The final paper will comprise of a full thesis proposal, which will reflect students’ abilities to critically evaluate the research in an area of criminal justice, design an empirical or analytical study, and write an academic style research proposal. It will also be used to assess whether students can use Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminal Justice Periodicals Index, and/or NCJRS Abstracts Database effectively. The final paper will begin with a thesis/problem statement and a literature review in which students are required to surveys scholarly works relevant to their particular area of research, providing a summary and critical evaluation of extant literature. The goal is to propose and justify new research questions and a pertinent, detailed research plan that could advance our current state of knowledge.

Your thesis proposal must not exceed 15 double-spaced pages or 7,500 words in 12-point font with 1-inch margins. Title page, abstract, charts, figures, references/bibliography, and appendixes do not count toward the 15-page limit for the proposal. The proposal should include:

a. Title page.

b. Abstract (not to exceed 250 words).

c. Main body, which includes:

Purpose / statement of problem.
Review of relevant literature.
Research questions and hypotheses.
Research design and methods.
Data limitations and ethical challenges
Significance and implications for criminal justice policy and practice.
d. Appendixes (not counted against program narrative page limit) include:

Bibliography/References.
Tables and charts (if applicable)

please, try to include
-research topic
-summary of the literature
-literature review
-research design and methods