06 November 2016

Academic Research Essay Format Requirements

Dear Student,

Your research essay must be printed on A 4 format paper, Times New Roman 12, spaces between lines 1.5, margins - normal. The total number of words must not exceed 3000. 

The following research essay is only an example and should be considered as a guide, but not as an original essay with its authentic content.

Your research essay should consist of the following parts.


TITLE PAGE (the title page is not numbered):

College

Course title and course code

Title of the research essay, e.g.
THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON TEENAGERS IN THE UAE

Your name

Your ID

Your teacher's title (e.g. Dr., Mr., Ms.) and full name

Date


SUMMARY

About 100 words. The summary must be printed on a separate page.


INTRODUCTION

The Introduction must be printed on a separate page. Introduce the main idea and the basic questions you are going to describe.

Explain your topic clearly and briefly. For example, 

Social media is gaining popularity worldwide, and it has also become popular among teenagers in the UAE. This essay focuses on the positive and the negative effects of social media on teenagers. The following research questions were raised:

1. What are the effects of social media on teenagers in the UAE?
2. What are the reasons for social media popularity among teenagers?
3. What are the positive and the negative effects of social media on teenagers?

To identify and analyze the effects of the social media on teenagers in the UAE, the following research objectives were formulated:

Objective 1: Find out recent statistics about the effects of social media among teenagers worldwide and in the UAE.

Objective 2: Investigate the reasons why social media is so popular among teenagers in the UAE and other countries.

Objective 3: Investigate the positive and the negative effects of social media on teenagers.

It is expected that the results of this research will help students, parents and teachers to understand better the positive and the negative effects of the social media on teenagers and will help educators to monitor and improve teenagers’ daily lifestyle.


CHAPTER 1: Social Media and Young People (Literature Review)

Social media is still too new to have a well-accepted definition, but there is some agreement about its general characteristics. Social media facilitates the pace and quality of interactions via an interwoven web of people, cultures and organizations and institutions (Manovich, 2001; Infante, Rancer & Womack, 1997; Scott 2007). Weiner has defined it as media that enables the transformation of enormous amounts of electronic information. It allows any number of users to access, merge, and sequence information according to their preferences and requirements. It, therefore, can transcend boundaries dictated by a given topic (Weiner, 2006). The pre-history of social media is often traced back to the 1940’s ideas of Norbert Wiener (Bush, 1990) and his concept of “cybernetics” (Pfaffenberger, 1990, p. 1). Subsequent incarnations include Ted Nelson’s 1965 definition of social media as “a merger or hybrid of the library, the newspaper, and television, implemented on a small computer” (Nelson, 1990), and McLuhan’s conceptualization of “hot media” and “cool” media as extensions of humans’ five senses (McLuhan, 1967, p. 26). These definitions have variously emphasized aspects such as human machines interaction, the power of information transfer, and the idea of information as having deeply personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences. In this paper, social media will be defined as “media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques, such as the use of web-based, mobile technologies, to turn communication into interactive dialogue.”

The strength of media system dependency theory has been its explanatory power: it is relatively easy to apply, it provides a basis for describing escalating crises, and it is multidimensional. Given the need to look critically at theory, however, it is worth noting its weaknesses as well (Littlejohn, 1999, pp. 351-354). A notable shortcoming is that media system dependency theory tends to be static, with less power to explain long-term media effects. However, it will serve the current purposes of evaluating links between social media use and the UAE young people.


CHAPTER 2: Usage of Social Media and Reasons of its Popularity

A fundamental question that was considered in the study was the frequency of social media use. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses show that social media has a very strong presence in the lives of these UAE participants. The following comments were typical: “Yes, communication through emails, blogs, and Facebook increased in the UAE – I posted my news and photos on my Facebook” and “I prefer emailing, sharing stories, discussing and spending more time on my PC.” High usage statistics are exhibited in broad categories. When questioned regarding the length of use, more than half of the participants (53%) reported using social media for over two years. 

A significant percentage of newcomers (25%) had begun using social media within the previous year. One way of measuring levels of usage is to ask how confident users are in their ability to use social media Websites. Confident usage suggests substantial familiarity and experience. A substantial majority of participants (57%) felt “confident” in the knowledge they possessed about various social media sites, and nearly a fifth (17%) felt “very confident” in their skills. Attitudes toward social media were also quite positive, suggesting a favorable level of interaction with these sites by residents. When queried about the ability of social media sites to credibly and accurately relay information as compared with traditional media, far more either agreed (46%) or strongly agreed (25%), than disagreed (21%) or strongly disagreed (8%) that such sites were reliable in this manner.

In general, UAE respondents favored the same category-leading sites popular in the West and worldwide (Abdel-Azim, 2010). The social network service of choice was Facebook, which was identified as the service of choice by 86% of respondents (followed by LinkedIn at 56% and MySpace 36%). It is consistent with the 2011 Grafdom study, which found that the UAE had the highest Facebook usage of all Arab countries. Twitter usage (40%) was greater than Grafdom found, but this may be due to the relatively large percentage of young and educated participants in this survey’s sample. Some 336 survey participants were university and college graduates who must frequently conduct online searches and manage search results (Grafdom, 2011). 


