w11

Introduction Objectives

CO1: Evaluate a specific issue in the field of Criminal Justice.

CO2: Develop a topic/problem statement (including a proposed solution) based on an issue in Criminal Justice.

Week 1 Lesson: Steps 1-3

The end product of this course is a 15-20 page empirical literature review developed in light of a central issue. Therefore, you will be writing a topic/problem statement that must be approved prior to proceeding with the next steps of writing an annotated bibliography, a rough draft of the literature review, and then the final draft of the literature review. You are not approved to use previous work you have already written as a component of a previous course. The end product for this course is to be original work specifically created for this course.

The focus of weeks 1 and 2 is to choose a topic based on research, and develop a theses statement that communicates a problem within the criminal justice system (e.g., law enforcement, courts, corrections) and proposes a possible solution. This should be an area that not only interests you but one in which there are ample research articles available with which you can cite support.

Therefore, the first step is to not only consider a topic that is sufficiently narrowed and specific but also to search the databases to be sure you can locate peer-reviewed, current (within the past 5 years) articles and research relevant to your topic.