9 Pacing Guide

9.1 Unit 1: Introduction

July/August: Develop research ideas/topics and formulate focused research questions. [CR1a] [CR1b]

  1. Use Workbook (pp. 18–26) as a guide to turn a problem statement in your field of inquiry into a focused research question. [CR1a]

  2. E-mail your teacher with your proposed research topic and focused research question. You may submit multiple topics/questions if you have not decided on just one. [CR1g]

  3. Begin your PREP by documenting the process of formulating each iteration of your research question, which should have the following features: [CR4a]
    • focused: narrowing in scope
    • valuable: contributes to a new understanding in the field
    • feasible: replicable method that can be completed in a few months in time for the final paper deadline

August/September: Conduct preliminary research on a research topic. Begin annotated bibliography. Refine research question and begin research proposals. Gain familiarity with the academic paper rubric. [CR1b] [CR1c] [CR1d]

  1. Refer to Workbook (pp. 6–9) to explore different ways of knowing across disciplines. [CR1c]

    • In your PREP, reflect on how your chosen discipline engages in research using your collected sources as examples. [CR1f] [CR4a]

  2. Use Workbook (pp. 64–81) as a guide to begin your annotated bibliography. Focus on the following points:

    • Select a discipline-specific style (e.g., MLA, APA, or Chicago) used in your field of inquiry. Refer to Workbook (p. 65) and Purdue OWL for detailed documentation on citation styles.
    • Select and use a reference management software such as Mendeley to organize your sources and integrate your bibliography into Microsoft Word or LaTeX.
    • Go through the process of SMARTER searches to ensure that sources are situated in your topic of inquiry from multiple perspectives, relevant to your research question, and integrated into the broader field of knowledge (Workbook, pp. 75–76). [CR1c] [CR1d]
    • Begin your annotated bibliography with 5–10 sources. Add 5–10 sources every week to your annotated bibliography until you have enough sources to develop a literature review. Refer to Workbook (pp. 77-81) for sample annotated bibliography entries.
    • When finding sources, you should use the PAARC test to assess credibility, validity, and relevance (Workbook, pp. 82–83).

  3. Go through previous AP Research sample papers. Annotate sample papers using the new AP Research paper rubic.

9.2 Unit 2: Topic to Proposal

October/November: Complete research proposals for approval. Synthesize annotated bibliography into literature review. [CR1d] [CR3]

  1. As a class, we will go over important ethical pratices in research, including the following:

    • AP Capstone Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information [CR2b]
    • IRB process for research involving human subjects [CR2a]
    • Consent forms for research participants [CR2a]
    • Parental permission for research participants under age 18 [CR2a]

  2. Do a dry run of an inquiry method using the Health Halos Experiment (Workbook, pp. 148–153). As a class, use this topic to fill out an inquiry proposal form as a sample.

  3. With you own research topic, complete an initial draft of the inquiry proposal form. [CR3]

  4. Use p. 77 of the Workbook as a reference to develop a brief elevator speech with an informal poster containing the following elements: [CR5]

    • Proposal title
    • Problem statement & research question
    • Definitions, hypotheses, and importance of study
    • Proposed research methods
    • List of sources
  5. Develop slides to present elements of the inquiry proposal form for peer review. [CR1e] [CR1g] [CR5]

  6. Revise inquiry proposal form to reflect peer review comments. [CR1e] [CR1f]

  7. Submit inquiry proposal form to teacher for approval. If applicable, you should include IRB forms and identify potential expert advisors. You may not begin conducting research until your teacher approves your inquiry proposal form. [CR2a] [CR3]

  8. Establish weekly PREP check-ins with your teacher. [CR4b]
    • Store your PREP on a cloud server and share a password-protected URL link with your teacher for weekly progress check-ups.
    • Create a folder in your PREP to document reflections on peer review comments as well as feedback from your teacher and expert advisors. [CR1f]

9.3 Unit 3: Research Methods

November/December: Learn and implement replicable research methods to address research question. [CR3]

  1. Review Chapter 3 of Gray et al. (2007, pp. 33–56) for an overview on research design.

  2. Go to the USC Libraries Research Guides. Under “Types of Research Design” tab, skim through the various research designs to identify the one that most closely matches your proposed research design as well as those found in your annotated bibliography.
    • Learn more about your research design and the specific research methods you will employ to conduct your research.
    • As a starting point, establish if you will use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods. Reference “6. The Methodology” tab in USC Libraries Research Guides before you embark on more specific methods.

