Assignment Objectives: Candidates will evaluate sources to identify quality rel

Assignment Objectives:
Candidates will evaluate sources to identify quality relevant sources related to two practitioner problems in their field of education
Candidates will analyze articles, identify key aspects, and synthesize an annotation of the information presented
Candidates will construct clear and concise summaries through the use of varied sentence structures
Candidates will reflect upon their experiences during the research process through an APA formatted paper
Learning Outcome:
Upon module completion, students will be able to locate and summarize relevant, peer-reviewed research to establish a practitioner problem in their field.
Instructions:
You will identify two problems in practice you would like to research. Remember that we are not asking you to present solutions to the problem. Instead, we are asking you to explore the problem, what causes the problem, and how it affects students, professionals, the school or institution as a whole. In your search for articles, focus on what research will help you to demonstrate to your reader that the problem is relevant to your field and requires attention.
After submission, you will receive feedback on each of your problem statements and choose one to continue with for the remainder of the course. Work to choose problems that are timely, relevant, applicable to your field, and address an important problem in practice that you can find research to support.
An annotated bibliography is a list of references to books, articles, and documents. Each reference will be followed by a brief summary of 4-5 sentences. Your summary should address the main ideas of the article, research goals, participants, methods, and findings. Make sure that you are including enough detail to demonstrate that you read beyond just what one could learn from the abstract. Quotes are not acceptable for any part of this assignment.
You will write 1 sentence identifying the first problem you would like to explore followed by your three references listed in alphabetical order and annotations for that topic. Then, you will write 1 sentence identifying the second problem you would like to explore followed by your three references in alphabetical order and annotations for that topic. See the Resources Folder for a template/sample.
When identifying a Problem in Practice, make sure that you really work to identify the problem you see happening in your field.
Do not make a vague observation: Counselors should focus on mental health.
Instead: Mental health issues are on the rise amongst adolescents; however, counselors, who are often in the best position to intervene and help, do not have the time or training needed to assist struggling students. (Problem in practice in italics.)
Do not ask a question: Are international student populations finishing their degrees?
Instead: While many colleges seem to be pushing for the revenue and diversity that international students bring to campuses, this student group is not being provided with the needed support to see their degrees through to completion. (Problem in practice in italics.)
Action Steps:
Use the template in the Resources folder to guide your construction of this assignment.
Write two problem statements. (Examples above and in the template found in the Resources folder)
Search for sources related to each problem. To identify quality sources, research your topic in the ASU library database. Keep in mind that this is an opportunity to improve your knowledge about a topic directly related to your field by reading research. For this assignment, you will need three research-based, peer-reviewed sources for each topic (6 total). There is a guide in the Resources folder to help you identify appropriate articles.
Next, carefully analyze each source to determine relevancy in relation to your topic.
Keep the sources most relevant, credible, recent, and similar to the topic you are researching. There should be a clear connection between all of your sources and their relation to your identified topic of interest.
Once sources are chosen, analyze each article, identifying the key concepts and synthesizing the information to write a 4-5 sentence annotation for each source. Annotations should identify the main points of article including research participants, goals, methods, and findings where appropriate.
The Resources folder will help with the details of this assignment.
Keep in mind that these sources will be used for future assignments in this course. The final assignment will require additional resources, so you are encouraged to make note of any other sources you come across that might be useful later.