Com156 Week 1 Research Plan

University of Phoenix Material

Research Plan

As part of your research plan, you must first draft a research question for your research paper that will guide the rest of your writing. A research question, which is more specific and focused than a general topic, is the question that your research paper will answer.

For example, if your general area of interest is social security, a possible research question might ask, “How can low-income families save more money if the United States had a reformed social security plan that includes personal retirement accounts?”

As you develop a research question, remember that you need to research sources to support your topic. Do not pick a one-sided question that will limit your research. Instead, develop a research question that lends itself to further exploration and debate—a question you genuinely want to know the answer to.

Try to pick a research question that is neither too broad (covering too much) or too narrow (covering too little). It should be broad enough to be discussed in a short research paper.

Part 1: Complete the Research Plan

|What is your general topic or area of interest? |Drug (recreational drug use) |
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|What is it about your general topic that interests you? |Growing up in an environment where I was around it. Having personal |
| |experience also with family and friends. |
|What questions do you have about the topic that you would like to|What are the psychological affects in short and long term use? What are |
|investigate? List them. |the physical effects of dependence? What are the signs and symptoms of |
| |long term use and withdraw? |
|Would any of the questions you listed make a good subject for a |Yes I feel that most people understand physical effects of drug use but |
|research paper? Pick or adapt one question and make it into a |not as much about the psychological effect. My question would be what are|
|research question. |the psychological effects in short term and long term use of recreational|
| |drugs use? |
|Why do you think this research question will be appropriate for a|I feel that it’s not a topic that is discussed in detail. Most |
|research paper? |information and talk about drug use centers around types of drugs and |
| |what they do to you and often the criminal activity aspect of drug use. |
|How is your research question significant or relevant to a wider |It is because so many people struggle with drug use and it’s after |
|community? |effects, others have had family or friends somewhere down that have had |
| |or currently have a drug problem that has caused emotional distress or |
| |problems. |
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|What background information provides the preliminary grounds for |Seeing and dealing with a person who has been on drugs and seeing that |
|your research? |the effects don’t go away with a lot of times. |
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|What are some expert or authoritative sources of information on |I will be checking several different sites and sources I will start with |
|this research question? |the American Academy of psychology. I also want to check with |
| |Universities and hospital studies that are published. |
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|What type of materials will you need to review for your research |Professional articles and studies done on the topic. Possible group |
|paper? |studies in addiction clinics or treatment centers that also have long |
| |term follow ups with patients. |
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|What procedures will you follow to conduct your research? |I will start off doing a goggle search on recreational drug use and then |
| |narrow my topic down as I go along. I will check accredited sites that |
| |have done actual research in the particular area and then cross check any|
| |information I find that I am unsure if it is fact based. I will make sure|
| |that there are available material and resources so I can cite the |
| |information and know it’s from a reliable source. |
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|What difficulties do you anticipate in conducting your research? |I don’t think it will be difficult to find the information but may be |
| |hard to separate facts from fiction so will need to make sure the sites |
| |or books I read and cite are fact based and not opinion based as to make |
| |my paper accurate and informative. |
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Part 2: Summarize Your Research Plan

Write a 250- to 300-word paragraph summarizing your research plan. Include the following:

• The topic you have chosen for your final project • What you hope to learn from your research • What aspect of your topic you plan to focus on in your research and writing

I have chosen to do my final paper on drugs. Drug use here in my area and just in society in general is a huge problem. Over the years we have come to learn and see it drastic and often deadly effects. I more specifically want to focus on recreational drug use and its psychological and physical effects. I mainly want to focus on the psychological effects of drug use as most people know more about physical. I feel as though the emotional impact on someone can be more drastic then the physical. As a psychology major I think this is an interesting topic for me and one I will deal with in my future career. I have also had personal experience with this topic as well has having family and friends who have been through this. Recreational drug use for too many people turns into a full on addiction and has lasting effects. I have seen this first hand but would like to dig more into the subject. Learning the effects on the mind and body when it comes to drug use are some things I want to learn. I would like to see what research and studies have been done and what conclusions they have come too with the effects on the mind in short term and also long term use. I hope to gain better insight and knowledge from researching this topic, to not only learn something but to possibly be able to use the information for future reference and in my chosen field.