Week 6 assignment concept map
The Concept map: Narrowing Down Your Topic
In previous coursework, you used a mind mapping tool to start exploring a potential research topic. While the mind map is a useful strategy to start brainstorming a topic in an unstructured way, a concept map takes this a step further by providing a more structured visual framework to document and organize research articles, find new relationships between ideas, and narrow in on specific components of that research (Davies, 2011).
Throughout the second half of this course, you will be introduced to multiple practical tools that can support you as you investigate a potential research topic. The concept map is one such tool, and it offers a visual strategy to document findings. The visual approach affords you the opportunity to step back and review the “bigger picture,” and then you can physically draw or connect additional observations you may not have seen in a more linear spreadsheet or word processor format.
In this Assignment, you will use a concept map to narrow down the research topic you selected for your Discussion.
Reference:
Davies, M. (2011). Concept mapping, mind mapping and argument mapping: What are the differences and do they matter? Higher Education, 62(3), 279–301.
To Prepare
• Locate two additional empirical articles related to your chosen research topic. This will give you a total of five articles, including the three articles from your Discussion this week.
• Review the article by Davies in the Learning Resources
• In previous coursework, you focused on the mind map section of this article. Now focus on the concept map section (pages 282–286).
• Watch the video, Concept Map Exercise Walk-through, in the Learning Resources
• Review the Example of a Concept Map and Citationsdocument.
• Open the Concept Map Template from your Learning Resources.
Complete the two-part Assignment.
Part 1:
Submit a concept map based on your chosen research topic that you will potentially use in your capstone or dissertation.
• Type your potential research topic in the top-tier box of your concept map.
• Using your research from this week, place your five research articles in the next tier of your map.
• Under each of the five articles, write in a minimum of three concepts from the article. What stood out to you? This could include similar key words, locations, or participant demographics. It could also include something from the problem statement or results, or possibly something you observed in the research methods, assumptions, or underpinnings.
• Connect the three concepts under each article with a vertical line and in between each connection, note any initial observations—what are the vertical relationships?
• Now, observe connections in the concepts across the five empirical research articles. Connect those concepts with a horizonal line and note any observations—what are the horizontal relationships?
Part 2:
Submit a 1- to 2-page paper that addresses the following:
• Briefly, describe your research topic that you placed in the top tier of your concept map.
• Describe what you did differently when researching your two additional articles for this Assignment. How did your Discussion this week inform any changes you made?
• Explain the vertical connections you made under each of your research articles. What do these connections tell you as you continue your research?
• Explain the horizontal connections you made across your research articles. What do these connections tell you as you continue your research?
• Based on the concepts and connections you documented in your concept map, what are some possible opportunities to narrow your topic?
Remember
• Your paper should be double spaced.
• Use literature to support your claims.
• Review APA guidelines. Your paper should conform to APA guidelines.
