For this assignment, you're using your textbook to prepare an advocacy plan. The assignment involves knowing your issue and identifying stakeholders; getting background information; pulling in outside research; and making a plan for addressing the issue, according to the guidelines laid out in the assignment. The final paper will be an essay utilizing APA format.
Here are some of the elements you'll need to research:
The final paper will be 4-6 pages in length and must utilize a minimum of two scholarly articles on the topic plus two quotes from the articles--minimum--to support your topic.
Begin your project by doing some background reading on your issue. Preliminary reading helps you:
Find scholarly, peer-reviewed articles on the topics that you identified in Step 1.
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What is a journal?
How can I identify a journal?
Look for:
Where does peer review fit into all of this?
Peer review is a process that some scholarly journal publishers use to ensure the articles they publish represent the best scholarship currently available. Peer-reviewed journals are sometimes called "refereed" journals. When an article is submitted to a peer-reviewed/refereed journal, the editors send it out to other scholars in the same field to get their opinion on the quality of the scholarship and its relevance and importance to the field. This means that when an article is finally published in a peer-reviewed publication, there is a consensus among experts that the information communicated in that article is of the highest quality.
Not all scholarly publications are peer-reviewed, though it is very common for professors to request peer-reviewed articles to ensure you are exposed to the most credible information within your discipline.
Journals sound intense!
The specific nature of journal articles, combined with the use of specialized vocabulary, means they are not always easy to read for the non-expert. It it is recommended that students have some basic knowledge about their topic before delving into scholarly information. This basic knowledge might be gleaned, for instance, from some of our Background Information databases.