Research Strategy for Criminal Justice
In 3-4 pages pick a criminal justice topic that interest you. The topic you select for your thesis should be carefully considered.
- Thesis statement: This statement presents the problem or issue you intend to research, and it should be clear and concise.
- Hypothesis: This is a statement of prediction regarding the results of the problem or issue. Briefly identify your working solution to the problem. How might your working solution solve the problem? Be sure to note that your working solution will evolve through continued research and analysis.
- Measurement and analysis approach: Define the key points that you will research and explain how you will gather and analyze the data you find. Intend to incorporate information related to technology and crime statistics that apply to your issue.
- Applicable resources: Identify 5 sources that you have found that are the most relevant and best support your purpose statement. List the sources and then record the main idea as notes to use as part of your research later. Identify case studies, library, Web, and other scholarly resources.
- Ethical standards: What are your ethical and legal responsibilities to ensure that your final report will be of the highest ethical standards?
HELP FOR THE ASSIGNMENT
What is a thesis?
The following three statements sum up what a thesis is:
- Your thesis statement tells your reader what the paper is about.
- It presents the topic of your paper and makes a comment (or two) about your position on the topic.
- Your thesis statement is a theory that is proposed as a reason for something. It will be proven or disproven in a paper.
Every paper you have written had a main idea behind it. The statements you wrote in your other papers reflected your main ideas. The sentence that best describes your position (about the main idea) is a thesis statement.
A thesis statement can be one or two sentences long, followed by some descriptive writing about it.
Thesis Tips
Here are three thesis tips:
- A thesis should be in the introduction, to establish your position.
- Do not bury a thesis statement at the end of a paper.
- Your thesis will evolve, as you progress through other units in this course. It does not have to be perfect.
Sample Thesis
Here is a sample thesis statement:
“The major impediments to implementation of community policing are resistance to change by veteran officers and a reluctance by police to get actively involved with community agencies.”
This is just an example. You can read more about it here:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/
(just skim through the webpage for anything you find to be helpful – don’t read the entire thing)
This paper will include references and an abstract. APA style.