The Criminal Justice Student Writer's Manual

Preface xi PART I A HANDBOOK OF STYLE FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1 Chapter 1. Writing as Communication 3 Writing to Learn 3 The Irony of Writing 4 Challenge Yourself 5 Maintain Self-Confidence 7 The Writing Process 8 Learning the Nature of the Process 8 Planning 8 Writing the Rough Draft 20 Revising 23 Editing 25 Proofreading 27 Chapter 2. Writing Competently 28 Guidelines for the Competent Writer 28 Consider Your Audience 29 Aim for Consistency 30 Have Confidence in What You Already Know about Writing! 30 Eliminate Chronic Errors 31 Punctuation, Grammar, and Spelling 31 Apostrophes 31 Capitalization 32 Colons 34 Commas 34 Dangling Modifiers 38 Parallelism 39 Fused (Run-on) Sentences 40 Pronoun Errors 41 Quotation Marks 43 Semicolons 45 Sentence Fragments 46 Spelling 48 PART II PAPER FORMATS AND CITATIONS 51 Chapter 3. Student Paper Formats 53 Preliminary Considerations 53 Margins 54 Pagination 55 Title Page 55 Abstract 55 Executive Summary 56 Outline Summary 59 Table of Contents 60 List of Tables and Figures 61 Text 61 Headings and Subheadings 62 Tables 63 Illustrations and Figures 63 Reference Listing 64 Appendixes 64 Chapter 4. Citing Sources in ASA Style 66 Introduction to ASA Style 66 What to Document 66 ASA Style in Papers 67 Text Citations in ASA Style 68 Samples of ASA Citation Style 68 References in ASA Style 76 Samples of ASA Reference Style 76 Chapter 5. Citing Sources in APA Style 88 Introduction to APA Style 88 What to Document 89 Text Citations in APA Style 89 Samples of APA Citation Style 89 References in APA Style 95 Samples of APA Reference Style 96 PART III HOW TO CONDUCT RESEARCH IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE 107 Chapter 6. Organizing the Research Process 109 Strategy for the Research Process 109 Understand Your Assignment 110 Establish Your Topic 110 Set Your Purpose 110 Determine Your Audience 111 Decide on Your Kind of Research 111 Keep Your Perspective 113 Effective Research Methods 113 Establish an Effective Schedule 113 Give Yourself Plenty of Time 113 Do Background Reading 114 Narrow Your Topic and Establish a Working Thesis 115 Develop a Working Bibliography 116 Write for Needed Information 116 Evaluate Written Sources 117 Use Photocopies and Download Articles 118 Determine Whether to Conduct Interviews or Surveys 118 Draft a Thesis and an Outline 119 Write a First Draft 120 Obtain Feedback 120 Ethical Use of Source Material 120 Know When to Quote 120 Use Paraphrasing 122 Avoid Plagiarism 122 Chapter 7. Information Sources 124 Library Research 124 Criminal Justice on the World Wide Web 127 PART IV BRIEF AND APPLIED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE 129 Chapter 8. Reaction Papers 131 Select a Suitable Reaction Statement 131 Explain Your Selection 132 Clearly Define the Issue Addressed in the Statement 133 Clearly State Your Position on the Issue 133 Defend Your Position 133 Conclude Concisely 134 A Sample Reaction Paper 134 Chapter 9. Article Critiques and Book Reviews 137 Article Critiques 137 Choosing an Article 137 Writing the Critique 138 A Sample Article Critique 140 Book Reviews 143 Objectives of a Book Review 143 Sample Book Reviews 144 Elements of a Book Review 150 Types of Book Reviews: Reflective and Analytical 152 Format and Length of a Book Review 153 Chapter 10. Annotated Bibliographies 154 What Is an Annotated Bibliography? 154 Why Write an Annotated Bibliography? 155 Who Uses Annotated Bibliographies? 155 What Is the Content of an Annotated Bibliography? 156 Introduction 156 Citations 156 Annotations 156 To Quote or Not to Quote? 157 Summation 157 Evaluation 158 Reflection 158 Sample Annotated Bibliographies 158 Chapter 11. Writing a Police Report 161 What Is a Police Report? 161 Why Write Police Reports? 162 Who Uses Police Reports? 162 How Do You Write Police Reports? 162 Put the Subject First 163 Be Careful with Pronouns 164 Use Active Verbs 164 Employ a Clear Writing Style 165 Assemble Meaningful Information 166 What Is in the Narrative of a Good Police Report? 168 Sample Narrative Police Reports 169 PART V CASE STUDIES AND POLICY ANALYSES 177 Chapter 12. Criminal Justice Agency Case Studies 179 What Is a Case Study? 179 Why Use Case Studies in Research? 180 Limitations of the Case Study Method 181 Types of Case Studies Written in Criminal Justice 181 How Do You Conduct a Criminal Justice Agency Case Study? 182 Selection of a Topic 183 Importance of Interviews 184 Elements of the Case Study Paper 184 Contents 184 Text 184 A Sample Case Study 186 Summary 200 Chapter 13. Criminal Justice Policy Analysis Papers 201 What Is Policy Analysis? 201 Policy Analysis Research Proposals 203 Introduction to Research Proposals 204 Purpose of Research Proposals 204 Content of Research Proposals 205 Criminal Justice Policy Analysis Papers 211 Definition of a Policy Analysis Paper 211 Purpose of Policy Analysis Papers 212 Parameters of a Policy Analysis Paper 212 Format of a Policy Analysis Paper 213 Presentation of Policy Analysis Papers 222 A Sample Policy Analysis Paper 223 Glossary 232 References 271 Index 273