Research Paper Assignment

Introduction

You must prepare an article-length research paper on a topic relating to the concept of resilience. Your topic selection is subject to instructor approval. REMINDED: THIS IS A HOMELAND SECURITY COURSE(Preparedness for Disaster Response and Recovery)

The length for the body of the paper should be approximately 14-20 pages (approximately 250-300 words per page, for a total of about 3,000-5,000 words), not including the Title Page (with Statement of authorship), Table of Contents, Abstract, Tables, Appendixes (if any), and References. APA citation style should be followed throughout the paper. Keep in mind that overall length is just one criterion; the major criterion is the quality of the content.

NOTE: You must also provide citation for that material in the body of the paper and in the reference list. Not doing so is considered self-plagiarism under APA guidelines (2010, pp. 16, 29, 170).

• Quality of analysis is the most important criterion, not the exact word count.

Here you will find information on these topics:

• Academic Integrity
• Learning Objectives
• Scholarly Research
• Citation Tips
• Milestones for This Assignment
• Specifications for the Research Paper

I will use Turnitin to generate an Originality Report with a Similarity Index score to check all the papers for any possible plagiarism, or an excessive proportion of direct quotes and paraphrasing relative to your own work. If so, I will inform you of the results in my feedback. Even if you include citations and used quotation marks to avoid any risk of plagiarism, you should strive for a proper balance. It's necessary to cite, and occasionally quote from, appropriate sources to support your own arguments and assertions, but you should avoid simply copying-and-pasting large sections or paragraphs from the work of others to form a new paper.

Learning Objectives

Through successful completion of this assignment, you will:

• Devise and execute a research strategy to produce a quality, graduate-level research paper.

Scholarly Research

You are expected to use scholarly publications in support of your topic (part of your research strategy).

You must develop your paper using at least 10 high-quality references. Of the 10 or more references, you must rely on and cite a minimum of 5 scholarly or 3 substantive government publications, such as articles from academic journals, books or official reports. You should search the UMUC Library databases for journals or government documents. You must also include 5 or more references from other well-respected sources, such as government, think tank, or professional association publications or Web sites.

Not acceptable: Introductory textbooks, or textbooks used for other HSMN or EMAN courses.

Limit the number of secondary sources such as online articles from newspapers, popular magazines, or trade journals. Also, limit informational web pages you use as sources to no more than two. Using simple web pages for research-even official web pages from government agencies-is not generally appropriate for graduate-level research papers, as these web pages seldom include authors, publication dates, or citations, and they are often brief and more informational than substantive. Also, avoid relying on vendor-provided information (unless, for example, you are comparing and contrasting vendors' claims), and avoid the use of online encyclopedia or dictionaries.

Citation Tips

You must cite correctly and follow the standards in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) for in-text attribution of sources and for the reference list at the end. The UMUC Library provides some useful Web pages:

• APA: http://www.umuc.edu/library/guides/apa.shtml

• Tutorial, either HTML or Flash format: http://www.umuc.edu/library/tutorials/citation/

If you'd prefer video tutorials on APA style, try this web site: http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx. The tutorials are at http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx.

The tutorials cover things like how to properly cite references, how to write a well-structured paper (e.g., using headings), and how to avoid plagiarism.

In addition, Wikipedia provides a listing of other references and tools to correctly format your references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APA_style.s Scroll to the External Links at the end. Note that for your own references, Wikipedia will not count, since it is not a primary source. Scholarly, or substantive/authoritative primary sources are the standard for graduate school research.