REQUIREMENTS FOR FULFILLING THE FIRST-YEAR RESEARCH PROJECT

Expectations for the first-year research project are described below. The student is advised to review this section with their research mentor.

First-Year Research Project:

Each student is required to complete a research project during their first year of residence at Georgia Tech. The purpose of completing this research project is to enable the student to develop procedural research skills. Typically, projects consist of research activities designed by a faculty member as part of an ongoing research program. However, when a research project is closely tied to faculty research, the student will be expected to prepare a written report of his/her own participation in the research activity. This first-year research report is described in more detail below.

There are three additional research formats considered acceptable for the annual project:

1. M.S. proposals: Formal research proposals can be used to fulfill the requirements of the first-year research report, but only if the written report has been submitted to the student's thesis committee prior to the submission deadline. Works-in-progress and rough drafts submitted to the student's research advisor are not acceptable products for the first-year report. For formal proposals, no additional description of the student's participation in the research process is necessary.
2. Papers submitted for publication: Research papers where the student has played a primary role in the research process (i.e., sole- or first-author papers), and which have been submitted or accepted to a peer-reviewed journal are acceptable as submissions for the annual report. For multi-author papers where the student is not the first author and it is deemed by the advisor that the student made a significant contribution to the project, the student must also submit a detailed report of their specific contributions to the paper co-signed by the advisor.
3. Theoretical paper: Although a theoretical paper can be used to satisfy the first-year research requirement, students are discouraged from using this option. The goal of the research requirement is to enable the student to develop sophisticated procedural research skills. While good theoretical scholarship is a crucial foundation for good empirical research, it is not sufficient to ensure development of sound, practical research skills. To emphasize this point, students should be aware that failure to use the research requirement to conduct actual research can have an adverse impact on his/her annual evaluation.

First-Year Research Report:

Each student will be required to produce a written report near the end of the first academic year. The adequacy of this final product will be reviewed by the student's advisor and a second reader who is another faculty member in the School of Psychology. Advisors and first year students should meet to decide on the second reader. This report generally has two parts, a paper (in APA style) that describes the research conducted in journal length detail, and a thorough description of the student's role in that project. Although the research will typically be done in close conjunction with his or her advisor, the final report must be completed by the student independent of the research advisor. Normal standards of ethics regarding independence of effort and plagiarism apply to the first-year research project and report. These reports should be limited to no more than 20 double-spaced pages.

Submission Date: The written product must be submitted to the student's advisor and the second reader by April 5. One must have permission from the Graduate Coordinator to submit the report after this date.

Failure to Submit: Failure to submit the written product , as required, constitutes grounds for probation or termination from the program.

Product Evaluation: The research project will be reviewed by the student's research advisor and the second faculty reader. The two readers will evaluate the paper independently and report either a satisfactory or unsatisfactory evaluation to the faculty at the annual graduate student evaluation meeting. A satisfactory evaluation of this product is important because it is a major part of the annual evaluation of the student.