Instructions Every student is required to complete an in-depth research paper to define and investigate a transportation topic of their choice. Papers must be 18-25 pages long, be double-spaced with margins no greater than 1 inch on each side and no larger than a 12-point font size and include citations of at least 8 different sources (not including Wikipedia or other websites used to define concepts). Suggestions and Recommendations for the Research Paper The topic of this paper can range from a practical planning problem in your community (ex., a study of traffic circulation along a specific roadway), study of a safety issue (ex., distracted pedestrians, lack of connectivity or facilities), study on the sources of funding for transportation in counties throughout your region or state, or an analysis of how to model bicycle activity to more theoretical explorations of transportation topics (ex., providing transit services for the elderly or in rural areas, equity of the transportation investments in your region). If you have a general idea of a topic but could use some assistance in developing and focusing on the topic, please contact the instructor. The statement of the proposed research topic should include a clear statement of the research to be conducted, why the research is important, and the methods you expect to use to gather the information and/or the data sources you expect to use. You may use a variety of methodologies to gather your information ranging from interviews of policy makers regarding the topic of your paper, the manipulation of data that is available through public sources, observation and counts of transportation activity, or you may choose to use a combination of these and other methods. Unless you choose to do a critical literature review, similar to articles found in the Journal of Planning Literature, you will be required to do some original research. Summarizing someone else’s books or journal article does not constitute graduate work. If you choose to conduct interviews or surveys or other forms of data collection that require interacting with human subjects, you will be required to obtain permission to do so from the University of Florida Institutional Review Board (IRB-02). See Behavioral/NonMedical IRB Home PageLinks to an external site.. for additional information on their requirements. If you collect information from public officials, you are likely to receive an exemption, but you will still need to fill out the paperwork before you complete an interview. Please use the following link to fill out the exemption formLinks to an external site.. The paper, like all good research should contain the following sections: abstract or executive summary introduction – a summary of the topic and a brief introduction to the project background and literature review – explains the context of the topic of your paper (e.g., why is the policy you are advocating a good idea? Are certain contexts necessary for its success?) methodology – explain the methodology used to gather your data for your project results/finding – explains what you learned in your research discussion – interprets the results in light of previous research on this topic recommendations – what actions would you recommend be taken based upon what you learned in this research? (This is optional.) conclusions – summarizes the research and explains what the reader should do to respond to what you learned in the research. The literature review/background should categorize the previous research according to the results or arguments made by the authors. The literature review does not need to summarize every applicable article in detail. It should, however, define the terms of the debate on this topic and hint at the direction the paper will take. If you are using a different methodology than is usually used to understand a well-documented relationship, be sure to include a discussion of methodologies in your literature review. If the paper is on a topic on which there is little literature but there are several policy studies, these prior studies should be summarized and used to develop a framework to understand the debates and context of the topic of your paper. The data used in this paper can come from a variety of sources, including interviews with policy makers, analysis of primary or secondary data, observations of the situation being explored, or other forms of data that support the argument that you are arguing. If you would like some assistance in the development of the data collection, please set up an appointment to discuss this with me. Components of the Assignment The research paper assignment will be completed in five parts: (1) a topic-statement paragraph; (2) a paper outline; (3) draft of the first three chapters; (4) a presentation; and (5) the paper/project with an abstract. You also need to prepare a draft outline of the paper (can be topic outline or a summary of the argument) and list of at least 5 references, in APA citation format later (Outline of Paper). If you hand it in on time and do an adequate job, you will receive full credit for this part of your grade (40 points). Unexcused late topic statements or outlines or failure to meet with the instructor will result in a grade of zero (0) points for this portion of the paper assignment. The third assignment is a draft of the first three chapters of your paper (introduction, literature review, and methodology). This assignment should build on the first two assignment and include additional sources, as necessary, to show your progress on the paper. A presentation on the paper/project is due during the last two weeks of the course and is worth 80 points. The final paper and the abstract are due at the end of this semester. Failure to turn in an abstract will result in a grade of zero (0) points for that portion of the assignment. The abstract is worth 40 points. The final paper is worth the remaining 290 points. Submit your paper, including the abstract, in Microsoft Word format. If it is too large to submit in Word format, please submit it in zip format
