You have finished a draft of your prospectus and sent it to me as your
committee member, what am I looking for? I typically read through the paper
twice. The first time I am looking at APA formatting, spelling and grammar
issues. Be sure you double-check your citations and references with the APA
manual; I will look at those closely. If you use any acronyms or abbreviations,
make sure you spell them out the first you use them. If you use jargon (e.g.,
self-efficacy, locus of control, resiliency), make sure you define it (even if
you think I know what you mean). A good rule of thumb is: would someone not
familiar with your field of study know the term? If not, define it.
I then read it again concentrating on content. I want to make sure you
are consistent in how you are describing your study throughout the paper. For
example, if you are doing a qualitative study, you should not be using terms
like "correlation." I will make sure your research questions are
consistent with the literature you reviewed and your theory makes sense for
your study. I will look for some predictions with your theory, as to how you
expect the study to come out. I will look for evidence you understand your
analyses and they make sense given your research questions. By the time I
finish your paper, I should feel confident you understand the topic area and
you are capable of doing the study. Finally, I will print out your references
and go through the paper crossing off references as they are cited. They should
come out even, no extra references or citations.
Personally, I use track changes and make many comments. I try to be
clear in my concerns but would always want you to ask for clarifications if you
were not sure what I meant. It is better not to guess if you are doing things
right, save yourself some time and ask about issues.
Next time, we will consider rewriting. Do you have an issue or a
question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to
be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu
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