criminal law writing assignment

PLEASE READ DIRECTIONS!!!!
APA format required, 1 page response for each question 6 pages total but you may go over. Please select 1 end of chapter question respond to the question in depth or you may summarize the chapter. Choose a question you did not choose as your weekly discussion post questions throughout the semester.

You may select a topic or chapter from our textbook. You are to write an 6-8 page term paper . All APA requirements,
PLEASE USE: journal articles (found at libraries or online databases), (dot) .org websites, (dot) . gov websites, books in the field (not textbooks)

Researching scholarly journals using the library research system and google scholar –See the librarian to improve your future beyond this class.

I have received a few questions about online dictionaries. I have already discussed Wikipedia in an announcement. Wikipedia can be very useful as a quick reference and is one of the most popular websites on the internet. It is not a scholarly source, however. It is an online encyclopedia that its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Wikipedia can be a great tool for learning and researching information; however, not everything in Wikipedia is accurate, comprehensive, or unbiased. It is not appropriate for use in your research papers and some professors prohibit using it in the classroom. I see that a number of you have cited the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) in your posts. According to the website, the SEP was designed so that each entry is maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field. All entries and substantive updates are refereed by the members of a distinguished Editorial Board before they are made public. The SEP’s model may therefore represent a unique digital library concept: a scholarly dynamic reference work. Nonetheless, while is appears to be reputable, you want to avoid writing a post where you do not include any journal article citations. It is really important that learners master the full text databases. When you are using the full text databases to search for your articles to complete the discussion post assignment and your papers, be sure to check the box to limit the search to peer reviewed publications.

Many scholarly journals use a process of peer review prior to publishing an article, whereby other scholars in the author’s field or specialty critically assess a draft of the article. Peer-reviewed journals (also called refereed journals) are scholarly journals that only publish articles that have passed through this review process. The review process helps ensure that the published articles reflect solid scholarship in their fields. Scholarly journals contain articles written by, and addressed to, experts in a discipline. They are concerned with academic study, especially research, and demonstrate the methods and concerns of scholars. The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report original research or experimentation and to communicate this information to the rest of the scholarly world. The language of scholarly journals reflects the discipline covered, as it assumes some knowledge or background on the part of the reader. Scholarly journals always rigorously cite their sources and many scholarly journals are published by professional organizations.

It is important to understand this distinction between the above and the many non-refereed scholarly journals as well as non-scholarly sources that may be useful to you in your quest for knowledge.

A number of students are still struggling with APA style. I have attempted to point out examples in your posts. The best way to learn APA style is to buy the book and practice. Here is a tip that you may appreciate more, however (smile). When you search in the Academic Search Premier/ EBSCO database you can actually choose a function that allows you to change the citation to APA format and email it to yourself. Then all you would have to do is copy and paste it into your paper.

Here are the steps:
1. Enter your search terms and locate article of interest.
2. Click on the add to folder
3. Enter the folder and click email option
4. Look to the lower right of the screen and click on the arrow to change citation style. I believe AMA is the default style. Choose APA instead.
5. Click send to send the article to your email account.
6. You should see the APA reference at the beginning of the article when you open the file.
You still need to change the sentence capitalization (only the first word she be capitalized) and always double check the APA citation because I have caught a few minor errors at time. Hope this helps.

Also, I am not always sure if students who are listing multiple references for their posts are citing original sources that they personally read, versus paraphrasing works cited in one article. If you did not personally read the material it is called a secondary source. To properly cite secondary sources, refer to both sources in the text, but include in the References list only the source that you actually used/read. For instance, suppose you read Lowe and Mascher (2001) and would like to paraphrase the following sentence within that chapter: Bandura (1989) defined self-efficacy as “people’s beliefs about their capabilities to exercise control over events that affect their lives” (p. 1175).
In this case, your in-text citation would be (Bandura, 1989, as cited in Lowe and Mascher, 2001). Lowe & Mascher (2001) would be fully referenced within the list of References. Bandura (1989) would not be listed. For more information on citing secondary sources, see Example 22 on p. 247 of the 5th edition Publication Manual (soft cover version).

It is my aspiration that you leave this course with an increased knowledge in APA style 🙂 Make sure that you are using APA formatting in your final paper.

Things that need to be present in every APA paper and/or assignment:

Title Page (all double-spaced and centered)
Title of paper
Student’s name
School Name
Time spent on assignment
Running head needed (the words ‘Running head’ must be present as well… this is only on the Title Page though)
Page number of 1
Abstract (all double-spaced)
The word ‘Abstract’ should be centered on page
The first line of the Abstract is not indented or tabbed
Running head needed, however, the words ‘Running head’ should not be present
Page number of 2
Content/body of paper (all double-spaced)
Running head needed, however, the words ‘Running head’ should not be present
Appropriate page numbers (3 through how many pages are presented)
Must have in-text citations (should be from academic sources)
Must appropriately address short and long quotes
Must address all questions/issues from assignment/research paper instructions
Reference Page (the word ‘References’ should be centered; should be double-spaced between references; references themselves can either be double-spaced or single-spaced; it looks tidier when references are single-spaced with a double-space between references)
Hanging indentions
Sources should have the appropriate page numbers in references (when applicable)
Running head needed, however, the words ‘Running head’ should not be present
Appropriate page number
Running Heads
Be at the top of every page and it should be even with the page number; it should be flush on the left margin
The words ‘Running head’ should only be present on the Title Page and the ‘R’ in Running should be capitalized, but the rest should be lower case (Running head:)
The title or partial title used for the Running head should be in all capital letters on every page
Page numbers
Should be a page number on the top of every page and it should be even with the Running head; it should be flush on the right margin
Page numbers start on the Title Page; the Title Page is always page 1
The Abstract is page 2
Content should begin on page 3 +
References page should also have a page number