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Provide a title for the paper.
An abstract is not required and is optional. An abstract summarizes the entire paper in less than 100 words. Each of the four sections is summarized briefly.
Introduction Section:
There is no heading for the introduction in APA style.
Provide a lead-in paragraph that states exactly what will be done in the project. This paragraph should entice the reader into reading further because of the interesting and challenging points raised about the public policy. Optionally, include statements explaining why the topic was selected, what particular interest it holds for you as a practitioner-scholar, and your current or anticipated role in relation to this policy. Follow this by demonstrating why this policy is socially important, why it is significant for the criminal justice system, how it would improve or enhance public safety, how this policy would address the circumstances of socially diverse and discriminated against groups, and how this study can add to knowledge about the policy and the social and criminal justice issues that the policy addresses.
The literature review should be placed in the introduction section with a subheading following the APA format. The literature review should be revised and enhanced from your previous submission based on instructor feedback and any new research discovered. At the end of the literature review, summarize what was discovered through this process. The literature should lead to some gap in understanding that you identify. This could be to learn more about some component of the policy, investigate some consequences of the program, take a distinctive approach to the study, or understand more specifically how it was implemented.
At the very end of the introduction, just after the literature review, should be the thesis statement. The thesis statement can be written as either questions to investigate or assertions about that question. The purpose is to inform the reader of what is being investigated. The thesis statement may include some or all of the following in a substantial paragraph:
What exactly is it that you want to know about the policy?
What is problematic about the policy?
What dilemmas are posed by the issues addressed by the policy?
What you are going to do in the paper to resolve confusions about the policy?
Method Section:
This section typically consists of three subheadings: Participants, Procedure, and Instrumentation.
The Participants subsection describes (but does not name or give any identifiers) who the participants are in terms of their qualifications about the policy. They may be labeled as Participant 1, 2, and 3.
Procedure describes how the participants were identified, recruited, and interviewed.
Instrumentation describes what was asked and how the responses were analyzed. This includes what tools were used to develop, organize, and present the findings.
Findings Section:
This section brings together in a logical and coherent form all the results of the investigation and provides data that reflects back upon and clarifies the thesis. The primary data to report is from the interviews. Optionally, include observations of the policy implementation or program in action.
Organize and present the data in an aggregated and synthesized manner rather than mechanically reporting what Participant 1 said, Participant 2 said, and so forth. Thus, use categories or subheadings to report your findings. For example, break down the data into subheadings in accord with the questions asked, such as Needs Addressed, Formulation of the Policy, and so on. For the most part, paraphrase the participants, but it would be wise to include a few well-chosen quotes that characterize the participants’ statements regarding their perceptions and roles.
Try to make sense of the interview responses in relation to your thesis, seeing how the responses reflect back on the questions you raised or the assertions you posited. However, do not try to explain the responses. That belongs in the Discussion section.
Discussion Section:
In the first part of the Discussion section, offer a summary of the key findings from your research activities (the interviews, not the literature review). Essentially, in the first paragraph, summarize the most important points derived from the Findings section.
Seek to apply a criminal justice theory to explain the findings. Try to explain why the data reported came out as it did. This effort is to promote comprehension of the facts discovered within some analytic framework. Sometimes we need to develop a grounded theory from our data when a preexisting theory does not seem to be available.
Subsequently, compare your own findings to some of the studies reported in the literature review. While advanced scholars have performed the research, and you are still a learner, you have done some credible research as a practitioner-scholar and should relate your work to what exists. If the research is not quite comparable to that of others, make the best possible relationships in order to advance overall understanding.
Optionally, indicate what you or other researchers might do in the future to advance understanding of the policy to the next level. If more resources were available, what kinds of questions would you ask, what kinds of methods would you use, and for what purposes? It is best to be specific here as it is with any recommendations you would offer.
Finally, offer specific suggestions for improvement in the policy or program that derive from your research. What specific recommendations would you make to improve the implementation of the policy or the operation of the program based on what you have gleaned from the literature and from your interviews in particular? How would you improve efficiency, effectiveness, or accountability? How would you, as a practitioner-scholar, use the tools developed in our course to propose recommendations to enhance this policy and facilitate change? How might you redesign the program to enhance its functioning? What new policy or program might you propose to address the issues more aptly?
Importantly, make sure that your project demonstrates the following:
How the specific social problems and societal needs that the policy addresses were identified as salient and deserving of remediation.
How scholarship including research and theory has played a role in the formulation, design, implementation, and evaluation of the policy or program.
How the criminal justice policy or program was designed to target and achieve specific kinds of societal change.
How the designers, administrators, and staff projected that the outcomes of the policy or program would target and actually produce the desired change.
How discriminatory practices related to gender, race, and sexual orientation could be positively impacted by the policy or program.
How policy evaluation has affected the policy-making process.
How theory and practices interacted in the production of the policy or program.
How the policy or program addresses and seeks to solve public safety problems.
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (5th edition) style and formatting.
Number of resources: Minimum of 10 resources, 5 of which must be peer-reviewed research articles.
Length of paper: 4,000 words.
Font and font size: Arial, 10 point.
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