Sit 1

After carefully reading and studying the complete situational report, contemplate which of the three roles/tracks you wish to assume for your term project.

In this module, you have reviewed a great example of an issues paper. Now you are to construct one based upon at least six issues that you have identified from the situational report. You will be attacking these issues from the position of an attorney, a police administrator, or a criminal investigator, so choose issues wherein your chosen discipline will be required. For instance, the criminal investigator would not choose to deal with the legality of an alleged speed trap or intersection cameras. Also, in your issues paper, address the type of research (library, Lexus-Nexus, other online sources, textbooks, etc.) you plan to undertake to inform your positions.

Your job is to make sure that your readers see EACH of your minimum of six issues very clearly and they do NOT have to fish or look for each issue. Identify one, why is it an issue? Explain? Did you identify it clearly? How did you make it clear so your readers have no problems knowing it’s an issue? Did you use subtitle? Paragraph? See PART TWO SAMPLE ATTACHMENT.

Be sure to discuss EACH pertinent issue you select in a separate paragraph … or number each or use a subtitle for each issue BUT YOU MUST NOT LET YOUR READERS GET CONFUSED BY NOT KNOWING WHERE ONE ISSUE STARTS AND WHERE IT ENDS …. Please see the samples. Discuss clearly why each issue you select is an issue. Then after you do this for one issue, you then select another issue and be sure to identify (at least six).

You must cite at least one source in this issues identification assignment (must cite at least one source in EACH assignment in this class)…. Why is any particular circumstance an issue or a problem? What makes that issue a problem? Has it been held to be a problem/concern in the literature or in a court case? Does it sound to you to be an issue the government needs to respond to? Is quota ticket an issue? Why? To what an extent? ….

All you are doing NOW is selecting the issues and why they are issues. You are not necessarily solving the issues at this time.

Of course, please do not forget to give your work a TITLE.

As stated in several of our major requirements, please note that you must support your work at all times even when the instructions do not explicitly state so. If you fail or neglect to support your work (cite your sources), some of your readers may think that you are speculating or guessing. Please note carefully:

You do not want your readers to think that you are speculating or guessing. When you identify an issue, why is it an issue? Have any of the six or so issues you identified been dealt with in the literature? Can you cite any case law, any studies? Also, can you relate it to any vivid or contemporary event in the real world? Any prior studies dealing with police traffic ticket or any of the actions of the other two major actors? Citing your sources increases the integrity of your work. Among other things, it shows you consulted other research and then factored in your own views … You cannot afford to "hide" or sandwich each issue ... you need to make each issue visible. You can use a subtitle or subheading for each issue. It is always a great idea to use subheadings or subtitles to organize your work and help make your points more visible. Some people just want to scan your subheadings only and move forward and you must take such readers into account .... Also, you need to say why you consider such an issue ... must support your work!!!!!

Please remember that there is always a place in your work where you appraise the work, where you offer your own views or opinion of the work, where you evaluate, synthesize, and often compare and reconcile the work with other works on the subject ... etc. This is where you cite your sources. FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF ANY DOUBTS, YOU MUST SUPPORT YOUR WORK AT ALL TIMES EVEN WHEN THE QUESTION ASKS FOR YOUR VIEWS because your views are expected to be reasonable and in line with the literature on the subject or justified by other means or explanations … This is the accepted standard at college level all over the world especially in social sciences like criminal justice …

Please remember that SLU expects us to conduct some research beyond what we already know on the subject. If this is correct, then all you need to do is cite the research conducted. Please do NOT post an unsupported work - except response discussion posts. Please do not post unsupported works because I do not want you to lose points. If you do not support your work, your readers may think that you are speculating or even guessing or ... some may even think about that word ... academic dishonesty. Any unsupported work has no place at college level - especially in social sciences including criminal justice.

Again, for the avoidance of any doubts, please note that ALL assignments must be supported at all times even when this is not explicitly stated. As you know, you can always borrow ideas or information from any source but must (1) summarize in your own words, AND (2) cite your sources. SLU requires us to conduct a little research beyond what we already know. If this is so, then all you need to do is cite your research – that is, the literature you consulted. Please cite at least one source or cite more to enhance the integrity of your work. You want to show your instructor that your work consists of your views but also is not baseless as your work has been reconciled with the literature.

Please note that you are advised to use A SUBHEADING FOR EACH ISSUE along the lines posted on the announcement page or the Course Material Folder. Please use subheadings as appropriate to help organize your thoughts and also to help make your work more reader-friendly. For the avoidance of any doubts, YOU CANNOT DO JUSTICE IN YOUR MAIN RESPONSE IN JUST one PARAGRAPH – YOU MUST USE PARAGRAPHS TO ORGANIZE YOUR POINTS IN YOUR MAIN POST!