Finding Nemo? No, Finding Research

This assignment measures your ability on how to assess the quality of various sources of information, distinguish peer-reviewed sources, and how to evaluate their credibility for use in academic research. This assessment also supports your achievement of Course Learning Outcome 1.

In this assignment, you will be critically evaluating the quality and credibility of various sources of information. More specifically, you will continue exploring the Ashford University Library to locate both primary and secondary sources of information appropriate for academic research that relate to the topic you identified in this week’s discussion posting.

Instructions
First, you will conduct a scholarly search using the key words “action research”andyour chosen topic from Week One Discussion: Topic Selection (such as testing and assessment, educational standards, educational technology, literacy strategies, culturally and linguistically diverse students, safe classroom environments, disability research in general, AD/HD, autism, emotional/behavioral disturbance, intellectual disabilities or learning disabilities, etc.) and the grade level of your current or future professional goal. Your search should be conducted using a scholarly search option, such as 

Google (Links to an external site.)

,

Bing (Links to an external site.)

, 

Yahoo (Links to an external site.)

, or any other major search engine. For example, “action research and AD/HD and first grade.” Be sure to take the time to inform yourself on sound research sources including use of peer reviews as listed in the recommended and required resources for the week.

• To get you started, view What is a Scholarly Journal Article? (Links to an external site.) Next, you will analyze the first five results that appear from your search in a table format using Microsoft Word.

Then, using the same keywords you used to search the Web, you will conduct a search in the Ashford University Library using one of the academic databases (ERIC, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and so forth) and create a table such as the one below using Microsoft Word. Finally, you will select two sources from either table that you feel are the best overall based on currency, credibility, authority, and academic integrity and construct a summary. For each article in your tables, use the following format:

APA Reference Entry

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy 

Source Type

(e.g., journal article, magazine article, book, and so forth)

Annotation

(e.g., two to three sentences summarizing the contents of the source)

Written Communication:
Using support from your assigned reading, the Instructor Guidance, and the discussions, submit the following for evaluation. Use the following guidelines for creating your written assignment. If you have questions about the assignment or the rubric, please contact your instructor using the Ask Your Instructor discussion before the due date.

In your paper,

• Web Search (3 points): Construct a table that includes a 6th edition APA-formatted citation, source type, and a two- to three-sentence annotation for five scholarly sources gathered from an open web search.
• Library Search (3 points): Construct a table that includes a 6th edition APA-formatted reference entry, source type, and a two- to three-sentence annotation for five scholarly sources gathered from a library search.
• Learning (2.5 points): In a paragraph, explain what you learned through this process of selecting articles and what was most informative for you about this experience.

The Finding Nemo? No, Finding Research Assignment

• Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
• Must include a separate title page with the following:

  Title of Finding Nemo? No, Finding Research
  Student’s name
  Course name and number
  Instructor’s name
  Date submitted

• Must use at least five scholarly sources in addition to the course text.

  The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Next Steps: Review and Submit the Assignment

• Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to ensure you have achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion. Next, submit your document no later than Day 7.

Recommendation: 
The MACI, MAED, MASE and MATLT  programs provide the opportunity for you to create an online portfolio (Folio) that can be used in your career development and professional practice. Throughout your respective programs, you will have various assessments that can be included in this e-portfolio, and these will be finalized in the final capstone course, Capstone 2: Culminating Project, EDU696. You may select this assignment and subsequent coursework to include as work samples. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged you save your coursework in your e-portfolio Folio.

Success Tip: Be mindful of the Week Six Final Project. The Week Six project involves conducting a peer review of an action research proposal. Preparation for this assignment must begin early to make certain you are planning ahead and saving your work. Review the full instructions for the Week Six assignment for specific information.

Carefully review the 

Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)

 for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Part One

After reading Chapter One of the course text and watching the videos (Action Research in the Classroom: Part 1

and Action Research in the Classroom: Part 2), in one paragraph provide your initial thoughts about action research. What value do you see in conducting action research in an educational setting? Provide examples from both sources to support your discussion.

From the video and the course text, action research refers to a method that teachers use to conduct systematic research on an issue that affects the education sector. In the action research process, teachers need to draw responses from other researchers’ work to come up with an interpretation of the consequences attached to the research outcomes. Researching the educational setup has great value. From the first video, the value of action research is emphasized on the need to compare the outcomes of research with colleagues who have researched the same issue and the same situation. The comparison allows the educational researchers to identify the best research outcomes and implement the outcomes in the education programs. From the second video, action research in education is valuable because it stimulates further research on the selected educational topic to enhance the quality of education. Further research in an educational research topic allows the teachers to come up with better ways of teaching that are learner-centered.

Part Two

Select one educational research-based topic that interests you from our course topics. List the topic you select for instructor approval prior to moving on to the next steps. The topics covered during this course include: implementing change in an education-based organization, evaluating the impact of the applied intervention, communicating outcomes, collaboration, and 21st-century leadership practices (e.g., testing and assessment, educational standards, educational technology, literacy strategies, culturally- and linguistically-diverse students, safe classroom environments, disability research in general, AD/HD, autism, emotional/behavioral disturbance, intellectual disabilities or learning disabilities, etc.)

The topic selected for the research is Literacy Strategies.

Resource link is  https://collected.jcu.edu/fac_bib_2019/4/

The website that I reviewed for the resource is an academic website that belongs to John Carroll University. The website is used to publish educative content of different disciplines for its readers. I found it interesting that the John Carroll University website is the statue on the website. The statute is a creative piece of work that is interesting and grabs the attention of website visitors. I chose the resource to review because it has a direct focus on my research topic. The resource evaluates the literacy strategies that can help young children learn and understand language while still in kindergarten.

References

Missmelissa73. (2009, November 8). Action Research in the Classroom Part 1. YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDVH0u4tUWo (Links to an external site.)

Missmelissa73. (2009, November 8). Action Research in the Classroom Part 2. YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZHvpgU7pc8 (Links to an external site.)

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