Research Topic or Title: How important is parental involvement in a child’s education?

I. An Abstract summarizes your entire paper in 150-200 words or less and
includes (1) the overall purpose of the study and the research problems you investigated; (2) The basic design of the study and (3) Major findings or trends found as a result of your study (libguides.usc.edu).

II. Introduction (suggested 2-3 pages)

i. This section is where you give all background information about your topic. There is where you describe the history, define words/terms, and set the stage for your reader to better understand your topic. Remember, you have to assume your reader does not know anything about your topic and it is your job as the researcher to educate them.
1. For example, your topic’s history and definition of words or particular terms and so forth.

ii. Thesis statement: This is the most important section of your paper. This is where you establish your purpose for your research. (e.g., This paper will examine… or This paper will summarize or explain…)
1. After you establish your thesis statement you must point out at least two to three major points of discussion. These major points will obviously come from your literature review research. For instance, if your paper is examining How Important is Parental Involvement in a child’s Education. Based on your research for your literature review (from at least 6 academic articles) you will determine three consistent main research arguments. Those research arguments will be the basis for your points of discussion.
2. Example: You would list your points of discussion as 1, 2, and 3 within your outline.

III. Literature Review (suggested 4-5 pages)

i. The literature review is where you collect all your information from your research based on other people’s findings on your topic. In other words, no newspaper articles or Google scholar will be included in this section. The best way to organize your thoughts accordingly is to organize your articles based on your points of discussion. This is why I suggest you pick at least 6 articles so you may have the options to have at least two articles per point of discussion.
ii. Each article needs to be summarized based on the article’s author(s) thesis statement (or also known as the research purpose), method of research (how they conducted their research), finding of their research (what did they find within their research), and their discussion and conclusion (what did they come to assume and conclude about the topic).

1. For example,
a. Sub-heading for first point Goals/Objective of Parental Involvement in a child’s education.
i. Two academic articles that support your points.
b. Sub-heading for second point The Importance of Parental Involvement in a child’s education.
i. Two academic articles that support your points.
c. Sub-heading for third point The Impact of Parental Involvement in a Child’s Education
i. Two academic articles that support your points.
2. Make sure you use sub-headings for each point within your literature review. This will allow you to stay organized.

IV. Sociological Perspectives on Education:
i. You must provide a theory based on your research topic and literature review.
ii. Once you have your theory, you must conduct a suitable summary of the theory to support your topic. No detailed analysis is needed!!

V. Discussion (suggested 2-3 pages)

i. The discussion portion of your research paper is where you apply any newspaper articles, internet articles (creditable websites only), and so forth to further establish your thesis statement. In addition, these articles are considered first accounts to give your topic more validity and create a sense of importance to the reader.

VI. Conclusion (suggested 1-2 pages)

i. Make sure you restate your thesis statement.
ii. This portion is where you re-evaluate your major points of discussion and give highlights of important aspects of your paper that you previously discussed.
1. For example, you can restate important facts from your introduction, literature review, and/or theory in order to drive home your point(s) to the reader.

Major Requirements for Research Papers

• 12 point font size
• Times New Roman
• Double spaced
• Page requirement at least 10-12 pages not including cover page or reference page
• 1 inch margins throughout the paper (left, right, bottom, and top)
• MUST USE APA FORMAT. Must be able to demonstrate the knowledge and usage of in-text citation, proper quoting, making references, and paraphrasing as well as proper APA format for reference page.
• Cover page must include title of research paper; middle of the page should include: name, date, course name, instructor name, and college name.
• Table of Contents
• An Abstract
• Major heading needs to be in bold (e.g. Introduction, Literature Review, Sociological Perspectives on Education, Discussion, Conclusion and References)
• All sub-titles or headings need to be in italics.
• Reference page must have all listed articles (academic articles, newspaper, and online websites).
• Page numbers appear in the upper right corner of each page. Please do not put page number on cover page. But reference page must have page numbers and must be a continuation of the page number followed throughout the research paper