Research Paper: Topic Proposal and Outline 

Instructions

Each Research Paper, Topic Proposal, and Outline Assignment must include the following 3 items:

1. A brief (at least 3–4 bullets with 1–2 sentences per bullet) overview of the research topics of your paper – you will need to address these in the Research Paper. This will be titled “Research Objectives”.

2. A list of at least 3 questions (in a numbered list) you intend your research to ask and hopefully answer. These must be questions that will require you to draw conclusions from your research. These must not be questions to answer your research objectives. This section will be titled “Questions.”

3. At least 3 initial research sources, 1 of which is an academic journal or other peer-reviewed source. These should match APA formatting of sources.

Example formats for Topic Outlines (an example, not a template):

Research Objectives

· Briefly describe the overall concept of system integration.

· Discuss the traditional approach of big-bang integration, including the major advantages and disadvantages of this approach.

· Discuss the traditional approaches of top-down and bottom-up integration and their major advantages and disadvantages.

· Discuss the traditional approach of mixed integration, combining the desirable advantages from the top-down and bottom-up integration approaches.

Questions

1. Why is system integration an important step in the software development process?

2. Why has big-bang integration not survived as a useful testing method?

3. Why have top-down and bottom-up integration not been replaced by more modern methods?

4. Why would you use mixed integration all the time rather than sometimes using top-down and bottom-up integration exclusively?

References

1. Herath, T., & Rao, H. (2012). Encouraging information security behaviors in the best organizations: Role of penalties, pressures, and potential effectiveness. Descision Support Systems, 47(2), 154-165.

2. Testing Computer Software, 2nd Edition, by Cem Kaner

3. Anderson, R. (2008). Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Wiley.