Research Paper on a Current Violence Problem and Prevention Strategy

Task:

You are required to write a research paper on a current violence problem (options are below). You will focus on the phenomenon/topic of your choice and explain it using theory and empirical evidence of our field. Your paper must offer some feasible prevention strategy. This will require you to conduct research and to obtain data from various academic sources. You also will have to research and examine media coverage in order to be up to date with the most current related events. Projects will be scored based on grammar, clarity of arguments, breadth and depth of research, and feasibility of prevention strategy proposed. The goal of this assignment is for you to grasp and demonstrate the importance of both theoretical and empirical research and the ways they can be made to work together to provide academic support for strategies/policies that will benefit our communities. This is a process that you will learn and repeat throughout your graduate education to hone leadership and innovation skills that are needed in the criminal justice system and industry. You must know where to begin and end to write the paper and you must have an organizational chart (outline) of the body to write it well. An annotated outline is an outline of the structure of your paper that includes headings, arguments, the data you will use to support your arguments. Must use 6 primary, academic journals in this paper.

The formatting of your paper is very important because it is the first impression the professor/reader gets of your work. You do not want your paper to appear sloppy, or as if you waited until the last minute or did not take the time to pay attention to detail. Before you start typing your paper, please make sure that the following formatting settings are in place:

1. Microsoft Word Document

2. 1’Inch (72 points) Margins all around

3. The overall indentation should be set left and right at a 0 pt, while the first line of the paragraph at 18 points, tabs should also be set at 18 points (however, in cases of using extended large direct quotes the tab should be at 36 points)

4. Do not justify the paper since that causes spacing issues. Always align the paper to the left

5. Times New Roman font

6. 12-Point font

7. Double-spaced (Sometimes word documents are automatically defaulted to have extra spacing. In order to make sure this is not the case, click on Page layout, and in the spacing section make sure that the before and after are set to 0 point)

8. Include page numbers.

In addition, to the above formatting guidelines, keep the following in mind:

1. Avoid using contractions and first person in formal writing (i.e., in all of the papers you will submit for my course)

2. A proper paragraph should include at least 3 sentences

3. Make sure you do not have run-on paragraphs. A paragraph should never be more than a page long

4. Make sure to use proper citations. If citing material from an edited book, make sure to give credit to the proper author and not the editors. That is, use the APA citation for a chapter in an edited text.

5. The Paper also should be formatted with proper headings and subheadings – i.e., Introduction, Discussion etc….

6. Do not include tables and figures in text as they deleteriously affect the formatting of the paper. If you are going to employ a table or figure to illustrate a point, do so in an appendix.