Discuss potential ethical issues (if working with human subjects).

Select and refine a research topic of your interest. You are encouraged to select any discipline-focused topic you are keenly interested in.

2. Do library, archive, online or community resource research and select at least four scholarly sources, including articles, book chapters, monographs, or professional web-based sources (Wikis, and your textbook should not be among them). Though optional, the use of such a powerful tool as a synthesis matrix would help you keep focused throughout the entire process of researching, writing, and editing.

3. Your introduction should include 3 research questions, hypothesis (if you are choosing quantitative or mixed methods research) and a strong thesis, stating the reasons why you have chosen to investigate or explore this particular research topic.

4. Develop well-organized body paragraphs integrating the results of the literature review including both arguments and counterarguments in the context of your topic.

5. Think critically. Discuss potential ethical issues (if working with human subjects). Discuss sampling methods for your study and why you chose that particular method, how you would do content analysis for your study and what kind of findings are you anticipating as a result of your study. Discuss possible issues and challenges in these processes.

6. Explain the research methods you would use for your study and why (surveys, interviews, experiments, participant observation etc.).

7. In your closing paragraphs/conclusion, summarize the arguments and insights revealed in the main body of your essay.