Identify a question that someone would like to find an answer to – the question is focused on explaining something that happens between 2 or more things (questions could include explaining an impact of one thing on another). Watch the video “What is
scholarly/academic research?” by Qinqin Zhang to learn more about how to create a
research question;
Identify sub-questions related to the main research question – this will help to guide you in
finding appropriate articles, books, websites that provide information that help answer the
overall research question. Watch the video “How to locate relevant sources of information
for scholarly research” by Qinqin Zhang to learn more about how to create sub-questions
that guide your search for scholarly articles;
Read many scholarly articles that discuss the different components of the research
question; usually this means reading more than what is actually referenced in the paper.
Watch the video “How to locate relevant sources of information for scholarly research” by
Qinqin Zhang to learn the difference between scholarly sources, popular sources and grey
literature;
Schedule a time to meet with a Learning Coach at the Learning Commons to get feedback
on your research question and the outline of your research paper prior to writing your
paper. Watch the video “How to write a research paper” by Qinqin Zhang for more specifics
on how to organize the research paper;
Provide an introduction to the paper that provides a reason for the research, and clearly
identify what the research question is;
Include in the discussion of the sub-questions a review of the literature that was referenced
for these questions;
Provide a conclusion to the paper that would provide an overall answer to the research
question;
Cite all the sources of your information – this includes the quotes from specific authors and
the summary of information that you learned from different authors;
Use APA style for in-text citations and for the list of references (refer to the APA Guide for
proper referencing information); APA style also indicates a particular way to use of different
types of punctuation;
Only include a Methodology section in the paper if your research includes primary research
– with primary research there needs to be an indication of how the data/information was
gathered and analyzed.
DON’T:
Include an Abstract – abstracts are only included when a paper is being submitted for
publication in a journal;
Write an essay – an essay is just a discussion on a particular topic; a topic is not a research
question;
Include a section that is a specific literature review (note what is stated in the DO section
above on how to use the information gathered from the readings);
Include Tables or Figures from articles without explaining them;
Use bullets for your points; write full sentences and statements;
Use acronyms until you have indicated the words related to the letters being used in the
acronym (eg. Trinity Western University (TWU), Human Resource Management (HRM)); you
can’t assume the reader of the document will know what the acronym refers to until you
tell them;
Refer to your paper as an “article” – if it gets published, it can then be called an article;
Use sources where the information provided is not peer-reviewed; watch the video “What
is scholarly/academic research?” by Qinqin Zhang to learn what peer-review refers to and
why Popular Sources (such as websites) are not considered scholarly research;
Include the ebscohost link as part of the reference information of an article – the citation
only needs to include the journal information, not where you found the journal through
ebscohost or other academic, online, search methods;
Have someone else write your paper for you; part of your MBA education is to assist you in
learning how to do research, how to analyze what you have learned through your readings
and discussions, and how to clearly articulate your thoughts – these are what future
employers are expecting from someone who has successfully achieved an advanced
academic degree. Having someone else write your paper for you does not give you the
opportunity to learn and practice research and writing skills.