Final Paper Breakdown

Final Paper Breakdown: - see marking rubric in syllabus. What is in there represents the bare minimum of what she is looking for (which is at least 18 pages). The key to enhancing the paper is EVIDENCE (like journal articles, interview excerpts and newspaper excerpts)!

I. Abstract  Maximum of 250 words  Should write it once we are finished the rest of the paper; look at articles we have read in class to see examples II. Introduction  “This paper examines . . .”  Set the context of the paper, explain what’s going to be in the lit review, methodology, findings  Can use references to show why studying the topic is important (i.e. why studying young offenders is important)  A strong introduction might be somewhere between 2-3 double spaced pages III. Literature Review  Analysis NOT summary  Continue to reiterate what your research is about, shows how you researched the topic and how large it is  Try to have no fewer than 4 themes of the literature (and approx. 15 articles)  Should be able to see the context of the topic and the link to the literature (and show that you have knowledge about the literature in the area you are studying) IV. Methodology  “Our research is guided by the following question . . .”  Discussion of symbolic interactionism – Herbert Blumer’s 3 principles and how they apply to your research and use examples from interviews (ex. the meaning of cocaine from the articles vs. what the interviewee would say the meaning of cocaine is)  Discussion of participants – keep in mind confidentiality; give a very general picture of who they are; can say what their job is, gender, etc.; can talk about limitations  Research ethics – challenges of qualitative research in criminology in particular; how you maintained confidentiality and how you maintained consent  Data collection – how did you collect you information (the interview guides can be attached as an appendix); in terms of newspaper articles, what databases did you use, what did you look for? National, regional or international newspapers  Data analysis – content analysis (what is it?) – talk about coding and step by step process of how you did the analysis (yes, it’s that simple) V. Findings & Discussion  What you found out from the data analysis of interviews and newspapers (might have to show them separately in two different sets of findings); may or may not be similarities in the findings of newspapers and interviews  Start by presenting the interview findings – “from our interviews, 3 themes have emerged . . .”  Next you would look at newspaper findings and the themes that emerged from them  Excerpts from data are key (aka Evidence!!!)  Next, discuss similarities & differences in newspaper findings vs. interview findings, and the different perspectives used to look at the topic (how people are saying stuff)  Did you answer your research question? (it’s okay to say no as long as you explain how come)  Also, you need to incorporate journal articles to show how what you data said is similar to what articles are saying (should be different from articles in lit review) VI. Conclusion/Recommendations  Tie everything back together  Future research – what would you do if you had to continue this study? (try to make it something realistic) VII. Bibliography  Every time you use a source when you are writing, add it to your bibliography (in other words, keep a running bibliography while you write)

Potential Outline for Final Paper: -- We would probably be able to break down the intro, lit review and conclusion too, but I’m not really sure how we would break them down yet.

I. Abstract II. Introduction III. Literature Review IV. Methodology a. Intro/ research question b. Discussion of symbolic interactionism c. Discussion of interview participants d. Discussion of research ethics e. Data collection f. Data analysis V. Findings & Discussion a. Interview findings b. Newspaper findings c. Similarities and Differences d. Connection of research question to the findings VI. Conclusion/ Recommendations VII. Bibliography