Instructions
The Research Project is worth 20+ percent of your overall course grade. The assignment requires you to demonstrate the following course objectives (as stated in the course syllabus):
Analyze sources of data/information related to a given research topic
Evaluate both quantitative and qualitative research methods
Apply select statistical analysis procedures for quantitative data
Present findings in a coherent manner using both written text and graphics
For this assignment, you will be required to use a minimum of seven supporting documents/sources and an Annotated Bibliography. All sources must be scientific/scholarly in nature (and must be independent of one another just like in the Annotated Bibliography assignment–two different pages from the same website count as one source; this means that the technical reports on each of the Apollo missions count as ONE source). Do not forget to access and use the AMU Online Library in support of your research, as well as the NASA website.
Research Task
Find, compare, and contrast the data for the Apollo 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 missions. This may include such information as total days in Earth and lunar orbit, total time on the Moon, total spacewalks, health statistics for the astronauts and/or any other information/mission objectives you feel pertinent. There is no set path for this assignment – the values to be compared are of your choosing, but make sure you analyze the information in depth. Do not just copy it from other sources and consider that your paper. I want to see a statistical analysis, not simply a mean and median with charts and graphs. Include some of the analytics we discussed in class.
Format — MUST BE FOLLOWED!
Page 1: Cover Sheet (Title: “A Brief Statistical Look at Apollo”)
Page 2: Table of Contents
Pages 3-the end of Page 6 (keep within these pages–do not add any more!): Narrative Overview/Findings.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to include a clearly stated topic statement specifying your research topic. For instance scholarly papers typically include lines such as “Here, we report…” or “In this paper we present…” or other variations that you have seen in your research.
In addition, you need to include a statement of your hypothesis, both qualitatively (in words) and mathematically (as you’ve been doing in the chapter exercises).
Pages 7-10: Statistical findings; should include an in depth analysis and may also include tables/graphs.
Page 11: Summary (one paragraph to one page in length)
Page 12: Annotated Bibliography
Additional Guidance
Remember, all Space Studies course papers require the use of the APA Style Guide including for Figures and Tables. The narrative of your paper should be double spaced (except when using long quotations – more than four lines – which requires single spacing and further indentation). Make sure to keep most of your work in third-person perspective. Your paper should be in Times New Roman 12 point font and only use one space between sentences.
Cite resources in your paper in accordance with APUS requirements and in APA style. Remember, if you list a number/fact/figure, you had to find/take it from somewhere so be sure to cite accordingly. Don’t cite Wikipedia – it’s not an appropriate source for college papers.
It is correct to capitalize “Moon” and also correct not to, but make sure you choose one way and then stay consistent throughout your paper.
Rubric:
cover sheet: /5 pts
table of contents: /5 pts
findings:
statement of comparison: /5 pts
grammar/etc: /5 pts
main content: /20 pts
statistical report:
statistical analysis: /20 pts
presentation of data: /15 pts
summary: /10 pts
annotated bibliography: /15 pts
