Students are required to write a term paper. Students must follow, to the letter, the term paper requirements as outlined below. The term paper must be transmitted to the instructor as a “word” attachment via email. The minimum requirements for the term paper and the due dates are provided in the syllabus.
Term Paper Requirements:
The Term Paper is worth 25% of your grade. Your term paper topic is “Mass Incarceration”
Assume the following: 1) you have been hired as a criminal justice expert by the Justice Department; 2) The Justice department would like you to research and report on the Causes of Mass Incarceration 3) Discuss the impact of Mass incarceration on the criminal justice system 4) Discuss the impact of Mass incarceration on minorities and marginal offenders 5) Explain whether mass incarceration can be avoided 6) You have until May 5, 2021 to submit your report to this authority. Please keep in mind that your report for must demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the issues, and your familiarity with various viewpoints criminological literature and crime statistics. You may NOT write a term paper about any other topic. THIS IS A DIFFICULT ASSIGNMENT. BEGIN YOUR WORK NOW!!!
This assignment is designed to teach students how to think and write like professionals.
The Term Paper a/k/a “report” must meet the following MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
1. The term paper must be at least 12 pages in length. The term paper length does not include the title page, table of contents page, or reference page.
2. The term paper must have a title page The title page must have the title of the term paper, the student’s name, the student’s address, and the name of the course.
3. The term paper must have a table of contents. The table of contents must indicate the pages on which each portion or section of the paper begins. This will look like the table of contents of a book.
4. The term paper MAY have a “statement of the problem.” The statement of the problem identifies the topic discussed and the issues pertaining thereto. For purposes of this term paper, it is a one or two paragraph long discussion of the topic and identification of major issues relating to the topic.
5. The “statement of the problem” section of the term paper might identify many issues relating to the topic. However, after the “statement of the problem” section, discuss only one or two of the major issues you identified.
6. The term paper MAY have a recommendation section. It should briefly summarize the issues raised in the term paper, discuss your recommendations, and note how your recommendations are or are not supported by the facts and expert opinion to which you refer in your paper.
7. There must be a reference section of the term paper, using the APA citation format. If you do not know what the APA citation format is, then look at your textbooks and see how these authors cite the works on which they relied to write their documents. If you still are confused, visit the library and ask a reference librarian to show you an APA citation style document.
8. The term paper must rely upon relevant facts and expert opinion. The term paper must cite at least five peer-reviewed journal articles and scholarly books. THIS MEANS – DO NOT CITE NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE ARTICLES!!! The APA citation format must be used.
9. The only references you may cite are peer-reviewed, professional journal articles (e.g., articles published in Crime and Delinquency, Police Quarterly, Social Problems, American Psychological Review), law review articles, scholarly books, federal and state case law (i.e., appellate court decisions), state or federal statutes (including references to their legislative history), and government publications (e.g., Uniform Crime Reports, National Institute of Justice publications, U.S. Census data).
10. The references cited must be books or scholarly journals published between 2014 and 2021 and at least one published between 2019 and 2021.
11. Each section of the term paper must have a separate heading and same must correspond to the page numbers noted on the Table of Contents. Placing a heading at the beginning of each section of the paper makes the discussion in the paper easier to follow. Headings also improve the paper’s visual presentation. Generally the paper should also meet the following criteria: 1. Central idea clearly stated in the introduction., 2. Adequate examples and evidence to support and develop the ideas., 3. Logical organization, 4. Clear method of development., 5. Unified and coherent paragraphs with smooth and functional transitions, 6. Use of details and specific language, 7. Accuracy, coherence and logic, 8. Consistency in tone, point of view, tense and diction, 9. Variety of sentence structure, 10. Effective and mature vocabulary, 11. Readable style.
12. The term paper must use the proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. If a direct quotation is more than two lines long, make certain you single space and indent it.
13. Points will be subtracted for all technical flaws in the term paper.
14. The term paper may not contain any plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs when a person represents someone else’s words, ideas, phrases, sentences or data as one’s own work. When a student submits work that includes such material, the source of that information must be acknowledged through complete and accurate references. All verbatim statements must be acknowledged by means of quotation marks. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to the following:
One person quoting another’s words directly without acknowledging the source;
Using another’s ideas, opinions or theories without acknowledging the source, even if they have been completely paraphrased in one’s own words;
Using facts, statistics or other illustrative material taken from a source, without acknowledging the source, unless the information is common knowledge;
Using words or work of others taken from the internet without acknowledging he source(s).
For this assignment, academic misconduct will consist of:
Submitting written work to fulfill the requirements of more than one course without the explicit permission of the instructors and will result in a zero grade and other University discipline.
If any part of a term paper contains plagiarism, no matter how small that part is, the student will receive a zero on the term paper assignment. All papers will be checked by a Plagiarism Prevention System.
For purposes of this term paper assignment, if a term paper fails to use quotation marks when stating the specific language of a statute or court decision, there will be no penalty – just make certain the statute or court decision is properly cited.
