EDD 630: Educational Research Seminar
Overcoming Adversity

Final Project

The final project demonstrates your ability to design an educational program that addresses more than just academic development, but also students’ greater success in the face of real challenges. The project also must contain a workable evaluation that accurately assesses the extent to which your program meets its goals. Therefore, in your final project for EDD 630 you will:

• present a feasible intervention program designed to help a specific group of students overcome a given set of barriers or stressors,
• defend your decision for why you designed it the way you did based on a scholarly review of the relevant literature, and
• propose an economical way of assessing the extent to which your intervention met its stated objectives.

The details and order of your paper and how to meet these goals are described below. The contents and order of the paper are described first, followed by a guide to the thinking and writing style.

Paper’s Sections and Their Contents

Overview

Your paper for EDD 630 will contain a proposed intervention, how to assess its effectiveness, and a justification as to why you are proposing to do what you are. Written in APA format, the entire paper—including title page, abstract, introduction, intervention, assessment, and references—will be at least 5,000 words/20 pages long. The details and order of your paper and how to meet these goals are described below.

1. Title Page

This will be a simple title page, which follows the structure given one this page. I.e., this includes:

1. In the header space of the page, include the page number (starting at 1 for this first page) and the first few words of your title in all capital letters.
2. Directly below that in the main part of the page (i.e., not in the header space but still at the top of the page) put “Running head:” followed by a shorter version of your title (or the whole title if it’s less than, say, five words) in all capital letters.
3. In about the middle of the page and center-aligned horizontally, the title of your paper in title case
4. Directly below the title (one carriage return below), your name(s), each to its own line.
5. Directly below that, “EDD 630” followed by the year

2. Abstract

Your abstract for the final project in EDD 630 will not contain all of the parts of a typical abstract: It will only contain the parts relevant to the paper’s introduction. Nonetheless, do please follow the standard format for an abstract for the parts you will contain:

1. About two or three sentences introducing your topic and giving the most important points summarizing the background of the area.
2. About two sentences explaining your intervention
3. About one or two sentences summarizing your assessment

Some tips about writing it are here

3. Introduction

The introduction section provides background and context of intervention and evaluation assembled from relevant research; it also is where you will justify how and why your created your intervention the way you did.

The introduction will be comprised of three sub-sections:

1. The first is a general introduction to your area. This section will not have its own sub-heading; instead, coy in your paper’s title (same as on the cover page), centered and directly above this section at the top of the page.
   
   This will surely the be smallest piece and will likely be completed in one page (1 – 4 paragraphs). In this section, provide a background to your area, perhaps including statistics about the extent, scope, and deleterious effects of the issue you’re addressing.


2. After this general introduction, you will demonstrate your understanding of the area you are presenting through an intelligent synthesis of the articles into a review that draws conclusions and makes connections. Give this section the sub-heading “Literature Review” as a level 2 heading.
   
   This section will be where you cite most of your articles—again using APA style. Include at least six articles in this sub-section.
   
   The main goals of this part are to show that you understand the articles you’ve read, that you can think about them critically (are an “intelligent consumer”), and that you can make connections and inferences from them to build knowledge. Begin this section with one paragraph that summarizes the main points of your literature review. This paragraph is essentially the thesis statement for your literature review section.
   
   Immediately follow this first paragraph with the rest of your literature review. Make sure your paragraphs are organized to build on each other. In other words, create an underlying framework for your literature review that shows how the ideas in one paragraph build on the previous paragraph, set up the next one, and adhere to that underlying structure to advance your main points.
   
   Among the articles and ideas you review, please discuss what others have said about why the issue you’re addressing is a problem: how and why it negatively affects your target population. Also include at least two strategies that have already been used to address the issue and improve things for children or adolescents; the strategies do not have to have been employed on people exactly like those you will be working with yourself, but should be similar enough that you can make inferences about how effective those particular strategies would be.


3. The third section of your introduction is another sub-section, prefaced with “Proposed Intervention” as a level 2 header. Begin this sub-section by comparing and contrasting the intervention strategies used by others that you reviewed in the literature review sub-section (review at least two). Discuss why you believe the ones that were most effective were in light of the theory and underlying mechanisms for why the issue is a problem.
   
   Next, propose the intervention you wish to conduct, briefly summarizing it. In 1 – 3 pages following this initial presentation of your intervention, defend why you believe it will be more effective than other possible interventions or strategies you could have employed. It is likely that you will combine pieces from more than one intervention to create your own, so discuss why you chose which parts you did and why you left out (or modified) the ones you did.
   
   The articles you will address in this third sub-section will, of course, be by-and-large those that evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions you’re discussing. You will probably also cite a few sources that explain exactly what the interventions do; for this latter point, you don’t necessarily need scholarly sources.

Overall, the Introduction will be at least 2,000 words/8 pages long. Remember to correctly cite the scholarship your reference and further it with your own insights and informed opinions. Some formatting guidelines are given here, here, and here. Finally, use no more than one direct quote; instead, digest the material and put it in your own words.

