Write a seven page Library Research Paper on a public personnel management topic.

Research Paper Guidelines

As you progress through the course, keep in mind that you will be preparing a five page research paper (title page and references not included) on a selected Public Personnel Management topic.

Basic guidelines:

• Write the paper in your own words and use the American Psychological Association (APA) Style format. An APA template is provided for your convenience in the “Instructor and Course Materials” content area.
• Use 12-point font and 1 inch margins throughout the paper.
• Include an APA title page (title, your name, course and section number, and date).
• Body of the paper should be double-spaced and should include headers (topic) and footers (page number).
• When using acronyms, define the term the first time and place the acronym in parenthesis; after that, the acronym can be used. For example, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
• Use the word “that” when introducing restrictive clauses (clauses that are necessary to the sentence). Use “which” should be used with commas to set off unrestrictive (unnecessary) clauses.
• When citing references and direct quotes, use the (APA) format, Strict compliance). (Keep paraphrasing and use of direct quotes to a minimum… less than 10% of the paper.)
• Complete information on every reference used should be listed at the end of the paper on a page titled References following the APA format. Refer APA Publication Manual and/or the SPC Library Online “Citation Help” link for APA guidelines and examples as well as the APA Website: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/index.aspx

The paper itself:

• Start the paper with an introduction, that includes a brief introduction to the topic and historical perspective.
• Include research that has been done on the topic, personal experiences (but avoid writing in the first person perspective, i.e. “I” and “we,” information from subject matter experts, etc.
• End the paper with your conclusions.
• For additional academic writing guidelines see the document named “General Writing Guidelines” located in the “Instructor and Course Requirements content area.

Papers will be evaluated based on the Writing Assignment Rubric.

Citations and common student writing errors:

• All references in the paper should be identified by the author s last name and year of publication; when named within the text use: Mondy (2008); when the author is not named within the text use: (“First few words in the title of the work”, 2008).
• When citing a direct quote you need to include the page number from print media sources or paragraph numbers from Web page sources, i.e. According to Mondy (2008), operative employees … (p. 3) or (Mondy, 2008, p. 3) immediately followin the quote.
• When a direct quote is 40 words or more the quote needs to be presented in a block quote format. When using block quotes indent the whole quote by .5 for left and right margin and remove quotation marks.
• If a publication has no date use n.d. Mondy (n.d.)… or (Mondy, n.d).
• If citing a personal interview include the initials and last name of the person interviewed and date that the interview was conducted. Interviews are only cited in the text, i.e. A. J. Doe (personal communication, April 1, 2000) stated… or at the end of the sentence (A. J. Doe, personal communication, April 1, 2000).
• When citing Web pages most commonly you should cite the title of the page or article if there is no author: the following link will provide you the more specific information on how properly cite and reference a Web page where there is no author. Further, if there is no date of use (n.d.) in the in text citation as well as in the reference. http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/web-page-no-author.aspx
• A URL or references to an academic database is not necessary if a print media source is accessed electronically. Cite and reference as a print media source.
• For every reference listed their needs to be one or more in text citations and for every in text citation there needs to be a reference listed.

POSSIBLE TOPICS

The following list contains possible topics for student research projects. Some of the topics are very broad in nature and would have to be further defined; however, the list provides a comprehensive overview of the many different areas that Public Personnel Management has an impact on.

Absenteeism	Family Medical Leave Act	Privatization
Affirmative Action	Flex Time	Privacy Concerns
Age Discrimination	Flexible Benefits	Public Records
Alcoholism & Work	Generational	Public Sector vs Private
ADA	Glass Ceiling	Recruitment
Apprentice Programs	Grievances	Reduced Work Weeks
Assessment Centers	Health Care	Religious Discrimination
Arbitration	HMO s	Retention Strategies
At-Will Employment	HRIS (Information Systems)	Sabbatical Leaves
Behavior Anchored Ratings	Identity Theft	Safety Concerns
Career Planning	Incentives	Selection Methods
Changing Workforce	Internet	Seniority Systems
Civil Service Systems	Interviewing	Sexual Harassment
Collective Bargaining	Job Enrichment	Smoking
Recruitment	Job Evaluation	Social Security
Compensation	Job Sharing	Stress – Burnout
Cut-back management	Labor Relations	Succession Planning
Day Care	Legal Issues	Suggestion Systems
Demographics-Labor Force	Management Development	Telecommuting
Discipline	Medical Examinations	Terminating Employees
Diversity	Mentoring	Testing
Downsizing	Modified Retirement	Time-Off Policies
Drop Programs	Moonlighting	Training
Drugs – Drug Policies	Negligent Hiring/Retention	Turnover
Early Retirement	On-line Applications	Unemployment Comp
Elder Care	OSHA	Uniform Guidelines
Employee Assistance (EAP)	Outplacement	Unions
Employee Referral Programs	Outsourcing	Wage Compression
Employee Relations	Paid Time Off	Wellness programs
Equal Pay	Peer Evaluations	Work – Life Balance
Ethics	Performance Appraisals	Workers Compensation
Executive Compensation	Personality Tests	Workplace Violence
Exit Interviews	Physical Fitness	Social Networking