Introduction 2 pages
- History of the Problem
- Brief history of agency and clientele it serves
- Brief history of program/problem as it pertains to the agency
- Prior research and data you have looked at that supports the need to study this problem
- Statement of Problem to be Studied
- Your actual research question goes here
- Reasons why your research question should be studied (as it pertains to agency and/or clientele)
Literature Review (This is the body of the paper. It contains subheadings [topics or themes] to organize the structure of this section) 7-8 pages
Rather than merely presenting a summary of each source, a literature review should be organized according to each subtopic discussed about the larger topic. For example, one section of a literature review might read “Researcher A suggests that X is true. Researcher B also argues that X is true, but points out that the effects of X may be different from those suggested by Researcher A.” It is clear that subtopic X is the main idea covered in these sentences. Researchers A and B agree that X is true, but they disagree on X’s effects. There is both agreement and disagreement, but what links the two arguments is the fact that they both concern X.
Conclusion 1-2 pages
(What are the contributions of this literature you reviewed to the field?)
- What are the overall strengths?
- What are the overall weaknesses?
- What might be missing?
- What are some next steps for research? The next steps should explicitly address how to “correct” for strengths, weaknesses, and gaps.
