Assignments & Final Paper
You will be evaluating formal and informal policies throughout your career in Criminal
Justice, whether you are working in policing, courts, corrections, or in some other
capacity. Thus, each student in this class is expected to identify a criminal justice related
policy that they are interested in and write a paper that:
•
•
•
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describes the policy and its historical development
situates the policy within the existing criminal justice literature
evaluates the policy’s effectiveness and social implications
offers defensible suggestions for making the existing policy better or for creating
a new policy.
This paper will be broken up into 3 different assignments (see below), each of which will
be graded independently and are worth 50 points each. This will give you the
opportunity to get feedback on and make revisions to each section prior to turning in the
final paper, which is worth its own 100 points. You will be graded on mechanics,
organization, citation, and content (see rubric for detailed explanations).
To start your project, you need to select an informal or formal policy that you would like
to focus on for the remainder of the semester. Try to select a policy on which there is a
fair amount of material readily available to you or you will have a difficult time doing the
research. This means that you should do some preliminary research before settling on a
topic.
**NOTE: All Assignments and the Final Paper must be turned in as a Word
Document to the Assignments section on BB. Late papers will not be accepted.
***WARNING: PLAGIARISM OF ANY SORT WILL RESULT IN A SCORE OF
ZERO FOR THE ENTIRE ASSIGNMENT
Assignment #1: Policy Description
Using a minimum of three peer reviewed, scholarly journal sources (you may also
include the policy in question where applicable), describe the policy that you have chosen
to focus on, answering the following questions in essay format: How did the policy come
to be? What prompted such a policy? What are the requirements of the policy? Who is
the policy supposed to affect/protect/serve? Where is the policy used? In what cases is it
used? In short, your description should be geared towards informing a reader who has
never heard about the policy. This section of your paper must be at least 3 pages long,
double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font. Proper in-text and bibliographic
citation (APA style) is absolutely required.
Assignment #2: Literature Review
Using a minimum of six new peer reviewed, scholarly journal sources, conduct a
literature review on your policy and related issues. A literature review provides your
reader with an overview of any research (**this means scholarly work) that has been
done on your topic already. You are not limited to studies specifically connected to your
policy – you should also consider related issues. For example, if you are researching the
Amber Alert, you should look at studies related to child abduction and kidnapping in
addition to looking at works specifically focused on the policy. The ultimate goal of a
literature review is to tell your reader what we (the discipline of criminal justice) already
know about the topic at hand, with the assumption that they don’t know anything about
your policy/issue. This section of your paper must be at least 5 pages long, doublespaced, 12-point Times New Roman font. Proper in-text and bibliographic citation (APA
style) is absolutely required. You must provide two bibliographies; one from assignment
#1 and one with the new sources for assignment #2.
**Note: the policy description and literature review is not a place for analysis. It is,
simply, a description. Any issues/problems you see with the policy should be reserved
for assignment #3.
Assignment #3: Analysis & Recommendations
Now that you have conducted thorough research on your policy, you are expected to
evaluate its effectiveness. First, you need to decide what would make the policy
“effective.” How would you measure “effectiveness”? Then, using all of your available
sources and referring to your literature review when appropriate, provide several
defensible arguments for why this policy is or is not effective. This is not a place for
uninformed opinion – you must use facts to defend your position. Presume that your
reader has no prior knowledge of policy implications and it is your duty to make them an
informed citizen.
Once you have provided your reader with arguments for why the policy you have chosen
is or is not effective, offer your recommendations for the future. If the policy is effective,
should it continue to be used as it currently is, or should there be some changes? If so,
what should those changes be? Should the policy be expanded to apply to other
cases/states/jurisdictions/etc.? What might future researchers consider if they plan to reevaluate the policies effectiveness? If the policy is not effective, how should it change?
Why? Should it be completely eradicated or replaced with a new policy? What would
that new policy look like and why would it be more effective? This section of your paper
must be at least 5 pages long, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font. Proper
in-text and bibliographic citation (APA style) is absolutely required.
Final Paper
Your final paper is where you put all of your assignments together (once you have
revised them according to my comments, of course). Your final paper should have a new
brief introduction that captures the reader’s attention and tell them what will be in the
paper, and then the following sections: Policy Description & Literature Review, Analysis,
and Recommendations. The paper should also have a new conclusion summarizing what
you have done in the paper. You must have a minimum of 9 peer reviewed, scholarly
journal sources that are properly cited both in-text and in the bibliography using the APA
style. The final product should be at least 14 pages long, double-spaced, 12-point Times
New Roman font. Proper in-text and bibliographic citation (APA style) is absolutely
required.
Grading Criteria
All three assignments and your final paper will be graded on mechanics, organization,
citation/sources and content. In particular, I will be looking for the following things:
Mechanics
•
A paper that has good “mechanics” is free of spelling, grammatical and sentence
structure errors.
