Academic Voice

This lesson’s assignment will provide an opportunity for you to assess and refine your academic voice.   By now, your literature search should be more effective and efficient than when you first started this course based on your literature search strategy and meeting with the librarian.  In addition to focusing on your current sources and writing, you will include a minimum of four credible, relevant sources.  Sources should be current, published within the past five years, unless a seminal work is required for foundation. Strive to include at least one article with findings and/or interpretation different from prominent thoughts in the literature.  Use what you have learned from Lesson 3 to ensure your articles are credible.

Instructions

1. Consider your instructor’s feedback and additional work you have received during Lessons 3 through 5 assignments.  These refined sections will be included in this lesson’s assignment document.

2. Consider information from your new sources and what you have written so far to identify emerging themes.

3. Use APA style heading format, level 3, to identify each theme.

4. Maintain and/or add potential theme headings for future consideration. Be sure to provide a note for your Instructor that the section is a future consideration.

Your assignment document should include sections:

Introduction  (note in APA formatting, the first section of a chapter is assumed the introduction and does not include a heading.  Assume this as a beginning for Chapter 2: Literature Review.)

Using two to four paragraphs, briefly orient your reader to the research area. Include only main ideas essential for the reader to understand the problem that will prompt the research study. Support assertions and information with citations of experts/researchers in the field.

Problem of Interest

Begin this section with a succinct, concise problem necessitating the need for a research study.  Provide a minimum of three pieces of evidence demonstrating existence and/or effect of the problem.  This section should not exceed one paragraph.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

Select one of the two theoretical or conceptual frameworks that you explored in Lesson 4.  The other framework may be incorporated into one of the working themes.

Working Themes

Use themes and/or subtopics as headings. Continue to develop these sections using the literature that you have selected.

Add additional themes and/or subtopics that you feel may be relevant, but you have not yet had an opportunity to explore.  Use appropriate APA style formatting.  Include a sentence noting to yourself and your instructor that these are working themes.

References:   Include a minimum of four new scholarly resources relevant to your dissertation research topic.  Add these to your list of current repositories of resources.

Length:   9-11 pages.  The recommended length for this lesson’s assignment is, as noted for the lesson’s assignment, dependent on the number and types of sources that you currently hold.  You may also discover that, although you added four sources, page length has minimally increased or perhaps stayed the same, because (perhaps) your writing has become clearer and more concise.