Research Design and Bibliography Instructions
**For the Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies you have two disciplines (Areas of Study – AOS). You have 12 hours of graduate coursework in one AOS and 9 hours in the other AOS. These are the two “disciplines” or AOS that will be integrated into your research topic.**
The research proposal is a detailed explanation of the topic to be studied, the process by which you will answer a research question of scholarly significance, and the principal sources for research. This assignment should be 1-2 pages long and include the following:
1) Statement of the two areas of study to be integrated: Your research design will propose how your research question is best answered through the integration of your two chosen fields of study rather than investigation within an independent discipline. It is a statement, rather than an explicit question. Provide a discussion of your two AOS (diciplines). The explanation of your two areas of study sets the stage for the project in a convincing argument.
2) Statement of the research question or questions to be answered through interdisciplinary integration:.. If it helps, you may treat this section of the research design as you would an introductory section in the final research paper. Please explain the issue, your explanation of why integration is necessary or better than investigating the problem within an independent discipline, and explain how integration will be achieved. You may use any of your INDS textbooks or presentations to discuss this section. You may not have complete answers related to these components. You may still be thinking things through. That’s fine. This assignment will allow the instructor the ability to directly critique your proposal well before your research is underway.
3) Explanation of scholarly significance: You must prove why this project is worth study and supervision from an interdisciplinary perspectivePlease remember that your final project will demonstrate the integration of existing scholarshipbetween each area of study and show that when combined, the scholarship answers your research question. In other words, rarely will students in this course conduct primary research. Instead, you will build your case by integrating existing research from each area of study.
4) Working bibliography of at least 15 sourcesno more than five years old (unless approved by the instructor). You will write a Bibliography using the citation format of your major area of study. For the bibliography portion of the assignment, you will compose a basic list of the scholarly articles related to the research topic. The sources will be divided into primary and secondary areas of study. Include at least 10 entries for the primary area of study, and 5 for the secondary area of study. The sources should be no more than five years old (unless approved by the instructor). You must use the current style guide (APA. AMA, Turabian) for your Area of Study (I). This bibliography should have 1-2 sentences for each source summarizing why the source is integral to your research. The statements need not be complete sentences and are listed just beneath the citation entry on a separate line. Under no circumstances are you to copy and paste any sentences or phrases from either a database search engine, index, or article abstract. You must write the annotations in your own words. You may use your Bibliography from INDS 500 if applicable.
5) A research plan that outlines what you must do to complete the research. This can include an allocation of time to conduct the research, the need for internet access, who you may need to request assistance from, and other routine matters related to the research. Even though you are NOT conducting the actual research for this course, you need to show that you can manage your time and resources.