Criminology
8.1 Project (Annotated Bibliography):
One of the major forms of research conducted by criminologists is searching
for and analyzing information in published materials. These materials
include:
(a) peer-reviewed journal articles (articles published in academic
journals);
(b) government documents (reports such as those published by the National
Institute of Justice [NIJ], FBI, state governments, the Department of
Defense, etc.);
(c) mass media reports (articles in major newspapers [The New York Times,
The Washington Post, etc.] and electronic media outlets [ABC, Fox, CNN,
etc.]) .
Each of the above kinds of information sources has its strengths and
weaknesses. Depending on the kind of research a criminologist is
conducting, one of these may prove more useful than the others.
Your task in this assignment is to find three examples of publications,
articles, reports, or stories from each of these kinds of information
sources. You will have a total of nine sources—three for each information
source type. The topics of the works must be pertinent to some aspect of
crime and justice.
Use the Internet to locate the government documents and mass media reports,
and use the UMUC online library to obtain the peer-reviewed journal
articles. Some students find it useful to use “Google Scholar”
(http://scholar.google.com/ ) to find relevant sources of information.
Then, write a report on what you found in each source of information. In
your report, please do the following:
1. Provide an American Psychological Association (APA) reference or
citation (which is a standardized format for referring to a publication or
a web site) for each of the nine works. If you do not know what an APA
citation or reference is, and how they are prepared, see the handy “APA
Citation” Tutorial in WebTycho. Location: WebTycho > Libraries >
Citation Help > APA Style > APA Tutorial.
http://www.umuc.edu/library/tutorials/apa/apa.shtml
2. Provide a brief description of the work. Each of the nine descriptions
should be about 100 words in length. The description should tell your
reader what the work is about and how it is relevant to students of
criminology.
3. Write an analysis of the value of each of the three types of information
sources from which you gathered examples. In other words, after describing
each of the nine works, present a discussion of what you learned about the
value to criminologists of peer-reviewed journal articles versus government
documents versus mass media reports. What are the strengths and weaknesses
of each? We are looking for some critical thinking about each source of
information!
4. Upload your report as an attachment in the WebTycho Classroom. The
first page should be a cover page. Be sure to include your name and the
name of this class.
5. Our project is essentially an “annotated bibliography.” A good
explanation of an annotated bibliography can be found in WebTycho’s
USEFUL 6-minute video: “How to Write an Annotated Bibliography,” at:
http://www.umuc.edu/library/tutorials/bibliography/bibliography.shtml
6. You are free to choose any type of report or article as long as it
relates to criminology or criminal justice. However, if you wish, you may
choose to focus on a particular area of criminology, such as: a theory of
crime causation; crime statistics; a type of crime (e.g. white collar
crime, murder or sexual assault); rehabilitation; prison reform; or
juvenile delinquency; as opposed to dealing with a wide range of topics.
7. An example of an annotated bibliography that analyzes journal articles
is available at:
http://oldwww.scottsdalecc.edu/mugford/bib.htm
An annotated bibliography that analyzes content on web sites is at:
www.tahvt.org/AnnotatedBibExample.pdf
8. Also, if you really want to learn some skills that you can use in your
other courses, check out WebTycho’s “RefWorks.” This online citation
tool helps you create citations in a specific format such as APA (which is
the format we use in this class) or MLA. Use of RefWorks is optional for
this Assignment, but if you learn how to use it now, you can save yourself
a lot of work down the road!
http://www.umuc.edu/library/database/refworks.shtml
The Annotated Bibliography is worth 20 points (20%) towards your final
grade. Leave yourself plenty of time – it probably will take longer than
you think. Late submissions lose 1 point per day. The due date is November 11, 2012. Annotated Bibliographies submitted AFTER this are graded, but the instructor does provide comments on your work.
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