Research Methods Project Requirements Summary

• • • The formal paper for this course will be divided into 4 parts called “milestones.”  
    • You will combine all of the milestones into a final paper (Milestone 4)
    • Your overall project will be to write a proposal for an experiment; this is divided into two parallel parts.
      1. 1. Your formal, written paper (milestones) will be a stand-alone literature review.
         2. The other elements of your research proposal will be written as discussion posts; your reply posts (2 minimum weekly) will be peer reviews of your colleagues’ work.  Discussions aren’t busy work in this class!  Take them seriously; they will be the most challenging part.

Literature Review Requirements Summary:   

• • • • • All work must be submitted as a Microsoft Word file.
        • All work must be formatted according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Edition).  (hereafter called the Style Guide or APA) 
        • We are professionals–Don’t use the APA “student” template.   Use my professional template
        • Your final paper must be a minimum of 10 pages of substantive content (Don’t count the title page, abstract, or references).
        • You must cite a minimum of 10 empirical research reports (look for statistics) from peer-reviewed criminal justice journals (allied fields such as criminology are fine; law journals are not acceptable).
        • All journal articles should be cited per the APA as journal articles. (Don’t treat them as generic web pages or any other thing).
        • Your organizational structure should be thematic, based on your hypothesis (Don’t write an annotated bibliography).
        • You should not have any methods, participants, results, or analysis sections in a stand-alone lit review. (Save those for the discussion boards).  
        • This is a formal writing assignment, and you are expected to write in a formal style.
        • This is a scientific paper, and you are expected to write in an objective, scientific tone. (Don’t make an argument or try to write about an issue other than your hypothesis).
        • Your title should reflect an “X causes Y” hypothesis, and your overall project should be an experiment.
        • To be an experiment, your project should meet the following criteria:  You will manipulate X and observe Y to see if it changes.
        • Pre-experimental designs (you use a preexisting group and can’t manipulate the independent variable) may be approved by your professor on a case-by-case basis.  This is much harder to talk about, so don’t do it. 

Red Flags to Avoid (Because they result in terrible grades)

• • • • You want to write an essay on a policy issue
      • You want to make an argument of any kind (save it for law classes).
      • You can’t resist writing an annotated bibliography
      • You want to write about marijuana legalization
      • You want to write about the death penalty
      • You want to write about abortion
      • You want to write about the Second Amendment
      • You want to write about the death penalty
      • You want to write a law review/policy paper/historical review
      • You want to write a term paper (a very common mistake!)  
      • You want to write about something abstract that you can’t test experimentally
      • You want to write about something not related to criminal justice

            

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Developed by Adam J. McKee.  

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Last Modified: 05/02/2023