Concept Paper: Project Proposal Overview

• The concept paper previews improvements a proponent wants to implement
• It summarizes the project, reasons, and how it will be carried out
• It provides an overview and helps funding agencies eliminate unapproved proposals, saving time and effort

Uses

• Serves as the foundation for the full proposal
• Determines project feasibility
• Piques the interest of potential funding agencies
• Obtains informal feedback before preparing the full proposal
• Addresses community social issues and problems
• Provides a clear picture of the research, project, or feasibility study

Parts

• Include a catchy name or title that "hooks" readers and persuades sponsors
• The introduction briefly presents the concept
• The statement of purpose explains why the concept paper is written and can be a thesis statement
• Objectives are the project's goals in bulleted or numbered format
• Stakeholders/Beneficiaries lists who benefits from the project
• Methodology details the project process from start to finish
• Timetable uses illustrations, graphs, or tables to show dates and timelines
• Conclusion emphasizes the purpose, plan, and significance

Research

• Research makes known the unknown
• The end of research is to arrive at a new truth
• Defined as creating new knowledge and/or using existing knowledge to generate new concepts, methodologies, and understandings
• Research is a systematic and scientific way of investigating and gathering information to answer a problem, establish facts, and reach conclusions

Characteristics

• It should be systematic, meaning to follow a system of writing with parts being:
• Macrosystem which is the chapter
• And the Microsystem which are the detailed contents of each chapter.
• All research should be objective
• Done by the researcher objectively looking at the basis on which work is founded
• The researcher must never produce results out of nowhere, and should never be based on bias.
• All research should be feasible
• Conducted within your ability, resources, and time limit
• Should be doable considering above factors
• All research should be empirical
• Should be supporting pieces of evidence and accompanying details
• References and citations, facts and information must be included
• All research should be clear
• Written and explained well
• Achieved by enriching the review of literature

Writing Reports

• A report systematically presents an issue, problem, or incident

Types of Reports

• Informative Reports - to inform
• Investigative Reports - to investigate
• Recommendation Reports - to recommend

Research Report

• Follows a step-by-step investigation process using a standardized approach to answer questions or solve problems

APA 7th Student Paper Format

Title Page

• Title
• Student Name
• Institution
• Course Name
• Instructor Name
• Due Date

Abstract

• Summarizes the paper's contents in no more than 250 words
• Note that the abstract is usually not required for student papers, it is dependant on the instructor.

Introduction

• Reviews background information on the topic
• Explains the significance
• Notes any lacking info
• Provides study objectives or research questions

Literature Review

• This can be:
• A separate part of the paper
• integrated in the Introduction.
• It contains all available sources directly related to the study.
• Divided into two sections:
• Related concepts
• Related studies
• Related concepts explain fundamental concepts, theories, they explain and describe necessary concepts
• Related studies are based on previous ones directly related to the paper
• The section should end with a paragraph synthesizing the studies presented and puts the study in context

Framework

• Theoretical framework: is based on an existing theory in a field of inquiry that is related and/or reflects the hypothesis of a study
• Conceptual framework: structure which the reseaarcher believes can best explain the natural progression of the phenomenon to be studied

Statement of the Problem

• Contains the purpose statement and research questions
• Key elements include main tasks with major variables
• Also include participants, settings, and coverage date

Research Questions

• Enumerates specific problems stated as questions
• Meets criteria like the following:
• Must be in question form
• Must define population
• Must identify variables being studied
• Scope is determined by major variables
• Limitation by sub-variables, the local setting, and when the data will be gathered

Significance of the Study

• Determines study beneficiaries and how they will benefit
• Most to least benefited

Method

• Includes processes and steps taken to gather research data
• Includes these sections:
• Participants
• Research Design
• Instruments
• Procedure
• Data Analysis

Participants

• Shows who and how many participated, with their sampling and demographic characteristics

Research Design

• Overall strategy to carry out a study
• The design should be:
• Quantitative which entails numerical data
• Or qalitative which involved non-numerical data to understand concepts, opinions or experiences

Instruments

• Presents data gathering tools
• Like questionnaires, interview, experiment, observation, etc.

Procedure

• Steps in the research execution, incuding:
• Instructions to participants
• Formation of groups
• Standard testing procedure
• Address any ethical isssues

Data Analysis

• Presents how the data were analyzed, whether qualitatively or quantitatively

Results

• Shows what was found in the research
• Contains tables and graphs (for quantitative research)
• Summarizes the collected data
• Includes respective interpretations

Discussion

• Explores "why's" of the results, relevance, and how findings fit with other research
• Relates back to literature review and introductory thesis
• Restates research problems or objectives and major findings
• States new findings uncovered

Key questions in the discussion:

• What have I contributed here?
• How has my study helped to resolve the original problem?
• What conclusions and theoretical implications can I draw from my study?

References

• Lists all sources used in the study, including books, journals, online sources, etc.
• APA 7th edition style format
• Citing Sources which is APA 7th Edition Format

Purpose for Citing Sources

• To give credit to the original author of a work
• To avoid plagiarism, which is taking and using others' ideas or information without proper citation
• To promote scholarly writing, exhaustively using related ideas and information from experts
• To help the target audience identify the original source.

Forms of Citations

• In-text Citation: requires the writer to cite the details of the reference used in a the work itself
• Reference Citation: refers to the the complete entry

Style Guides

• The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA). Use for psychology, education, nursing, hotel and restaurant management, business, economics, and other social sciences
• The Modern Language Association Style Guide (MLA). Use for literature, arts,and humanities
• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• Engineering
• American Medical Association Manual of Style (AMA). Use for medicine, health sciences, and other natural sciences
• The Chicago Manual of Style. Use for humanities, reference books, non-academic periodicals

Guidelines for In-Text Citation (APA 7th Edition Format)

• A Work by One Author includes use of the authors surname
• A Work by Two Authors: includes use of AND between authors names
• A Work by Three or More Authors: list only first author followed by “et al.”
• Two or More Works in the same Parentheses: order them alphabetically sepearated by a semi colon

For Unknowns

• Unknown Author and Unknown Date: Use the title or the first word of title, with "n.d" in parentheses
• Direct Quotation: If your quotation consists of less than 40 words, it should be presented as part of the text.
• Sources without Page Number: use the heading or section name, an abbreviated heading or section name, a paragraph number including the page number

Guidelines in Reference Citations:

• Basic Format for Books: Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitles. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
• Article in Print Journal: Include authors, and then article title, Journal Title, Volume Number (Issue Number), pages
• Article in Electronic Journal Include DOIs
• Webpage or Piece of Online Content include author name, Year, Month Date, title of page, Site name and URL
• Two or More Works by the same Author in the same Year: include a small letter indicator after the date of publication and within the parentheses