4. The Intervention

Perhaps the most important part, it is here that you can show both your understanding of the field and demonstrate your creativity and pedagogical/developmental acumen. Since this area is where you can most show your creativity, its format is most open to change. Its length is also the most flexible; although it must be at least 500 words/2 pages long, it may be much longer. In general, this can be organized like a lesson plan (such as this, this, or this), in which you identify:

1. Objectives
   This the purpose(s) of your intervention written in general terms in this sub-section. Number your objectives and give “Objectives” as the level 2 header for this sub-section.


2. Outcomes
   Here you will operationalize the specific changes you expect to see if the objectives are met. These should be objective (i.e., not subjective) and observable, Your assessments will measure each of your outcomes. Please use “Outcomes” as the level 2 header for this sub-section.


3. Participants
   Here, describe the target population and any other relevant stakeholders (teachers, parents, etc.). Explain important characteristics (e.g., fifth grade students in a large, public, urban elementary school; currently living on a family income below the poverty line; members of a publicly-run day care for working parents, etc.) but don’t list unimportant ones (e.g., religious affiliation or race unless relevant). Use “Participants” as the level 2 header for this sub-section.


4. Procedure
   This section explains the steps one would take to conduct the intervention. Please write this section with enough detail and clarity that a naive but intelligent person could conduct your intervention with fidelity by what is written here. Also in this section, please discuss contingency plans for likely stumbling blocks, for example if a given student needs more help than you can give or if a part you’re not sure is going to work indeed doesn’t. This will probably be the longest section, and will probably be at least 750 words/3 pages long. “Procedure” is the level 2 header for this sub-section.


5. Materials
   This section may only describe any materials used (e.g., list books used in a reading program). However, there are occasions on which it is appropriate to include the actual materials (e.g., discussion prompts, do-nows, etc.). For next semester’s project, you may in fact include samples of actual materials. Not surprisingly, “Materials” is this sub-section’s level 2 header.

5. Assessment

In the Assessment section for this assignment, you generally describe how you anticipate measuring the extent to which your outcomes are met. Describe the variables/factors you expect to measure and how you expect to measure them. YOu may also wish to include mock tables or figures that sketch the overall findings you expect to find. These will mirror the outcomes you established above and can be organized with each outcome as a separate sub-section.

The point of this section for this semester is to demonstrate that you have thought of important, valid, and feasible ways of assessing the efficacy of your intervention. This section does not have to be well-developed now. This section will probably only be 1 – 2 paragraphs in length.

6. References

A properly formatted list of articles cited in the other sections. Please include at least eight relevant articles. You may use ones we’ve discussed, have been posted in the schedule and on BlackBoard, in the general EDD 630/631 article list.

The EBSCO search engine you will use through our library to find articles can also be used to obtain the proper format for citing works in the reference section. When you click on an article to view the detailed description of it (i.e., the page that also provides the abstract if there is one), note a “Cite” link in a menu either on the top or right side of the detailed citation. Clicking on this link will open a new, temporary window with the article formatted in various citations styles, including the APA style you should use. You can also Son of Citation Machine to help. Please note, however, that neither EBSCO’s nor Son of Citation Machine’s systems always format perfectly, so check with, e.g., the examples given on OWL’ s web site to be sure.

Guidelines on Writing Style and the Paper’s Format

Style and Content

Clear, Defensible Thinking

Among the most important aspects of both this paper and the one you will create as the final product for next semester is your ability to demonstrate original, critical thinking about a topic you will show your mastery of.

Relatedly, this paper is intended to be a practice in “scientific thinking” in which you use logic and empirical information to draw defensible conclusions and make precise, operational predictions. Fundamental to this is backing up everything you say—in every part of your paper—with some sort of evidence or explicitly-conveyed logic. Therefore, please support with data or citations. Any real assertion of facts or strong opinions you make should either be backed with evidence or noting from whom you got the information. It is important that you form and present your own ideas in this paper, but it’s just as important that you demonstrate that they are defensible. It’s the style for this kind of paper, but—more importantly—it helps you think critically and to base your conjectures on sound evidence.

In the Introduction, this will typically mean that any statements you make will be backed by a citation or paraphrasing what someone said. At the end of the intro, though, you will present the general tack of your intervention; there, you should justify why you're doing what you're doing by summarizing and synthesizing the stuff you covered earlier in your intro.

In your Intervention, Assessment, and Results sections, you will simply describe what you did and saw, respectively, so here you don’t need to support it, really, just describe clearly and objectively.

In your Discussion section next semester, any ideas or positions you present can have different sources of evidence. Especially in the beginning of it, you will use your own results as supporting evidence for the statements you make. As you begin to tie it back to other’s work and ideas, you will also include references to what they said and did (i.e., citing their work). Even if you just given an opinion about something, explain why you have that opinion.

Word Choice and Writing Style

Another aspect of this way of thinking is to rarely make absolute statements and to avoid hyperbole. Please try to be careful in your assertions and be careful when stating things are categorically one way or the other. By saying “this can affect that” or “they tend to occur together,” instead of, e.g., “this does affect that” or “they are related.” Done properly, more qualified statements show you are considering a larger range of possibilities. Similarly, use words like “always” and “every” carefully and only when you are sure that statements are always true for every occasion.

