Senior Seminar – Spring 2024
Data Analysis and Conclusions Paper – 80 points
The Paper
5-7 pages long
Visuals and charts are OK, but you need at least 5 full pages of text
Any charts/visuals in your paper MUST follow the specific APA guidelines
Due April 10
DO NOT attempt to write this without looking carefully at results/discussion sections in scholarly essays using similar methodology to yours AND re-reading essays discussing your chosen theory.
It must answer the following questions:
What did you find?
Were your research questions answered or hypotheses proven true?
How can your findings be explained using your chosen theory/construct?
What are the implications of your study? What are your final conclusions?
What were the limitations of your study?
Organization
The paper is generally broken up into two sections:
Findings
What did you find?
What was your main/overall finding?
What are interesting subordinate/other findings?
Was your research questions answered or hypothesis confirmed?
Were your findings significant? How do you know?
Discussion/Conclusions
How can your findings be explained using your chosen theory/construct?
What are the implications of your study? What are your final conclusions?
Where might you take related future research?
What limitations existed? (Don’t only address time constraints)
Style
Cover page with your research question(s) (not included in the page count)
Don’t use first person unless it’s to make arguments
1-inch margins
12-point font (Garamond or Times New Roman preferred)
Double spacing
MUST cite any outside sources used. It is likely that when discussing your theory/construct you’ll refer to and cite a source.
Total /80
Findings
/30
Discussion & Conclusion
/30
Writing Style & Quality
/15
In-Text Citations & Reference Page
/5
A
– Report of findings is comprehensive, cogent, and focused
– Exceptional consideration of hypothesis and/or research questions and thoroughly explains answer
– Makes a clear, specific argument about main findings and appropriately addresses other important findings
– Explicitly and thoroughly addresses significance of findings, providing evidence to back up ALL claims.
– Offers a thorough and insightful discussion of findings in relation to chosen theory/theories
– Discussion of implications is creative and comprehensive
– Provides thoughtful, specific, and comprehensive discussion of future related research
– Consideration of limitations shows rich, and comprehensive understanding of chosen research methodology
– Logically organized, clearly written
– Almost no misspellings or grammatical errors
– Paragraphs and ideas are both thoroughly developed and provide a concise synthesis
– All arguments made offer strong evidence from own research or outside sources
– List is properly formatted (alphabetized, double-spaced, hanging indent)
– All in-text citations are properly formatted and correctly used
– No errors in citation format, punctuation, spelling, or capitalization
– Cites ALL sources necessary for discussion
B
– Findings are thorough, clear, and effective
– Effective discussion of RQ or Hypo with a strong answer
– Argument about main findings is pretty strong with effective presentation of other findings
– Significance of findings is sufficiently addressed with strong evidence provided
– Strong discussion of findings in relation to theory
– Discussion of implications is insightful and mostly thorough
– Discussion of future research is interesting and mostly thorough.
– Discussion of limitations shows a strong understanding of methodology & research
– Mostly organized, mostly clear
– Few, if any, misspellings or grammatical errors
– Paragraphs are somewhat thorough
– In-text citations are mostly properly formatted
– 1 to 3 minor errors in citation format, punctuation, spelling, or capitalization
C
– Findings are sufficient and clear but could be more thoroughly developed
– Sufficient answer to RQ or Hypo
– There is a clear main finding offered but could better develop presentation of other findings
– Mostly addresses significance, but needs more evidence from study to support claims
– Adequate discussion of findings in relation to theory
– Implications are addressed but would benefit from more specificity and development
– Discussion of future research is sufficient
– Discussion of limitations shows adequate understanding of methodology and research.
– Somewhat organized, somewhat clear
– A small number of
misspellings and/or grammatical errors
– Could better support arguments with evidence
– In-text citations have one or two errors in formatting
– 4 – 6 minor errors in reference list citation format, punctuation, spelling, or capitalization
– Cites most sources necessary for discussion
D
– Findings either lack clarity or development
– Answer to RQ or Hypo is unclear or underdeveloped
– The main finding addressed is either not supported by data or lacks clarity. Other findings not adequately addressed.
– Significance claim is unclear or unsupported
– Discussion of findings/theory exists but is underdeveloped, somewhat unclear, or confusing
– Implications are only somewhat addressed
– Discussion of future research is brief and shows only partial understanding of project
– Limitation discussion shows insufficient understanding of own methodology
– Lacks clarity and organization
– Multiple misspellings and grammatical errors
– Thin analysis, brief, underdeveloped ideas
– In-text citations have more than two errors in citation formatting
– 7 – 10 errors in citation format, punctuation, spelling, or capitalization
F
– No findings presented or presentation is confusing
– Lacks an answer to RQ or hypo
– Lacks main or subordinate findings
– No discussion of significance
– Lacks discussion of theory OR misrepresents theory in discussion
– Lacks an understanding and discussion of implications
– Failure to address future research
– limitation discussion shows a lack of understanding of methodology and communication research
– Organization is nonsensical
– An overwhelming number of misspellings and grammatical errors
– An utter lack of scholarly ideas
– In-text citations have multiple document formatting errors
– More than 10 errors in reference citation format, punctuation, spelling, or capitalization
Comments
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