Credits: 3

Course Description:

This course provides hands-on training in research methods and writing in education. It is conducted in a workshop style, beginning with the class members’ sharing of individual research projects to be modified with the help of the “community of practice,” and ends with a product close to publishable quality. A high level of interaction to meet individual research needs is expected. Each member will proceed in five steps:

(1) presenting an exemplar article directly related to his/her research,

(2) designing a research plan with literature review as a background,

(3) collecting/transcribing/coding data,

(4) testing the hypotheses and/or making generalizations by analyzing the data and interpreting the results, and

(5) presenting the results in a form suitable for professional conferences.

Course goals:

This course prepares graduate students to evaluate the quality of academic research, analyze the structure and style of academic papers, write a research paper of publishable quality in preparation for their MA thesis writing, and practice presenting their research to an academic audience.