Education and Teaching Question

Course Project: Final Paper Draft Assignment Instructions

Overview

For this assignment, you will submit a complete draft of the Course Project: Final Paper Assignment that you will submit later in the course. This draft will be reviewed and evaluated by your instructor to provide valuable feedback in revising it for your final paper. This should not be thought of as a rough draft. The paper should be written as if it were the final paper. The fewer errors made in the draft, the fewer revisions will be needed in the final paper; therefore, write the draft as if it is the final paper. You will use the information you have gathered and placed in your synthesis table (or tables) to synthesize the information in each section of the paper.

Instructions

The body of the paper must be a minimum of 2,500 and a maximum of 3,000 words. Do not surpass 3,000 words. Writing concisely is an important part of academic writing. If the paper exceeds 3,000 words, you will be asked to revise it and condense it to meet the requirement.

There must be a title page, abstract, and reference list in addition to the headings and information in the paper. The body of the paper does not include the title, abstract, or reference pages. The paper must be written in current APA format and include a minimum of 15 scholarly references. Ten of the 15 scholarly references must be current (published within the past five years). All additional references should be no older than 10 years. All sections of the paper, other than the Abstract, must include in-text citations. Your paper must include the information outlined below.

The entire document must be double-spaced, and all headings should be in bold font. No more than one block quote (direct quote of 40+ words) and no more than 3 shorter direct quotes are to be used in this paper other than in the Definitions of Key Terms and the Biblical Worldview section. Direct quotes may be used for the definitions of the terms and for scripture in those sections. The approximate number of pages for each section of the paper is in parentheses after the explanation of what should be in the section.

1.Title Page- The title page must be the current APA professional version of the title page. The title summarizes the paper and its focus. Your title should be in this format: The Impact of ____________ on __________.

2.Abstract- The abstract is a short paragraph summarizing the major elements in the related literature section of the paper to give the reader an idea of important information in the paper. The abstract must be 150 words. The abstract should be double-spaced, the first line is not indented, and it should be on page 2. No other information should be included on this page. The body of the paper should start on page 3. It is usually helpful to write the abstract after the body of the paper has been written. Avoid citing references in the abstract. Keywords used in the paper should be written under the abstract. Indent and italicize the word Keywords. These should be the words defined in the papers Definitions section.

3.Introduction-No heading should be at the top of this page. This section introduces the topic that will be developed throughout the paper. You may use information from the Course Project: Develop a Topic Assignment that you completed earlier in the course; however, you will not be able to simply copy and paste from it because you have probably found more information in the references you have annotated for this paper. Explain the importance of the topic and give a broad overview of the problem. Clarify the learning theory that aligns with the topic and the importance it has in the field of education. The introduction should end with your thesis statement. (1-1 1/2 pages)

4.Headings-To ensure that your paper meets the requirements of the grading rubric, the following elements must be clearly identified with headings. Remember, there is no heading for the introduction.

a.Definitions of Key Terms This section immediately follows your papers introduction. This will be a numbered list of terms pertinent to the information in the paper. Each term will be indented and placed in italics. A dash should follow each term with the definition stated beside it. All definitions must be supported with a scholarly reference. Dictionary definitions are not acceptable. (1/2-1 page)

Example:

Collaboration – A process among partners who share mutual goals and work together to make decisions (Barnes et al., 2021).
Extrinsic motivation – The desire to engage in an activity as a means to an end that is driven by external rewards (Schunk, 2020).
Intrinsic motivation – The desire to engage in an activity for no apparent reward except task engagement itself (Schunk, 2020).

b.Related Literature In this section, you will explain the information about the topic that you have found in the references you annotated in the Course Project: Annotated Bibliography Assignments. You may use other references in addition to the 15 that you annotated. None should be over 10 years old, and most should be recent and published within the past five years. You may end up using several that were not in your annotated bibliographies because you found other information in other references that you used in place of these.

