TOPIC: Research Topic: Identify and Defend

The product of a doctoral degree is a completed and defended dissertation. To begin developing the dissertation, scholars go to the literature, synthesize the information found there, and build arguments that support the need for a study. The literature, then, is the foundational building block of the dissertation. In this assignment, you will analyze and synthesize the contents of several empirical articles to arrive at and defend a potential topic for your dissertation. Please note that this potential topic will be refined through the iterative dissertation development process as additional scholarly literature is identified, read, and synthesized and the study honed to a manageable scope.

General Requirements:
Use the following information to ensure successful completion of the assignment:

· Doctoral learners are required to use APA style for their writing assignments. 

· Refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for specific guidelines related to doctoral-level writing. The manual contains essential information on manuscript structure and content, clear and concise writing, and academic grammar and usage. 

· This assignment requires that at least three additional scholarly research sources related to this topic, and at least two in-text citation from each source be included. 

· You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

Directions:
Locate three peer reviewed, empirical articles related to the potential broad topic area of your dissertation. 

Dissertation Topic: Factor Responsible for Poor Utilization of Mental Health Services in Texas

Remember, your topic area must align with your degree program. Select only articles that have been published within the last 2-3 years and that could logically be included in the literature review of your dissertation.

Write a brief description of the articles (250-300 words total) that includes the following information for each article:

1. A statement of what the authors studied.

2. A statement that generally describes the study participants.

3. A description of the study findings.

4. A statement of one limitation or future study idea identified in the article.

Write an argument (250-500 words) that presents a potential study topic for your dissertation and defends the need for the potential study. The topic must emerge from a synthesis of the limitations or future study ideas you identified above, and the argument must describe how the potential study might address the synthesized limitations or future study ideas.

RESOURCES

Read Chapters 1 and 2 in:

Roberts, C. M. (2010). The dissertation journey: A practical and comprehensive guide to planning,

writing, and defending your dissertation (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.