Details

EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT (E.Q) FOR COMMUNICATION

Research Prospectus (100 pts)
Over the course of the semester you will need to choose, define, and read about a particular topic in communication studies. You will be required to write a complete (albeit short) research prospectus about your topic of choice (i.e., a proposal to do research in the area). The content and organization of this manuscript is outlined below. The research prospectus should propose an original research project that would extend an existing line of research in a methodologically sound way. It will entail writing:

1. an introduction/rationale (that is a brief section that introduces the topic and the importance of extending the line or research)
2. a brief and pointed literature review (one that conceptualizes and addresses all the variables that will be included in the study)
3. a research question or hypothesis (this should be stated directly and succinctly, and should follow from the literature review)
4. and a proposed methodology (that will include all of the detail necessary to conduct the research as well as a section describing the data analysis)

Some additional considerations to keep in mind:

• The prospectus must incorporate one of the following methodologies: survey methodology, textual analysis, or experimental research
• The methodology section should be written in the future tense as it is something you are proposing to do (not something already done)
• To ensure that the research proposal has some degree of originality you will need to underscore/underline the text in the manuscript that addresses the new direction being suggested in the research and how it will be executed in the method
• Finally, be sure that your prospectus:
• Includes a complete bibliography/reference list with a minimum of 10 sources chosen exclusively from communication journals or journals related to the field that publish communication research
• Adheres to APA style guidelines both for the reference list and the in-text citations
• Is well organized, grammatically correct, and free of typos and spelling errors
• The final paper should be typed, single-spaced, and 3-4 pages in length (not including reference pages).

You will do well if:

• you choose appropriate scholarly research articles
• you choose articles that focus clearly on communication
• you choose articles that relate to a clear topic that is the focus of the prospectus
• you integrate the content of articles used across sources (versus simply moving from one study to another like you would in an annotated bibliography)
• you organize your paper according to relevant themes that appear in the body of work you are examining
• your APA is accurate
• you have a clearly stated research question or hypothesis
• you have an original research direction that extends previous work in an identifiable way
• you include all of the necessary content required in the methods section for the particular method you are proposing to use

You will not do so well if:

• you use fewer than the require number of sources
• you have chosen articles that are not scholarly research
• you have chosen articles that are not communication research
• you have selected articles that do not appear to share a coherent theme
• you do not summarize and integrate the major themes of the articles well
• you drop paragraphs from your annotated bib. directly into the paper
• your APA citations are inaccurate
• you fail to clearly state a research question or hypothesis
• you do not have an original research direction that extends previous work but rather have proposed work that has already been completed
• you fail to include all of the necessary content required in the methods section for the particular method you are proposing to use