Begin this section with a short introductory paragraph introducing the three themes that will be the Level 2 headings in this section. This will be written directly under the Related Literature Heading. This paragraph must be at least 3-5 sentences long. Under this paragraph, your first level 2 heading will be written.

You have read many different articles and studies about your topic and have determined three themes. For example, say you have conducted a literature review on student engagement. As you searched the literature, you discovered specific points (themes) in the research studies you reviewed that impacted student engagement. The themes that were discovered include:

Years of Teaching Experience

Administration Support of Teaching

Use of Technology

These themes will be the Level 2 headings in your paper. The Related Literature section is the only section where Level 2 headings are needed. There should be three level 2 headings in this section, which should be the paper’s longest section. You may add additional level 2 headings, but the paper cannot exceed 3,000 words. Level 2 headings help structure and organize the information for the reader.

In these sections, under the level 2 headings, synthesize the references you used in your annotated bibliographies to show that several references support your points about the topic. When you synthesize the references, you will combine information from what different experts in the field have published about your topic. Do not write a summary of one reference at a time as you did in the annotated bibliographies, but rather, show that several references support a specific point. Synthesize or combine that information together. Citing multiple references in an in-text citation will give more validation to the statements being cited. To cite multiple citations in a parenthetical citation, separate each with a semicolon. (4-6 pages)

c.Learning Theory Association – Identify one learning theory you have read about in the Schunk text that serves as the foundation for your topic. Explain the theory and identify the primary theorist responsible for the theory at the beginning of this section. Following this explanation, explain why this theory was chosen and how it connects/aligns with your specific topic throughout the rest of the section. You need to use references in this section in addition to the textbook. Find information in other references and discuss the theorist. There must be sources in addition to the textbook in this section. (1 1/2-2 pages)

d.Gaps in the Research – Explain what areas of your topic that researchers have explained still need further study. (Usually, this can be found in the very last section of academic journal articles, labeled future research). Citations must be used in this section. (1-2 pages)

e.Biblical Worldview – Provide the biblical worldview perspective on the topic. Explain why the topic is important as it relates to scripture and your biblical worldview. Offer alternative ideas that incorporate a solid biblical worldview perspective. The use of scripture is appropriate in this section. (1-2 pages)

f.Conclusion –Your conclusion should bring the paper to a close and should reiterate the most important points that have been discussed. No new information should be included. It should be no longer than 250 words.

5.References – Use the scholarly references that you used in the annotated bibliographies. Include at least 15 scholarly references, and make sure at least 10 of those references are recent and have been published in the past five years. Additional references should be no older than 10 years.

Important Things to Remember:

Point of View – The paper must be written in third-person. Do not use personal pronouns (e.g., I, me) or plural possessive personal pronouns in the paper (e.g., we, us).

Tense – Current APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (2024) found or Jones (2024) has found.

Gender Issue – There should be no gender-specific pronouns used in the paper. If the subject is singular, you use a plural possessive pronoun.

Academic Integrity – Plagiarized papers will be rejected. Each paper will be evaluated for originality by Turnitin, which reports to the instructor the degree to which your paper is suspected of plagiarism. The following tips will help you avoid any problems with plagiarism:

oDirect Quotations No more than 3 direct quotes should be used in the paper with the exception of the Definitions of Key Terms section and Biblical Worldview sections. You can use direct quotes for definitions and for scripture in those sections. Short quotations must be in quotation marks, and longer quotations of 40+ words must be formatted as block quotes (see the Quotations link in the Assignment Resources section). There should be no more than one block quote and three to five shorter quotes in all parts of the paper with the exception of the Definitions of Key Terms and Biblical Worldview section. The best papers have no direct quotes in them.

oIdeas and Facts – If the idea or fact is not your own, you must cite its source. When not directly quoting, you should summarize or analyze the idea in your own words, and the reference must be cited.

Format the paper in the current APA format and see the grading rubric for specific grading criteria.

Note: There are two different rubrics for the draft and final versions of the paper. Review the grading rubric in each assignment to see how they will be evaluated.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.

Requirements: minimum 2500 words

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