Each person must complete a research paper addressing one of the following topics or a mutually agreed upon topic between the student and instructor:
§ Training Needs Analysis
§ Training Strategies for Small and Medium Sized Businesses: One Size Doesn't Fit All
§ Management Development Techniques
§ Training Evaluation: New Techniques and Strategies
§ The Learning Organization: Three Companies That Have Made it a Reality
§ Technical Training: A "How To" Guide to Enhancing Technical KSA's
§ Other topic approved by instructor
These papers are to reflect the current "state of the art" in the area and should reflect both academic and professional (practical) orientations. The paper should review the available research, discuss the implications of that research for the topic area, and provide conclusions. The paper should be organized into the following areas:
1. Introduction: The area of research should be described and the purpose of the research. That is, describe the topic area in terms of (1) its relationship to training and (2) what you want to be able to contribute to the training literature by writing this paper.
2. Review of the literature: Organize the literature into logical streams of thought related to your topic area. Within each of these areas summarize what the literature has to say. Be sure to indicate in your discussion whether the information is based on empirical data or just the opinion of the author.
3. Implications of the literature: Again, organize the implications of the literature in a manner that logically builds the case for your conclusions (which you will present in the next section). For each of your implications be sure to reference the literature related to that implication. Be sure to indicate whether the implication is one that has already been made in the literature or if this is one that is original to you. You should identify in this section important areas related to your topic that are missing from the literature.
4. Conclusions: This is where you tie all the pieces together. Make sure your conclusions are organized in a logical order that states what you have concluded relative to the purpose of your paper. Be sure that these conclusions are justified. For example, conclusions based upon empirical fact have more weight than those based upon opinion. Opinions shared by many in the literature have more weight than those of only one author.