(no more and no fewer than 15 pages, excluding the cover page, the abstract, and references; APA Style 6th ed.; 8 or more references). Identify your course-related interests and select a meaningful-to-you, course-relevant topic while taking into account your anticipated application of the course teachings in your professional (theory, research, and practice), creative, and personal life. NOTE: This Scholarly Paper is expository or investigative in nature and incorporates evidence-based literature review and interpretation, as well as literature on best practices. Please utilize peer-reviewed, primary sources of information as much as possible. Reach out to your instructor proactively should you have any questions and/or would like to discuss this paper. . Before writing your Scholarly Paper, please succinctly articulate your topic, key question(s), sub-questions, purpose statement, outline, and resources: (a) CENTRAL QUESTION(S): Define the central question(s) you are going to ask in your paper. Typically, such questions will be open-ended questions that begin with “what,” “when,” “how,” “in which ways,” etc. and focus on the phenomenon you intend to learn more about; (b) SUB-QUESTIONS: Establish sub-question(s) that you are going to pose in your paper. Sub-questions will allow you to unfold and to explore your central question(s) in depth and, thus, to enrich your understanding of the selected phenomenon. Please form sub-questions using the open-ended questions format mentioned above; (c) PURPOSE STATEMENT: Construct your purpose statement based on the central question(s) and sub-questions you established. A clear purpose statement is an essential, invaluable element of your paper that shapes your paper outline and informs your entire paper. The purpose statement states your intent and is placed at the end of your Introduction. It typically begins with, “The purpose of this paper is to 1, 2, 3, and (perhaps) 4.” Please employ higher-order-thinking verbs in your purpose statement: explore, describe, discover, understand, develop, formulate, explain, evaluate, identify, investigate, delineate, articulate, inform, interpret, design, review, systematize, demystify, analyze and synthesize, create, and the like; (d) OUTLINE: Build a sound outline for your research paper, aligning the three key elements articulated abovecentral question(s), sub-questions, and purpose statementwith the paper outline; and (e) RESOURCES: List key resources you plan to utilize in your paper. Make sure that you incorporate contemporary evidence-based, peer-reviewed, and best practice sources.
