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Guidelines for Core Assessment Paper Be sure to select your topic from the list of approved topics posted in the classroom

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Guidelines for Core Assessment Paper

Be sure to select your topic from the list of approved topics posted in the classroom. Go to Modules and then Core Assessment Paper Topics.

Narrow the Topic, and Construct a Thesis Statement

Research on your topic will help you to narrow it so that you can construct a thesis.

1. Review research in your broader topic area.
2. Focus on a specific issue or problem within this broader topic area, preferably one that reflects controversial views. For example, community corrections itself is a controversial approach to dealing with offenders. Some experts in the field are not at all convinced it is a worthwhile component of the Criminal Justice System (Paparozzi, 2003).
3. Determine a question you want to answer about your topic. Suppose we take the broader area of community corrections programs and look at this area in terms of the above controversy. Perhaps some of the criticism regarding community corrections is directed toward conflicting goals and how effectiveness is determined or measured. A question might be “How effective are community corrections programs in achieving the goals identified by Paparozzi (2003) of crime prevention, public safety, justice, and restoration?” After reviewing more research in this area, you should form some type of conclusion that represents an answer to this question. Perhaps you conclude that the effectiveness of some programs is better than others, and you may also have an idea why this might be the case. This conclusion, when expressed as a statement, becomes your thesis. Perhaps you conclude that community corrections programs are more effective at preventing crime than they are at restoration.  
4. Turn your question into a thesis statement that you intend to support through writing the paper: “Community corrections programs that rely on evidence-based practices are more effective than those that do not because ……..” There is most likely more than one reason you can cite. This thesis statement should appear in the introduction section of your paper. “Community corrections programs are more effective at preventing crime than they are at achieving restoration because….”

Create an Outline to Organize Your Paper

1. Construct an outline of points that you feel support your thesis. These points will be the topic sentences for each paragraph of your paper.
2. Each of these points should be turned into topic sentences you will discuss in the body of your paper.
3. Each topic sentence represents the main idea or point of a paragraph. You should have only one topic sentence per paragraph. Generally, your topic sentence should be the first sentence of a paragraph, but it does not have to be.
4. Topic sentences/points need to be backed by the research you’ve done and illustrated with examples.

Format, Length, and reference requirements

Your paper must be done in APA format and should be approximately 2000 -2500 words excluding the title page, abstract, and list of references. Use a 12-pt Serif font such as Times New Roman. As per APA style, double space your paper, indent each paragraph ½ inch, and eliminate all white space between paragraphs. A minimum of ten quality academic reference sources are required for this paper, five of which must be peer reviewed articles from academic peer-reviewed journals. You can locate these articles in the online databases of the Park Online Library. I will occasionally post such an article in the classroom during our weekly discussions, and you may use any of the articles I post if relevant to your topic. Other quality sources would include your text, any online source listed in your syllabus or the webliography, or recent books written by experts in the field. Do not use Wikipedia or other similar online resources, such as online dictionaries and online encyclopedias, as they may lead you astray, and there are better sources available. Use of these resources will greatly detract from your grade.

For assistance with APA format and citation, see APA Tutorials on the APA web site. As per the syllabus, no more than 20% of your paper may consist of directly quoted or paraphrased material. That limits you to about 400-450 words of quoted text. The paper should be written by you and not copied from any other source. I am confident you have the ability to write your own paper, or you would not be here. Also note you are not allowed to submit a paper you wrote for another course to fulfill the requirements in this course.

References

Paparozzi, M. (2003). Probation, parole and public safety: The need for principled practices

versus faddism and circular policy development. Corrections Today, 65, 46-50.