Fall 2006
Dr. Elene S. Demos
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION
Course Description
RDG 698 Research Seminar. Prereq.: 24 credits of graduate study in
reading, and admission to 6th year or OCP program in reading and language
arts. In-depth individual study of research pertaining to reading
materials, programs, and methods. Research reports required.
This course is designed as a culminating experience for students in the
Department of Reading and Language Arts. Each student will conduct a
quantitative research project related to reading and language arts during
the course of the semester. Though there is a limited number of formal
class sessions scheduled for this course, the class requires many hours of
outside reading, consultation with the professor and presentation to an
audience of professionals. The research project should be of such quality
that it can be submitted to a professional journal.
My office is located in Henry Barnard 244. For appointment call 860
832-2183 (office) or 860 826-8600 (home phone) or e-mail demos@ccsu.edu
please identify yourself with RDG 698 in the subject line.
Required Textbooks
Pyrczak, F. and Bruce, R.R. (2003). Writing Empirical Research Reports,
Fourth Edition.
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (5th Edition.)
Washington,D.C. Author
Creswell, John W. Research Design Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed
Methods Approaches (Second Edition), (2003) Sage Publications.
Jones, Paul W. and Kottler, Jeffrey, A.. Understanding Research: Becoming
a Competent and Critical Consumer, 2006. Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Course Requirements
The course has
four requirements:
-
Submission of
a proposal,
-
Completion of
a research project and a
-
Presentation
to the class coupled with a presentation of results at the
school/district level
-
Submission of
course portfolio
Proposal
A written
proposal must be submitted and approved prior to beginning the research.
The proposal should mirror the sections of the Research Project, beginning
with the:
Introduction,
Literature
Review
Statement of
Hypotheses
Methodology
Results and
Discussion
Research report
A written
research study will be completed during the semester. The report must be
word processed, double spaced, use APA style and should include the
following sections:
-
Introduction: Presents the problem area, establishes its importance, and
indicates the author’s perspectives on the problem. Introductions may
conclude with explicit statement of the research hypotheses, purposes or
questions to be explored in the study
-
Literature Review: This section is presented in the form of an essay
organized around a topic outline that takes the reader from topic to
topic, not in the form of an annotated list.
-
Statement of hypotheses: Describes the results that a researcher expects
to find or presents a research purpose or question.
-
Methodology: A description of the physical steps taken to gather data;
includes description of participants, materials, instrumentation,
measuring tools and other procedures.
-
Results: Organized around the research hypotheses, purposes, or
questions stated in the introduction; statistical reports; may include
charts, tables, etc., or major trends and themes that emerged from
analysis of data.
-
Discussion and Implications: Begin with a summary of the highlights of
the study; in the discussion refer to the research hypotheses, purposes,
or questions stated in the introduction; consider interpreting the
results and offering explanations for them; explicitly state the
implications of the results, and recommendations for future research.
-
Bibliography
: A complete bibliography must be attached using APA style as identified
in your current text. A minimum of ten citations must be used, with at
least five after 1997.
Presentation
A
presentation of research findings is required. This presentation will
occur at a reading seminar hosted by the Department of Reading and
Language Arts on Saturday December3rd, 2005.
Course Portfolio
Each
student is expected to complete a course portfolio by December 8, 2005.
Research Study Evaluation
A number of
rubrics have been developed for the course. Each rubric deals with a
specific section of the research study. A rubric has also been developed
for the proposal and an overall rubric is provided for the entire project.
These rubrics include:
