EDCO 747 Reading Summary
Assignment Guide
How to write and format the Module 1 Reading Summary for Creswell & Poth Chapters 1–2 and APA Chapter 4 — covering summary structure, Personal Connections, APA Professional formatting, and what markers actually look for.
📚 Need expert help completing your EDCO 747 Reading Summary? Our academic writers are ready.
Get Expert Help →What the EDCO 747 Reading Summary Assignment Actually Requires
The EDCO 747 Module 1 Reading Summary requires three separate chapter summaries — Creswell & Poth Chapters 1 and 2, and APA Chapter 4 — compiled into a single Word document using the provided Reading Summary Template, formatted to APA Professional standard throughout, with in-text citations and a complete reference page. Each summary must also include a Personal Connections section as scored in the rubric.
Before you touch a keyboard, it helps to know exactly what this assignment is testing. At face value, it looks like a simple summary task. It is not. The Reading Summary is designed to do three things simultaneously: confirm that you have actually read and understood the material; assess your ability to write concisely and accurately in APA Professional format; and check that you can make genuine scholarly connections between what you read and your own academic or professional experience. That last part — Personal Connections — is where most students lose marks.
The assignment also sits inside a Turnitin submission workflow. That means two things matter equally: the quality of your content and the originality of your phrasing. You cannot lift sentences directly from the chapters and simply rearrange them. Every summary needs to be written in your own words, with in-text citations showing where the ideas came from.
Three Summaries. One Document. One Submission.
Module 1 Reading Summary — EDCO 747
Why This Assignment Comes First in EDCO 747
This is a skills-check assignment, not just a content test. Liberty’s EDCO 747 is a doctoral-level qualitative research methods course. The Reading Summary is the first submission because the programme needs to assess two baseline competencies before you go any further: your grasp of qualitative research concepts and your APA writing mechanics. Weak APA formatting in this assignment is a signal to your professor — and to you — that foundational skills need work before you tackle your dissertation research design. Take it seriously.
Breaking Down the Reading Summary Template
The assignment provides an explicit template — which means the document structure is not up for interpretation. Follow it exactly. Deviating from the template structure (reordering sections, omitting the title page, adding sections not in the template) will cost you presentation marks that are entirely avoidable.
EDCO 747 Reading Summary — Required Document Structure
All sections required in this exact order · Compiled into one Word document
How to Approach the Creswell & Poth Chapter 1 Summary
Chapter 1 of Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design by Creswell and Poth is an orientation chapter. It answers the foundational question: what is qualitative research, and when does it make sense to use it? Your summary needs to capture that orientation accurately without becoming an annotated table of contents.
What Qualitative Research Is — and Is Not
Creswell and Poth open by situating qualitative research within the broader landscape of research methodology. Your summary should explain how qualitative inquiry is defined by its focus on meaning, context, and the lived experience of participants — in contrast to quantitative approaches that prioritise measurement and statistical generalisation. The text emphasises that qualitative research begins with a question or problem where exploration is needed — where the researcher does not yet know what variables to measure because the territory is not well mapped.
A strong summary identifies the distinguishing characteristics Creswell and Poth use: natural setting, the researcher as key instrument, multiple methods of data collection, inductive and deductive data analysis, participants’ meanings, emergent design, and a reflexive lens on the researcher’s own role. Do not just list these — explain, briefly, what they mean collectively.
Key page range: Introduction + Characteristics of Qualitative Research sectionWhen to Use Qualitative Research — The Decision Logic
One of the most practically important parts of Chapter 1 for doctoral students is the discussion of when qualitative inquiry is the right methodological choice. Creswell and Poth offer clear decision criteria: when the research question calls for exploration; when context and setting matter to understanding; when existing theory needs to be challenged, built from the ground up, or understood from participants’ own perspectives; and when quantitative measures fail to capture the complexity of the phenomenon. Your summary should address this decision logic — because it signals to your professor that you understand methodology as a choice, not a default.
Key page range: “When to Use Qualitative Research” sectionThe Five Traditions of Qualitative Inquiry
Chapter 1 introduces the five qualitative traditions that organise the rest of the book: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Your summary does not need to explain each in depth — that comes in later chapters — but should note that Creswell and Poth distinguish between traditions at the level of focus, data collection method, data analysis approach, and written report form. Briefly naming all five with their distinguishing characteristic (e.g., phenomenology focuses on the lived experience of a phenomenon; grounded theory aims to develop theory grounded in data) shows accurate reading. Creswell and Poth use a comparative chart to illustrate differences — a useful reference point for your summary.
Key page range: “Five Different Qualitative Approaches” comparison tableHow to Avoid the Most Common Chapter 1 Summary Error
The most common mistake students make with this summary is writing a list of bullet points lifted straight from the chapter — essentially reproducing the chapter’s own organisational structure. Turnitin will flag this. More importantly, it does not demonstrate understanding. Instead, write your summary as flowing prose. Start with what the chapter’s overall argument is, then explain the key concepts in your own words, then close with one or two of the most significant ideas Creswell and Poth emphasise. Cite the page numbers for specific claims, but the prose itself should be yours.
How to Approach the Creswell & Poth Chapter 2 Summary
Chapter 2 is the hardest of the three summaries to write well. It covers philosophical assumptions and interpretive frameworks — the epistemological and ontological foundations that shape how qualitative researchers think about knowledge, reality, and the researcher’s role. This is abstract territory. Students who struggle with it often either skip it (“too philosophical for a summary”) or over-summarise in ways that lose accuracy. Neither approach serves you.
The Four Philosophical Assumptions
Creswell and Poth identify four philosophical assumptions that every qualitative researcher brings to their work, consciously or not: ontological (what is the nature of reality?), epistemological (what is the relationship between the researcher and what is being researched?), axiological (what is the role of values in research?), and methodological (what is the process of research?). Your summary should explain what each assumption means and — critically — how these assumptions shape qualitative inquiry differently from positivist, quantitative approaches. For example, a qualitative researcher typically holds a constructivist ontology: multiple realities exist, shaped by individuals’ experiences and perspectives, rather than a single objective reality to be measured. That is a philosophical stance with direct methodological consequences — and your summary should make that connection clear.
Key page range: “Philosophical Assumptions” section with the four-assumption frameworkInterpretive Frameworks
The second major component of Chapter 2 is Creswell and Poth’s discussion of interpretive frameworks — the broader theoretical lenses through which qualitative researchers analyse and interpret their data. These include post-positivism, social constructivism, transformative frameworks, postmodern perspectives, pragmatism, feminist theories, critical race theory, queer theory, disability theory, and others. Your summary does not need to cover all of them. Cover the most foundational (social constructivism and post-positivism as the most commonly encountered in doctoral counselling research) and then note that additional frameworks exist depending on the research question and population being studied. What matters is that your summary captures the key point: interpretive frameworks are not ornamental — they shape what questions a researcher asks, what counts as valid data, and how findings are represented.
Key page range: “Interpretive Frameworks” section — constructivism and transformative frameworks especiallyQualitative researchers need to think reflectively about their role in the research, acknowledging that the background they bring to a study shapes what they see and how they interpret it.
— Creswell & Poth, Qualitative Inquiry and Research DesignThat reflexivity point is worth including in your Chapter 2 summary. Creswell and Poth emphasise that philosophical self-awareness is not just academic posturing — it is a methodological requirement. A researcher who does not know their own philosophical assumptions cannot design a study that is coherent with those assumptions. For doctoral students beginning their dissertation journey, this chapter is asking: what kind of knower are you?
How to Approach the APA Publication Manual Chapter 4 Summary
APA Chapter 4 covers writing style and grammar. It is the most practically applicable of the three chapters because it directly governs how you write every assignment in EDCO 747 — including this very summary. That creates a useful meta-principle: the quality of your APA Chapter 4 summary is itself evidence of whether you understood it.
Clarity, Precision, and Concision
The first major cluster of Chapter 4 addresses the fundamental principles of scholarly writing style. APA emphasises that good academic writing is clear and precise — not verbose or padded. Your summary should explain the distinction between necessary technical language (jargon that has a precise scholarly meaning and cannot be replaced without losing accuracy) and unnecessary jargon (obscure phrasing used to sound academic). APA Chapter 4 is unambiguous: prefer shorter sentences, prefer active voice, prefer the clearest word available. Those principles apply directly to the summary you are writing. If your Chapter 4 summary is full of passive constructions and meandering sentences, you have demonstrated that you read it but did not internalise it.
Key pages: Sections 4.01 (continuity and flow), 4.05 (conciseness and clarity), 4.06 (wordiness)Bias-Free Language
One of the most substantive sections in APA Chapter 4 — and the one most commonly underrepresented in student summaries — is the bias-free language guidance. APA 7th edition provides detailed guidance on how to write about people without reducing them to their characteristics: disability, age, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. The core principle is person-first language where appropriate (a person with diabetes rather than a diabetic) and identity-first language where a community has expressed a preference for it (autistic person rather than person with autism, in many community contexts). Your summary should explain both the principle and the reason for it — that language shapes perception, and academic writing has an ethical responsibility to represent people accurately and respectfully. For counselling doctoral students, this section is directly applicable to research and practice.
Key pages: Section 4.18 (general guidelines), 4.19–4.22 (specific guidelines by category)Grammar and Mechanics of Style
The final section of Chapter 4 addresses grammar conventions specific to APA writing: verb tense (past tense for reporting research findings; present tense for discussing implications and ongoing conditions), active versus passive voice, first-person usage (APA 7th edition explicitly permits “I” and “we” — a change from earlier editions), subject-verb agreement, pronoun usage including singular “they,” hyphenation, and the handling of numbers, statistics, and abbreviations. Your summary does not need to catalogue every rule — it should capture the most significant conventions and note that Chapter 4 functions as a practical reference to return to throughout the programme whenever a grammar or style question arises. The APA Publication Manual is not a one-time read; it is a working reference document.
Key pages: 4.38 (active voice), 4.46–4.49 (pronouns), 4.31–4.32 (verb tense)The Meta-Trap of the APA Chapter 4 Summary
Students routinely turn in APA Chapter 4 summaries that violate the very principles they summarise. The most common violations: passive voice throughout the summary, unnecessarily long and convoluted sentences, missing or incorrect in-text citations for the APA Manual itself, and vague generalisations (“APA says to write clearly”) without specifics. Write the APA Chapter 4 summary as if your professor will use it as a checklist — because they essentially will.
Writing the Personal Connections Section — What It Is and How to Do It
The Personal Connections section is non-negotiable — the rubric explicitly scores it, and most students write it poorly. Here is the issue: students either write something so generic it is meaningless (“I found this chapter very interesting and it relates to my future research”) or something so personal it reads like a journal entry rather than scholarly reflection. Neither is correct.
A strong Personal Connections section does one thing: it identifies a specific idea or concept from the chapter and connects it to something concrete in your own academic background, professional experience, counselling practice, research interests, or prior learning. The connection has to be specific on both sides — specific chapter content, specific personal experience or interest. It should read like a scholar reflecting on how new reading reshapes or confirms their existing thinking, not a student telling the professor they did the reading.
The strong example is specific on both ends — it names the exact concept (researcher as instrument, reflexivity) and the exact personal connection (counselling experience, parallel between therapeutic and research reflexivity). It also adds an analytical edge: the connection is not just affirming but examining — noting both the potential asset and the potential bias. That analytical edge is what separates a high-scoring Personal Connections section from a passing one.
Two Questions to Ask Before Writing Personal Connections
- What one idea from this chapter most directly challenges, confirms, or reshapes something I already believe or have experienced? Start there. Genuine intellectual friction produces the most compelling Personal Connections sections.
- Can I make the connection specific enough that my professor could not have written this paragraph about someone else? If the answer is no — if the paragraph could apply to any doctoral student in any programme — rewrite it until it is anchored in something specific to you.
APA Professional Formatting: What “Professional Standard” Means in Practice
The assignment specifies “APA Professional standard” — not Student format. This distinction matters because APA 7th edition introduced two different title page formats, and using the wrong one will cost you points on a rubric that explicitly assesses APA formatting.
APA Professional vs. Student Format — Key Differences
| Element | Professional Format (Use This) | Student Format (Do Not Use) |
|---|---|---|
| Running Head | Abbreviated title in ALL CAPS in the page header on every page | No running head required |
| Author Note | Optional; appears below affiliations on title page | Not typically used |
| Affiliation | Department and institution | Department, institution, course number, instructor name, assignment due date |
| Page Numbers | Top right of every page including title page | Same |
| Margins | 1 inch on all sides | Same |
| Font | 12-pt Times New Roman (or equivalent serif); double-spaced | Same |
| Headings | Level 1: Centred, Bold, Title Case — matches the template headings | Same |
The Running Head Rule Most Students Get Wrong
In APA 7th edition Professional format, the running head appears in the header of every page as a shortened version of your title in ALL CAPS — for example, EDCO 747 READING SUMMARY. The words “Running head:” that appeared in APA 6th edition are no longer used. Many students still write “Running head: TITLE” which is incorrect for the 7th edition. On the title page, the running head appears exactly as it does on all other pages — no label, just the abbreviated title in caps, left-aligned in the header with page number right-aligned.
In-Text Citations and Reference Page for the EDCO 747 Reading Summary
This assignment will typically cite two primary sources: Creswell and Poth’s text and the APA Publication Manual. Both have specific citation formats that students frequently get wrong.
▸ Paraphrase (most of your citations will be this):
(Creswell & Poth, 2018)
▸ With page number (for specific claims or close paraphrase):
(Creswell & Poth, 2018, p. 45)
▸ Direct quote (only use sparingly — paraphrase is preferred):
“Qualitative research begins with assumptions” (Creswell & Poth, 2018, p. 17).
▸ Reference list entry:
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
▸ First citation (spell out full name, introduce abbreviation):
(American Psychological Association [APA], 2020)
▸ Subsequent citations:
(APA, 2020, p. 115) or (APA, 2020, Section 4.05)
▸ Reference list entry:
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
▸ Note: The APA Manual cites itself. That is not circular logic — it is appropriate attribution.
Reference Page Formatting Checklist
- “References” heading: centred, bold, on a new page — not “Reference Page” or “Bibliography”
- All entries in alphabetical order by first author’s last name
- Hanging indent on all entries (first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches)
- Double-spaced throughout — no extra spaces between entries
- Book titles in italics; journal article titles in plain text; journal names in italics
- DOI included where available; URL included for online sources without DOI
- Only sources actually cited in the text appear in the reference list
Common EDCO 747 Reading Summary Mistakes — and How to Fix Them
| ❌ Mistake | Why It Matters | ✓ Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Using Student title page format instead of Professional | Assignment specifies “APA Professional standard” — wrong format signals the instructions were not read carefully | Use the Professional title page: running head in header, abbreviated title in ALL CAPS, name and affiliation block, no course number on the page itself |
| Omitting or genericising the Personal Connections section | The rubric explicitly scores this — vague connections lose points that should be easy to earn | Name a specific concept from the chapter, connect it to a specific personal experience or research interest, add analytical reflection on the connection |
| Writing summaries that reproduce the chapter’s structure point-by-point | Turnitin flags structural similarity; markers see it as low-level recall rather than understanding | Write prose paragraphs organised by your own analytical logic — what are the chapter’s two or three most significant arguments? Start there. |
| Not citing specific claims within the summaries | Every concept drawn from the reading needs an in-text citation — summaries are not citation-free zones | Add (Creswell & Poth, 2018, p. X) or (APA, 2020, Section X) after each specific idea, claim, or concept from the reading |
| APA Chapter 4 summary written in passive voice throughout | Passive voice is one of the specific style issues Chapter 4 addresses — using it in that very summary is a self-contradiction | Revise to active voice: “APA recommends active voice” not “Active voice is recommended by APA” |
| Reference page formatting errors: no hanging indent, wrong heading, extra spacing | APA formatting is directly assessed in the rubric; formatting errors signal basic APA skills need development | Format reference entries manually or use Word’s hanging indent (Paragraph > Special > Hanging, 0.5″). Do not trust citation generators without checking output. |
| Writing “Running head: TITLE” in the header | APA 6th edition label — APA 7th edition Professional format does not use the “Running head:” prefix | Header on all pages: abbreviated title in ALL CAPS, left-aligned. Page number right-aligned. No “Running head:” label anywhere. |
| Submitting all three summaries as separate files instead of one document | The template explicitly says “one Word document” — separate files show the instructions were not followed | Compile all summaries into one Word file: title page, Ch. 1 summary, Ch. 2 summary, APA Ch. 4 summary, reference page — in that order |
Step-by-Step Completion Process
Read, Annotate, and Highlight Each Chapter First
Do the reading before you write anything. Highlight or annotate as you go — marking the key arguments, definitions, frameworks, and any passages that connect to your own experience. The annotation step is what makes the Personal Connections section genuine rather than forced.
Draft Each Summary in Your Own Words Without Looking at the Chapter
Close the book and write what you remember and understood. This technique — sometimes called “closed-note drafting” — forces genuine comprehension rather than transcription. You will miss some details, which you can add back in the revision pass.
Go Back to the Chapter to Verify Accuracy and Add Citations
Open the chapter and check your draft against the text. Add specific page numbers to your citations for any claim that maps directly to a passage. Correct any inaccuracies. Add any significant concept you missed.
Write and Refine the Personal Connections Section
Write Personal Connections after you have completed the summary — not before. The best connections emerge from engagement with the material, not from trying to manufacture relevance before you know what the chapter actually says.
Compile Into One Document, Format to APA Professional, Proofread Aloud
Assemble the document in template order. Set up the running head, title page, headings, reference page, and hanging indents. Then read the entire document aloud — this catches sentence-level errors that silent reading misses. Submit.
FAQs: What EDCO 747 Students Ask About the Reading Summary
The Bigger Picture: Why This Assignment Sets the Tone for Everything That Follows
The EDCO 747 Reading Summary is deceptively straightforward. Three chapters, a template, a reference page. But it is the first time your programme sees your writing at doctoral level. How you handle the summary prose, how accurately you represent complex material in your own words, how specifically you make Personal Connections — all of it signals what kind of scholar you are and what kind of researcher you are becoming.
The qualitative research concepts in Creswell and Poth Chapters 1 and 2 are not just Module 1 reading. They are the philosophical and methodological foundation your dissertation will sit on. Understanding them clearly now — well enough to summarise them accurately without the book in front of you — means they will be available to you when you need them in your proposal defence, your IRB application, and your methodology chapter. That is worth the effort.
And APA Chapter 4? Read it slowly. The writing principles it describes are not bureaucratic style rules. They are the technical vocabulary of scholarly precision — the same precision that separates publishable research writing from competent student work. Every principle in that chapter is learnable. Most of them become habit within a semester if you apply them consistently from day one.
For further academic support — including qualitative research paper help, literature review writing, dissertation assistance, and APA formatting services — the team at Smart Academic Writing is ready to support your doctoral journey from Module 1 through to your final defence.