General Guidelines for Writing Essay #2

A major project for this course will be a review and analysis of the literature and a specific problem in criminology and criminal justice which each student will select. Specifically, you should do the following:

Follow these general guidelines. Exceptions are possible,  but  they  must  be  discussed  and  approved  by  the
Instructor  prior  to  writing    Essay #2.

a.    There should be at least two citations related to your topic.Citations that are used in Essay 1 (attached) can be used. In your essay, you will need to cite your references to provide empirical support for any factual statements you make about your problem. 
b.    The more recent the citations, the more likely the work reflects what is happening currently with regard to the problem.
c.    Make  sure  to  paraphrase  information  into  your  own  words,  rather  than  stringing  together
numerous  direct  quotes  from  your  scholarly  references.
d.    Please  give  yourself  sufficient  time  to  write  the  Essay  in  your  own  words.  Evidence 
Of  plagiarism  will  result  in  a  zero  for  this  assignment.

Reference citations should  include empirically and theoretically related articles concerning your topic.  Again, the more recent the citations, the better you can capture the current state of knowledge with regard to the design, methods, measures, sampling, results, and limitations of empirical studies that test the validity of criminaological theories with regard to explaining the problem.

Essay #2  Will  Consist  of    The  Following  –
Title  Page 

MAJOR  SECTIONS  SHOULD  ADDRESS  THE  FOLLOWING:

1. DESCRIPTION  OF  STUDIES:  (start by saying how many studies you are describing and evaluating, and the theories they have examined).  For each study you describe, include the purpose of the study, sampling, the rationale for, and measurement of, dependent, independent, and control variables, and the results of the study.

2.  LIMITATIONS  AND WEAKNESSES:  Identify  and  discuss  limitations  and  weaknesses  of  the  studies  included  in  the  section  –  DESCRIPTION  OF  STUDIES.

3.  THEORETICAL  PERSPECTIVES:    Identify  and  discuss  those  criminological  theories  that  have  been  used  to  explain  the  criminal  justice  issue  that  you  plan  to  study.  You  should  rely  very  heavily  on  your criminology  theory  textbook,  as  well as  the  empirical  journal  articles  that  you  have  collected  on  your  research  topic.    Be  sure  to  cite  your  references  and  include  them  on  your  reference  list.

Numbered Data collected can only be in whole numbers, no percents,