CHAPTER 3: The Positive and the Negative Side of the Social Media and its Effect on Teenagers

Social media appealed to most participants as both entertainment and for more practical reasons. Survey respondents mentioned that they liked the games, tests, and gift-giving features of Facebook. Their choice of a particular social networking site was based on the perception that it offered leads that competing sites did not offer. For another popular site, YouTube, they liked the ability to comment upon and rate videos. They liked the convenience offered by social bookmarking sites like Delicious for managing and viewing websites. Flicker was mentioned as a means of finding excellent photos of lesser known photographers.

Regarding more practical considerations, when surveyed about the potential benefits of social media to improve a person’s communication skills, an overwhelming number (97%) agreed. They mentioned its aid in making communication more precise, in expanding vocabulary, and in developing writing skills. Results also describe the usage and benefits of social media for managers who need to communicate internally and externally. When surveyed about which departments would be most likely to use social media to advantage, the largest percentage (29%) went to public relations departments, while the second spot was roughly shared equally by Public government use (15%) and use by management (11%).

The usefulness of the technology for managers correlates with a study that included more than 3,000 human resources and finance/accounting managers from 13 countries in Europe, South America and the Middle East, which found that 66% of UAE managers indicated that they use social networking sites a minimum of two to three times a week (Half, 2010). This was compared to the global average of 49% of respondents who describe themselves as somewhat active users. Only respondents from Brazil (75%), Spain (72%) and Ireland (70%) were more likely to identify themselves as more active users than those from the UAE. More than half of those surveyed in the UAE (58%) said they would check the online profile of a candidate when looking to fill an open position” (Half, 2010).

The potential dangers of social media for UAE teenagers came out in focus group discussion. Participants noted threats to teenagers and even children under ten years of age who are using Blackberries and chatting with older adults who are complete strangers. They mentioned their use of inappropriate pictures. The use of photo-sharing sites among survey participants was surprisingly small (24% used Flicker, 12% used Photobucket). This might be tied to a special sensitivity of the UAE population to issues of privacy.


CONCLUSION

The conclusion must be printed on a separate page. In the Conclusion section, you should describe briefly the main ideas and demonstrate how you proved your attitude. In addition, you can write, e.g., “The following conclusions were made: …” and then mention them, like “First, …, Second, … Third, …. Finally…”

Finish your essay with an interesting or surprising idea, suggestion, recommendation or comment. Here is an example of Conclusion:

The most popular types of social media in the UAE are generally the same as those used in other regions of the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond. These include social networks (Facebook), video sharing sites (YouTube), and micro-blogging sites (Twitter), among others.

UAE respondents were both skilled in the use of a variety of social media, and well aware of its potential ethical and practical limitations. It has served as a vital source and vehicle for news, information, business development, opinion sharing, cultural production, and entertainment. But residents were also well aware of its potential as a platform for making business and government practices more transparent, and its usefulness as a mobilizing platform for political change.

Further research is needed to determine the larger impact of social media, particularly on UAE youth and women. Also, further research should be conducted to determine a more comprehensive picture of its benefits, liabilities, and potential in an area that maintains one of the world’s highest net migration rates.

In the UAE, and perhaps the Gulf region at large, social media has established its place as an integral and interdependent actor in society.


REFERENCES [must be printed on a separate page, in alphabetical order, in APA style]

Abdel-Azim, A. (2010). Online privacy concerns among social networks’ users, Cross-cultural Communication, 6, 74-89.

Grafdom. (2011). UAE social media brands, 2011 report. Retrieved June 20, 2011 from http:// www.grafdom.com/100-uae-social-media-brands-2011/

Half, R. (2010). UAE professionals as active social media users. Retrieved June 26, 2011 from http://www.roberthalf.ae/portal/site/rh-ae/menuitem.b0a52206b89cee97e7dfed10c3809fa0/? vgnextoid=41aaba91ed33b210VgnVCM1000003c08f90aRCRD&vgnextchannel=bdc4b2ca9 2889110VgnVCM1000003041fd0aRCRD 

Littlejohn, S. W. (1999). Theories of human communication (6th ed.). Albuquerque, NM: Wadsworth Publishing.

Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

McLuhan, H. M., Fiore, Q., & Agel, J. (1967). The medium is the message: An inventory of effects. New York: Random House.

Nelson, T. H. (1990). Literary Machines. Sausalito, CA: Mindful, pp. 870-883. 

Pfaffenberger, B. (1990). Democratizing information: Online databases and the rise of end-user searching. Boston: G. K. Hall.

Weiner A. (2006). Hype cycle for the media industry, 2006. Stamford, CN: Gartner Inc.


ACADEMIC HONESTY STATEMENT (this is the last page of the essay, printed on a separate page; it must be signed)

I understand that the penalty for cheating is permanent dismissal from the College.

Student name: _______________________

Student signature: ____________________

Date: ____________________




Read more:

Research Paper Sample

How to Start Writing an Academic Essay

APA for Academic Writing



USEFUL TIPS for Windows Users

How NOT to put a page number on the first page of a Word document:

Go through the following step-by-step process (keep on clicking):
Open Word document
HOME
Page Layout
Page Setup
Page Setup Dialog Box (it is a hardly visible "arrow" near/just below Hyphenation)
Layout
Headers and Footers: Different first page
OK

Having gone through the above process successfully, go on clicking:
Insert
Page Number
Bottom of Page Plain Number 2
Double-click on a page (any page) of your Word document
Congratulations! Now you have NO NUMBER on the front page.
You must understand: this is Microsoft Word Document secret J




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