RTCH 805 Research Methods

This course equips students with a variety of research skills necessary for facilitating the dissertation process. It provides an overview of the dissertation research and writing process.

As students pursue higher levels of learning and academic achievement, it is integral to their overall development that they both learn and apply the skills in research and writing necessary to communicate well in their respective fields. It is one thing to know something, and another thing entirely to be able to present what one knows in organized and compelling ways. This course seeks to provide help with the latter.  

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After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will complete 4 Discussions (found in Modules 2, 5, 6, and 8: Weeks 2, 5, 6, and 8). To successfully complete a discussion students are required to provide a thread in response to the prompts located in their respective modules. Each thread must be at meet the word count stipulated in the instructions and demonstrate critical thinking and awareness of course-related knowledge (utilizing at least 2 secondary sources from the course materials or presentations along with citations). Threads need to satisfy what is asked for in the prompt (nothing more, nothing less) and be accompanied by replies as defined in the instructions given for each discussion. (CLOs A, B, C, D, E, F)

In an effort to grow in the ability to self-assess one’s research and writing, this assignment will require students to practice identifying issues/problems with an existing work that they have produced in the past. To this end, they will select a work they have previously written of some considerable length (20 pages or more is preferred though not required) and depth (focusing on a specific argument/issue that required considerable research) that they produced and turned in to be reviewed either by colleagues or a professor earlier in their academic/professional career. If they do not have such a writing sample to use, one will be provided for them by the professor although it will work in their favor to use a work that they created sometime in the past. After they have selected the paper, they will work their way through the project in a Microsoft Word document with a critical eye. They will use the “Review” tool, highlight words/phrases/paragraphs/sections in their paper and insert “New Comments” where amendments/corrections need to be made. To complete this assignment, students need to follow the guidance found in the assignment instructions provided. (CLOs A, F)

In this assignment, students will take the paper that they used for their Writing Self-Assessment Assignment in Module 1: Week 1 and seek out twenty new academic sources of various kinds (articles, books, dissertations, etc.) that they believe will be helpful to the paper’s argument/presentation. Once these sources are discovered, students will cite them according to Turabian format in an alphabetized bibliography. After this bibliography is complete, students will write a one-page reflection on why they believe the sources they listed will help the existing paper and what they offer that the paper’s original reference material lacked. (CLOs B, C, E)

In this assignment, student will select 6 articles in Calabrese’s The Dissertation Desk Reference and write a one-page double-space summary and analysis of each that interacts critically with the information the author presents and offers how what is shared can be applied in your academic writing. Students will need to pay careful attention to the assignment instructions provided to complete this assignment. (CLOs B, D)

In this assignment, students will take the paper that they utilized for their Writing Self-Assessment Assignment in Module 1: Week 1 and the Resource Round-up Exercise in Module 3: Week 3 and apply the necessary formatting changes and research additions that it needs be brought to an academic/scholarly level. Students need to follow the assignment instructions carefully to successfully complete this assignment. (CLOs, A, B, C, D, E, F)