Quantitative Analysis in Criminal Justice

Considerations for your paper 1. Remember you must meet with your professor prior twice before submitting your paper. In fact, I encourage you to meet with me as soon as you are ready to get started. 2. Please remember that this is an important part of your grade. Treat the paper accordingly. 3. Use headings and subheadings liberally throughout the paper. 4. Use a bridge to move from one major area (heading) to another. You can’t just “begin” the text in the new area without making it clear how the new area is related to the previous area. 5. Make judgments where you need to. Just briefly explain the rationale for making the judgment. You should always say what you are doing and why you are doing it. 6. Your final section should draw conclusions about the issue you are analyzing. Remember that in a research/analysis paper, you are doing the entire paper to get to the final conclusions section. Write it as if you appreciate that fact. How do your findings match up with the previous research literature? 7. Once you first cite a study you are reviewing, there is no need to continually cite it as long as the reference is clear. 8. Remember that anything you quote or other specific information that comes from a certain page or part of the article must have page numbers cited. 9. Don’t use quotes! If you must quote, the quote should be important, the best and shortest way of making a point, and NOT a critical issue in your paper (that is the point where you should be doing all of the writing). Actually, quoting wastes space — you can usually say it in fewer words. 10. Please spell-check your paper and give it a final proofreading before you turn it in. 11. Do follow APA guidelines. See the FAQ. 12. Do not include an abstract. 13. For face-to-face students, there is no need to place the paper in a binder or folder. Just staple it together in the top left corner (make sure there is a cover page and that all the pages are in order before you staple it).