College Board Requirements

Academic Paper

Requirements for Conducting, Writing and Formatting the Academic Paper:

• AP Research Course and Exam Description

• Conducting a Social Science Investigation

• General Guidelines for Formatting the Paper

• Social Science Research Format

• A Social Science Paper about Writing the Paper in Correct APA Format

2. Process and Reflection Portfolio (PREP) notebook

This portfolio notebook is a formative assessment component of the course and should be maintained by the student as evidence of research and reflection and will be included with the poster boards whether presenting at Festival of Scholars or Science Fair in the Spring. Ideas for what to include in the PREP notebook:

• Prior research into investigating what may/will become your research topic

• Notes on lectures, papers, studies, etc. that help you understand how to conduct research or how to better understand a specific component of your investigation

• Notes on all communication to experts, mentors, researchers who assist you through the process. Keep record of all correspondence, including dates, times, and discussions

• Ideas related to your research

• Potential research questions, questionnaire ideas, etc.

• Pencil sketch of research findings and data analysis and how those will be charted

• Anything related to your research that you might find useful and that shows your thought process from beginning to end. This is an official document of the College Board. It does not need to look organized, it needs to look purposeful and well-used.​​

3. Presentation and Oral Defense

• ​Guideline for Creating the Multimedia Presentation

4. Poster Board

Instructions for creating and submitting poster board. The poster board is in an amalgamation of your presentation and your research report. See AP Research models above.

• Posterboard Guidelines to be provided.

​5. Festival of Scholars

In addition to the AP Research presentation, all students will present their research boards at the Festival of Scholars during the 2-week AP exam period.

Summer Assignment for AP Research (HSS)

Your task this summer is to explore two possible paths for your project next year. In pursuit of this goal, you are encouraged to:

Read: all kinds of stuff, scholarly and otherwise – just read good, interesting stuff from credible sources

Listen & Watch: Podcasts, TED Talks, Documentaries, etc.

Think: what are the interesting questions that come to your mind as you explore these topics of interest, toward this end it may be helpful to examine the questions that other scholars are investigating, as that will give you a good sense of the research “conversation”

Write: keep a composition book, or some other dedicated space, where you record your evolving thinking on possible topics

Use the above process to identify your two possible projects, and then respond to the following questions (in bullet point form) for each of the topics. You are not nearly expert in the field yet, so in some cases your best guess for how you would approach or accomplish something is perfectly acceptable. Just to be clear, you will need two separate sets of responses to the questions, one set for each of your two distinct project ideas. These questions mirror the questions you will be responding to in your official College Board Inquiry Proposal.

1. Research question (with associated project goals if applicable). Include revised question, if needed.

2. Reasons for choosing the topic of interest and research question/project goal.

3. Data or information that will have to be collected to answer the research question/address the project goal.

4. Brief list of possible sources of information to discuss during the introduction of the paper.

5. Chosen or developed research method to collect and analyze the above data/ information.

6. Equipment or resources needed to collect data or information.

7. Anticipated challenges to implementing the chosen research method (to collect and analyze data or to pursuing research methods appropriate to a paper that supports a performance/exhibit/product).

8. Expected approvals needed and from where (IRB, etc.).

Please check your email regularly over the course of the summer. I will set times to meet with you during July; you will be able to schedule these appointments to meet with me at the CLU Starbucks via email. Meeting with me once over the course of the summer is a course requirement – I will be happy to meet more than once with any student who feels it would be helpful. I will also be checking email every 10 days or so over the summer, and will be happy to respond to specific questions you have via email.