factors (sex, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, social class, etc.) and social institutions (family, education, religion, economic, work, military, sports, etc.)1.0 pts
Partial Marks
Unclear question and needs further development such as social factors or social institutions.0.0 pts
No Marks
Missing Question
2.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Motivation Motivation for the research question. In another words, why do you want to research this topic and answer the question?3.0 pts
Full Marks
Clear explanation of the motivation to attempt to answer the research question.2.0 pts
Partial Marks
Unclear explanation of the motivation to attempt to answer the research question.0.0 pts
No Marks
No explanation towards the motivation to attempt to answer the research question.
3.0 pts
Total Points: 5.0
