Your first task is to find two empirical research articles published in good quality, peer-reviewed
journals in the last five years. You should choose articles on the same topic written by different
authors and published in two different journals. The topic should be relevant to your degree
programme. This is a good place to begin your search.
Your assignment should be entirely written in your own words and should begin with the full
Harvard reference for each article, and a brief summary of how you found these articles (no more
than 150 words). The main body of the text should be in 12pt Arial or Times New Roman with 1.5 or
double line spacing. Pages should be numbered.
Your assignment must be written in your own words. Do not copy any words from the work of
others. You will need to cite and reference the work and ideas of others, and may need to quote
directly – it is your responsibility to do this correctly and accurately, in the Harvard style. If you are
unsure about plagiarism then consult the resources on this Canvas site, including this student guide
to plagiarism.
A suggested structure for the main body of the assignment (with some questions to get you thinking)
follows:
Introduction
What interests you about this topic and how is it relevant to your degree programme? Why have you
chosen these two articles? What is each article about? What is the geographical context of each
research article? What are the research questions and how do these compare to each other?
Literature review
Are the literature reviews relevant to the topic? Do the literature reviews miss any important
sources or arguments within the field? Are the reviews similar or different, and can you explain this
similarity or difference? Does each article support the existing literature, or offer a challenge?
Research Philosophy
Is the research philosophy clearly outlined in each article? How would you describe the research
philosophies of the articles? Are they different or similar?
Data Collection
A summary of the way in which the researchers collected data, including information about the
sample/participants. What are the differences in approaches to collecting data? What sort of data
are the researchers collecting? Are the data collection tools and techniques clearly described or
difficult to understand? How do the articles justify their approaches? Do the researchers consider
the advantages and disadvantages of their chosen methods? Did the researchers encounter any
challenges in collecting the data?
Data Analysis
A summary of the way in which the researchers analysed the data. What are the differences in
approaches to analysing the data? Are the data analysis tools and techniques clearly described or
difficult to understand? Do the researchers consider the advantages and disadvantages of their
chosen methods? Did the researchers encounter any challenges in analysing the data?
Research Ethics
Do the authors note any ethical issues with their research, and if so then how do they ac
count
for or
overcome these? Are the ethical issues in each article similar or different?
Findings
What are the main findings of each article and how do these compare? Are the findings of each
article reasonable and well-supported by evidence? In what ways are they reasonable or not
reasonable? What are the main contributions of the articles and are these similar or different?
References
A list of all sources that you have cited in your assignment, in the Harvard style, listed in alphabetical
order by author surname.
General notes:
This is primarily an assessment of your ability to find, understand, and write about good quality,
relevant empirical research, as this is the first step for any research project. We know that you
haven’t yet covered the details of data collection and analysis, research ethics etc. in classes and so
we are not expecting you to demonstrate any prior knowledge of these aspects in your writing.
As mentioned above, part of your task is to choose a topic relevant to your degree programme and
find two relevant and suitable empirical research articles. Please do not ask your lecturers and tutors
whether or not you have chosen a relevant topic and/or relevant articles, as your ability to make
these decisions is part of what you are being assessed on.
If you choose to include any tables or figures then these do not count towards your overall word
count
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Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