Organization
•
A paper that is well-organized follows the format requested by the professor (e.g.,
section headings), it progresses in a logical manner (i.e., makes sense to the
reader), and has appropriate transitions between paragraphs and major sections.
Some advice on mechanics and organization…
o Remember, this is a scholarly piece of work, so it should not be written
how you speak.
o Frequent proof-reading is the best way to avoid these mistakes. I
recommend having someone else read the paper out loud to you – if it
doesn’t sound right, it probably is not.
o Visit the Writing Center! Location, hours, and related information can be
found at: http://www.uncfsu.edu/writingcenter/. Put your tuition dollars to
work by taking advantage of this resource!
Citation
•
Proper citation means using proper citation both in-text and in the bibliography
(in APA)
Content
•
A paper that has good content addresses all aspects of the assignment (i.e., did
you do exactly what you were asked to do?), has fully developed ideas, uses
description and analysis correctly and appropriately (e.g., not describing when
you are asked to analyze and vice versa), demonstrates critical thinking (i.e., there
is evidence that you thought ‘outside of the box’ and anticipated counterarguments) and uses appropriate sources (i.e., avoids “junk sources” like
Wikipedia).
Grading Rubrics
You should carefully review the rubric before you even start your assignments, so that
you are aware of all of the grading criteria. Completing your assignments in accordance
with the expectations that are outlined in the rubric is the most effective way to get an A!
Assignment Grading Rubric
Category
Excellent
(Needs little
improvement)
Mechanics
(10)
10 points:
Paper has no
spelling,
grammatical or
sentence structure
errors.
Organization
(10)
10 points:
Paper follows the
format requested
by the professor,
progresses in a
logical manner,
and has
appropriate
transitions
10 points:
All sources are
properly cited
both in-text and in
the bibliography
and are
appropriate for the
assignment
requirements
Citations/Sources
(10)
Content
(20)
20 points:
Author addresses
all aspects of the
assignment, has
fully developed
ideas, uses
description and
analysis
appropriately,
demonstrates
critical thinking
skills and uses
appropriate
sources
Satisfactory
(Needs some
improvement)
Unsatisfactory
(Needs much
improvement)
7-9 points:
Paper has some
spelling,
grammatical and
sentence structure
errors, but not
enough to detract
from the content
7-9 points:
Paper has some
problems with
format, logic and
transitions, but not
enough to detract
from the content.
0-6 points:
An abundance of
spelling,
grammatical and
sentence structure
errors detracts
from the content
7-9 points:
Only minor issues
with citation
placement and
bibliography and are
appropriate for the
assignment
requirements
0-6 points:
An abundance of
citation errors intext or in the
bibliography,
failure to use
appropriate
sources for the
assignment
requirements
0-15 points:
Author fails to
address the
assignment,
develop ideas
completely,
describe or
analyze
appropriately, use
critical thinking
skills or use
appropriate
sources.
16-19 points:
Author needs to
make minor
improvements to
addressing
assignment,
developing ideas,
describing/analyzing,
demonstrating
critical thinking
skills or using
appropriate sources
0-6 points:
An abundance of
format, logic and
transition issues
detracts from the
content
Total
(50 points)
Final Paper Grading Rubric
Category
Excellent
A/B
Mechanics
(15)
12-15 points:
Paper has no
spelling,
grammatical or
sentence structure
errors.
Organization
(15)
12-15 points:
Paper follows the
format requested
by the professor,
progresses in a
logical manner,
and has
appropriate
transitions
12-15 points:
All sources are
properly cited
both in-text and
in the
bibliography and
are appropriate
for the
assignment
requirements
44-55 points:
Author addresses
all aspects of the
assignment, has
fully developed
ideas, uses
description and
analysis
appropriately,
demonstrates
critical thinking
skills and uses
appropriate
sources
Citations/Sources
(15)
Content
(55)
Satisfactory
C
Unsatisfactory
D/F
10-11 points:
Paper has some
spelling,
grammatical and
sentence structure
errors, but not
enough to detract
from the content
10-11 points:
Paper has some
problems with
format, logic and
transitions, but not
enough to detract
from the content.
0-9 points:
An abundance of
spelling,
grammatical and
sentence structure
errors detracts
from the content
10-11 points:
Only minor issues
with citation
placement and
bibliography and are
appropriate for the
assignment
requirements
0-9 points:
An abundance of
citation errors intext or in the
bibliography,
failure to use
appropriate
sources for the
assignment
requirements
0-38 points:
Author fails to
address the
assignment,
develop ideas
completely,
describe or
analyze
appropriately, use
critical thinking
skills or use
appropriate
sources.
39-43 points:
Author needs to
make minor
improvements to
addressing
assignment,
developing ideas,
describing/analyzing,
demonstrating
critical thinking
skills or using
appropriate sources
Total
(100 points)
0-9 points:
An abundance of
format, logic and
transition issues
detracts from the
content
***WARNING: PLAGIARISM OF ANY SORT WILL RESULT IN A SCORE OF
ZERO FOR THE ENTIRE PAPER
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