  3. Review Chapters 8, 9, and 10 in Creswell (2009, pp. 145–225) for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, respectively.

  4. Create a research blueprint poster and present your proposed research design/methods to the class for peer review. [CR1e] [CR1g]

  5. Based on your approved inquiry proposal form and peer review comments on your research blueprint presentation, develop an expanded and refined research proposal, which will serve as a template for your initial paper draft. The research proposal should contain the following sections:
    • Research question and hypothesis
    • Literature review
    • Proposed research methods
  6. Continue weekly PREP check-ins. In this unit, our check-ins will focus on the following items: [CR4b]
    • Continue to build more sources into annotated bibliography.
    • Synthesize annotated bibliography into an initial literature review draft for the research proposal. [CR1d]
    • Align research question with literature review and research methods. By the time you begin applying your research methods, your research question should no longer shift to ensure that you are not trying to make the data fit your question.
    • Demonstrate that you are learning enough about your research methods to apply them properly in your own research. Create a separate folder in your PREP to document your learning process on research methods. [CR1f] [CR4a]

9.4 Unit 4: Academic Paper Drafts & Peer Review

January/February: Complete implementation of research methods. Undergo peer review of academic paper drafts. [CR3] [CR1e]

  1. Finish conducting your research and documenting your results in your PREP. [CR4a]

  2. Adapt your research proposal into the first draft of your academic paper. Refine the methods section of your paper to reflect findings from your research. Include a new section that analyzes and evaluates your results. Your conclusion should include limitations of the study and directions for future studies. [CR3]

    • Submit your initial draft for peer review.
    • File the peer review comments from your classmates into your PREP.

  3. Develop slides on your research method and findings. Present results to the class for peer review. [CR1e] [CR1g]

9.5 Unit 5: Final Academic Paper, Presentation, and Oral Defense

March/April: Complete and submit final academic paper. Conduct 20-minute presentation with oral defense. [CR3] [CR5]

  1. Incorporate peer review feedback into the second draft of the paper. [CR1e]

    • Submit your second draft for a final round of peer review.
    • File the peer review comments from your classmates into your PREP.

  2. Refer to pages 58–59 of the AP Research Course and Exam Description for the list of oral defense questions. You will receive one question per section for a total of three questions and possibly some follow-up questions. [CR5]

    • In your PREP, outline some responses to these questions as preparation for your oral defense. You will not know ahead of time which questions the panel will ask, so do not try to memorize responses.

  3. Finalize academic paper and submit it to AP Digital Portfolio. Your teacher will dedicate class time for students to upload their final papers a few days before the official deadline. [CR3]

  4. Sign up for a 20-minute time slot to present and orally defend your research. Prior to the presentations, we will go over the presentation and oral defense rubric. The presentations and oral defense will be recorded. [CR5]

9.6 Unit 6: Beyond AP Research

May/June: Finalize PREP and begin introduction to research tools necessary for research at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

  1. Finalize your PREP with the following points in mind: [CR4a]

    • Include a readme file that documents the contents and purpose of each folder and file in your PREP. Anyone who reads through your readme file should be able to understand how to navigate your PREP without ever having worked with you during the research process.

    • Finalize data documentation that includes metadata (i.e., data about the data) and step-by-step instructions that show how you used the data in your research methods to arrive at your results. Anyone with your PREP should be able to locate the data documentation file from your readme file descriptions and follow your instructions to replicate your results.

  2. Explore current best practices of reproducible research.

    • We will learn basics of literate and data programming with the following software:
      • R (using RStudio)
      • LaTeX (using TeXStudio)
      • R Sweave (Rnw files = R + LaTeX)
      • R Markdown (R + Markdown to produce HTML, Word, LaTeX, and PDF outputs)
    • We will explore the basic concepts behind version control using Git and GitHub.
      • Instead of saving multiple versions of the same file with version numbers appended to the file name, you can use just one file and commit changes to a repository, which will store metadata about each version of the file.

  3. Develop a basic static website to showcase your research for college applications and future employment.

    • We will use the R blogdown package to develop a basic static website with Hugo, an open-source website generator. Hosting the site is completely optional.
    • Your research website may include the following elements:
      • Research portfolio
      • Research blog posts
      • Publication section