essay writing

Technical aspects:

This writing assignment must be typed.  It should be between 2-3 double-spaced pages and absolutely no later than 4 pages. Rather than concentrate on the length of the paper, aim to answer each question in a thorough and complete manner. Your writing must be clear, free of grammatical errors, and misspellings.  Points will be taken off for poor writing.

Requirements:

Carefully read the article entitled: “The effect of drug arrest on subsequent drug offending and social bonding.” This article is posted on Canvas under the heading “Critical Thinking Writing Assignment 1.”

Write a summary of this article. In your summary address each of the following issues:

• Which of the four types of research is this study?
• What are the research questions posed in this research? (The research question may be implied and never explicitly stated.)
• What are the research hypotheses?
• What are the primary independent(s) and dependent variables? (Hint: Focus on the variables in the research hypotheses.)
• For each research hypothesis, what type of relationship is predicted between the independent and dependent variable?
• What unit of analysis is used in this study?
• What did the research find?
• Can the researchers be confident that the relationship(s) between the primary independent(s) and dependent variables are causal?

Helpful Hints:

• Some sections of the article, such as the “Analytic Strategy” and “Results” section, are highly technical. Understanding the information in these sections is not central to this assignment. These sections can be lightly skimmed.
• Do not simply write one sentence responses to the above questions. Your summary of the article must be written into coherent paragraphs that flow together in essay format.  Remember that the quality of written expression is very important to research, and how you say something as well as what you say is important. 

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