Criminal Justice, Research Paper: Thesis Assignment

RESEARCH PAPER: THESIS ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS

OVERVIEW

As a criminal justice professional, you must learn how to write an academic research paper. In

this class, you will write an academic research paper. We will break down the steps of academic

research in this class by working on the Research Paper Assignment in various stages. The

Research Paper Assignment will culminate in the Research Paper: Final Assignment.

The first step of the Research Paper Assignment is for you to write the Research Paper:

Thesis Assignment. For the Research Paper: Thesis Assignment, start by selecting a criminal

justice topic of your choosing. This will be the same topic that you will use throughout the

course. Select a criminal justice topic that is of interest to you and that you have not previously

written about or researched. Also, select a topic that is current yet developed enough that

academic research has been written on the topic. This topic will be the topic you use to write

your Research Paper: Final Assignment on.

After you have selected your criminal justice topic, begin to develop your position/argument on

the topic and the 2-3 major points in support of that topic. Those elements will be included in the

Research Paper: Thesis Assignment.

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare one to two sentences that include the following elements:

The criminal justice topic you have selected;

Your argument/position on the topic; and

2-3 major points in support of your argument/position on the topic.

The selected criminal justice topic must be sufficiently limited for the substantive content of a 4

6-page paper. The statement must take a position on a narrowly focused criminal justice topic.

The thesis must be no more than 2 sentences long.

The thesis must be a declarative statement rather than asking a question.

The thesis must be simple and direct.

The thesis must demonstrate proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as be written in

the third person using formal, academic language.

The thesis must be written in APA format.