Finally, strive for an “economy of words” where you cut out extraneous ideas, words, sentences, etc. and focus on succinctly describing the ideas directly relevant to your intervention. Try to make your writing direct and simple. Choose words based on how well they explain exactly what you want to say and, of course, avoid informal language and slang.

One aspect of this is to please use the word “you” only when there is a definite person being referred to. For example, please avoid sentences like: “Smith and Jones (2013) found that more the learning styles you use, the more likely you will learn things better.” Instead use “one” (“Smith and Jones (2013) contend that their results indicate that one learns better when instructors use multiple learning styles.”) or reword using a more precise descriptor. For example, in this sample sentence, “students learn” is arguably preferable to “one learns.”

Formatting and Citing

Paper Format

Your paper should conform to APA style (including avoiding common formatting errors). Jeffrey Kahn of Illinois State University produced this excellent sample that not only demonstrates and explains APA formatting, but also nicely covers what each section should contain and tips on who to write it.

In addition to the links to helpful sites noted throughout the sections above such as this, the following sites and files should help you conform to the required APA style relatively painlessly. The University of Illinois provides a sample research paper formatted in Word you can use both to learn about the contents of the sections and to help you format your paper. That same sample paper is also available in LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org Writer format.

To assist you in conforming to APA style, you may use this zipped template for Microsoft Word or this zipped template for LibreOffice.org’s Writer. Note that you must unzip either template after you download it and before you use it. The LibreOffice template is also online unzipped here. Information about using the one for Word is here; information for using the one for Writer is here, here, and here.

Citing Sources

In the body of your paper, please try to discuss ideas you read about in your resources by saying what the authors say and found. In other words, “Smith (2010) contends that....” One reason to do this is to help maintain an objective perspective on your part. Much secondarily, it also puts things in the active voice. In addition, you need to only give the citation once per paragraph. Afterwards in that paragraph, simply make it clear when (and that) you’re still noting who said it by writing things like, “Jones further states” or “She also indicates.”

What authors say should be written in the present tense; what they did (e.g., in their experiment) is written in the past tense. Similarly, write your own ideas in the present tense and couch your Intervention and Assessment sections in the future tense. I think that determining when to put something into the past or present is one of those things that’s most clearly understood when it’s kept simple. Any ideas or opinions (yours or other’s) is in the present tense. So, an author believes, thinks, argues, implies, suggests, etc. Anything that you or someone else (viz., your references) did should be written about in the past tense. This would include any actions taken—administered a survey, found an effect, asked a student, etc. So:

Doe (2013) says she thinks the reason the children misunderstood the instructions the teacher gave them was because the students didn’t take her seriously. Smith’s (2010) theory supports this. Further, I agree since when I tried to get their attention, I needed to yell really loudly at them.

On a related point, it’s fine to refer to yourself as “I” in the paper (or “we” if you’re working with some else). In fact, I would prefer you try to do this as it helps keep the paper in an active voice.

Grading Rubric for Final Project

Although you are graded on the quality of your initial proposal, your grade is not fully based on your own ability. You will (hopefully) work closely with the other members both of your group and the entire class to help your fellow students hone their proposal into a first-rate product. I will not grade the extent to which you help each other (unless it infringes on cheating, of course), but I hope that this structure will nurture an appreciation for the role of collaboration in research. Successful interventions are almost never solitary endeavors.

N.b., criteria within each section are listed in general order of importance, the most important being first.

Element	Percent Weight	Target/Criteria
Abstract	5	Contains all requisite parts Succinctly, comprehensibly summarizes introduction and intervention Is requisite length
Introduction	30	Demonstrates a thorough understanding of pertinent background Background well-presented and sufficiently covered Connection between background and intervention study well-made Justification for intervention is well-thought and -presented A strong case is made for employing the intervention as described Uses no more than one direct quote
Intervention	25	Intervention is feasible Details of the intervention are clear and complete Strong alignment is made between the objectives, outcomes, and procedure Contingencies are honest and well-considered with practical solutions provided
Assessment	5	Variables are well chosen as ways to assess the objectives and goals Variables are described in sufficient detail Variables are objective and valid measures of their intended constructs Means of collecting data are feasible and ethical
References	5	Articles are well-chosen given topic At least ten quality references are given References are properly formatted
Overall Writing Quality	10	Is well-organized (paragraphs build on each other, each paragraph has a topic sentence that is supported by all other sentences, etc.) Is strongly succinct, clear, and engaging Adheres to APA style Is grammatically correct and spelled correctly
Overall Quality and Sophistication of Thinking	20	Demonstrates an expert grasp of the scientific process and scientific thinking Logic is flawless while implementation is practical Demonstrates sophisticated critical thinking about sources, hypothesis creation, and implementation Demonstrates encyclopædic understanding of field and its relation to topic

---

This website, created 2007 – present by William Ellery Samuels, Ph.D., is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.