English 1301 - Coleman, Laurie : CRIJ 1301 (Learning Community): Home

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This LibGuide is designed to help you learn how to use library resources and to help you with your research essay for ENGL1301/CRIJ1301.

By the end of today's class, you will:

• learn the layout of your library and search for and locate books and DVDs in our collection.
• compose a search strategy and find relevant articles on your topic.

ENGL 1301 Research Paper: Identifying Issues that Matter
(Coleman)

1. Isolate an issue that you believe has importance to your chosen career field from any of the chapters in The Essentials of Criminal Justice. Choose an issue that you want to explore further in research. Below are a few examples, but they are not meant to represent all the possible topics. You do not need to choose one of the following for your research—they are only examples.
     For example, you may be a criminal justice major and plan to work as a defense attorney for a non-profit organization that defends children of undocumented citizens who are sentenced to be deported to their parents’ home country even if these children spent the majority of their lives in the U.S. and have no direct ties to that country. You may select to focus your research on the current U.S. immigration policy as it affects undocumented residents.
     For example, you may be a chemical engineering major and plan to actively participate in the election of state or federal judges that affect the regulation of your profession. You may select to focus your research on the ways state and federal courts have ruled on issues that matter to the chemical engineering professions.
     For example, you may plan to be a public school teacher. You may select to focus your research on some of the sociological theories for the causes of crime and the juvenile justice system to better understand the issues that may affect the youth in the community you will serve.

2. Develop a timeline of the major events that reflect the historical record for the issue. This timeline may serve as a way to understand the complexities of the issue or events and/or people you may need to research further. This timeline will be a separate assignment that you will submit before the final research paper.

3. Prove that the issue has importance today by connecting (a) the reading(s) from Essentials of Criminal Justice and (b) research on contemporary events.

4. You will need to locate newspaper articles for current events. You may find useful background to this issue in reference books, magazine or journal articles. You will need to consult specialized databases for your career field. Most of these resources can be accessed and read completely online through the SAC Library’s collection of ebooks and electronic full-text articles in the numerous databases.

5. Provide supporting evidence of the importance of the issue by making direct quotes, summaries, or paraphrases from at least ONE Essentials of Criminal Justice textbook chapter.

6. Provide supporting evidence of the importance of the issue by making direct quotes, summaries, or paraphrases from at least FIVE sources, either print or online (at least 1 background source and 1 news source).

7. Compose a 1,000-1,200 word essay using all the skills you have learned about accurate MLA documentation and effective essay writing. Submit your final draft in Canvas before the due date.