Formative Paper: Data Analysis Paper

The  KIDS COUNT online data center is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the well-being of children in the United States. Data can be accessed by location or by topics such as demographics, economic well-being, education, family and community, health and safety, and risky behaviors. 
For this assignment you must:

• Go to the KIDS COUNT data center (http://datacenter.kidscount.org/)
• Choose a data topic
  • Demographics
  • Economic Well-being
  • Education
  • Family & Community
  • Health
  • Safety & Risky Behaviors
• Choose your location (Choose a minimum of 2 by state, territory or city)
  • By State
  • By territory
  • By city
• Choose your national indicators
• Choose a minimum of four years of data
• Graph the data three ways (Include the two locations (state, territory or city in one graph)
  • Line
  • Pie
  • Bar

Writing the Formative Paper

1. Be a minimum of three to four pages (Excluding the title and reference pages and charts and graphs) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
2. Include a minimum of three scholarly references published within the past three years, excluding your textbook.
3. Include a title page with the following:
   • Title of paper
   • Student’s name
   • Course name and number
   • Instructor’s name
   • Date submitted
4. Begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
5. Address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
6. Include a description of the data found, and the data source. (Summarize the data found, and how it was collected and eventually made available to the data center.)
7. Include your three graphs and analyze which graph is most appropriate for the data and state why.
8. Describe any trends found in the data.
9. Include a minimum of three reasons why the data is similar or different from the two locations or over time.
10. Summarize three articles from a scholarly source (excluding your textbook) that discuss the data you selected.
11. Include a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
12. Include all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
13. Include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
14. Full page graphs are not counted as part of the three to four page minimum.