The Pre-Residency Preparation Courseroom
This work is completed over the course of four weeks prior to attending the Weekend Experience. It contains nine units:
- Unit 1: Forming Cohorts and Academic Integrity – Summarizing, Citations, and Resources. Complete this first. By completing a set of review activities, you will become familiar with the Colloquia format, expectations, and requirements for successful completion of the experience; the competencies to be developed through the first track; and other important information leading to your success. In this unit, you will also form research cohorts, and begin exploring academic integrity and how it applies to scholarly writing.
- Unit 2: Academic Integrity – Correct Use of APA Style and Formatting. In this unit, you will review and self-assess your knowledge of academic integrity issues and APA format and style, and self-assess your scholarly writing.
- Unit 3: Your Research Topic. You will begin developing your Research Topic (for your dissertation). You will focus on your initial literature search, in which you will be finding existing research on your research topic area.
- Unit 4: Library Skills and the Literature Review. You will review and begin to demonstrate the library skills necessary to develop literature reviews on your research topic, and will begin or add to your literature review on a research topic.
- Unit 5: Dissecting Research Articles. This unit will deepen your critical analysis skills, allowing you to more fully critique the research you are reading.
- Unit 6: Professional Communications. In this unit, you will become familiar with the Professional Communications and Writing Guide used in the university to present learners with the standards for professional communication—whether written or spoken. It will include a thorough description and discussion of how to correctly write postings, responses to other learners, and papers at Capella.
- Unit 7: Research Ethics. In this unit, you will turn your attention back to the ethics of research design by considering research ethics in general, and the issue of scientific merit in particular.
- Unit 8: Reviewing the Scientific Merit of Proposed Topics and Developing Your Research Problem Statement. In addition to understanding research ethics, you must demonstrate that your research study will have scientific merit, which means that it provides a real scientific benefit to the community. You will explore these concepts before concluding this unit.
- Unit 9: Preparing for the Weekend Experience. You will review a presentation on what will take place and what to expect at the Weekend Experience. This will include professional etiquette and attire, what to bring, and what to prepare ahead of time. You will prepare a three-minute presentation on your research topic which you will present at the Weekend Experience.
Final Assessment Assignments
After returning from the Weekend Experience, you will complete two final assessment assignments:
- Unit 10: Final Assessment Assignment. This will be a paper-format version of your poster presented at the Poster Session on Day 4 of the Weekend Experience.
- Unit 10: Preparing for Track 2. This will be a brief outline of your plans for continuing development of your research topic and literature review during your intervening course work prior to Track 2.
Doc. reference: phd_t1_u01in_h02_outline.html