Interested topic
Please print or save EACH of TSFPs from folders. You will find this is useful for your Final Proposal Paper.
To begin your final paper, you should have a topic for the paper first. The final paper is going to require you completing a research proposal. In this week, you should first use what you learned from the assigned readings to develop a topic. The topic can be almost any idea in criminal justice. If it is not appropriate at your current level, I will give you some advice. For example, you may be interested in studying why domestic violence offenders cannot stop their crime. Or you may consider studying what led some teenagers to began their drug abuse. While you decide your research topic, you should describe the purposes why you choose the topic and what theories (you learned in the past) can be applied to support your study interests. Your final research proposal paper will be developed over the weekly course examinations and discussions. In other words, your research ideas will be exchanged in the discussion forums with your classmates; and you will gradually complete sessions that are covered in a research proposal over the next few weeks. You may refine your ideas according to what you have learned from the readings and what you have been commented from the class discussions and my comments. With this process, your final research proposal paper may be greatly benefited from others’ comments so that you can make it as clear and robust as it can possibly be. Your classmates can be quite helpful of assisting the completion of your research paper through the class discussion..
(2-4 pages of your final paper may come from this session)
Here are some questions I offer to help you start your final paper:
- Consider that you are discussing your interested topic with the class (assuming others might read your paper) about what topic would you like to research? I strongly advise you to read some Hartley’s (one of the textbooks) selected research papers to have an idea what a criminological research topic can be and learn to imitate their writing style and tone in your paper. The final paper (research proposal) that you plan to execute in the next few weeks needs what you will learn from most of the course topics. While you choose a topic, you are suggested to overview this current assigned readings that help you consider essential conditions so your future proposal is executable. Currently, you should decide your topic and be clear about what are the purposes of your proposed research.
- Consider what theory you will apply to your research? Explain and justify why this theory (or theories) could be a good choice to guide your study. Somewhat you should explain why not other theories to be adopted.
- What hypotheses will you test in your research?
- Can this research paper is “executable” and “affordable” (in terms of capability of learned knowledge, monetary cost and time)
