Critical Thinking Paper

 Critical Thinking Paper – 100 Points The assignments shall require that you conduct a more detailed analysis of a subject area than what is covered in our text. The assignments must be original work conducted by the student. Plagiarism or abuse of research will not be tolerated and shall result in reporting to the university and a failing grade. Guidelines for acceptable research methods are noted in the rules and regulations of Indiana Tech. The Critical Thinking Paper requirements are described under Written Projects in this syllabus. Assignments must be uploaded to Blackboard.

 Possible topics (you do not have to use one of these topics):  Gender and crime.  Domestic violence and victimology.  Crimes against children.  Who is the victim in crime of prostitution? Domestic Violence and Control – 100 points Based on the readings and class discussion, answer the following questions, citing the text where applicable. 

Questions are to be answered in paragraph form, not in bullet points. ALL questions are to be answered in the body of the paper. There should be an introduction, body (including at least one paragraph answering each question), and a conclusion. All other requirements are explained below under Written Projects.  How did Eddie exert power and control over the victim in obvious and less obvious ways?  Was domestic violence in this case preceded by other types of abuse?  How did Eddie isolate and control the victim?  Do you think after this assignment that domestic violence is only about physical abuse or is there more involved?  Why do you think some victims are reluctant to leave their abusers?

 Written Projects The class projects are designed to aid you in critically thinking about a variety of criminal justice topics and to get you engaged in the problem solving process. These projects will be utilized to stimulate discussion and to prompt any questions you may have about the criminal justice system.

 The class projects are to be typed, 12-point font, doublespaced, with one-inch margins around the page (default). Your responses should be thorough, they should be written in Standard Academic English, and they should avoid informal slang and casual language. For instance, “cop” is generally unacceptable, “police officer” is preferred. A person may be “mentally ill” or “legally insane”, not “nuts”. Your project should be submitted to Blackboard by the due date found in your course schedule. It is your responsibility to make sure that the paper is uploaded properly. Verify that the document is complete before uploading. Attachments that cannot be  opened or are blank may be considered late. Papers must be 700+ words in length and shall reference the text formally at least four times. A reference page must also be included. Remember this is not a book report. This is a written analysis and critical review in the form of a profile. Paper Requirements (based on a 100 point assignment) Points breakdown  Grammar/spelling/references/completeness – 10 points o Correct grammar/spelling proper format, throughout paper. Proper length.  Problem Identification/thesis – 50 points o Correctly identifying the main point(s) being made. What is the problem or issue? o The purpose of the thesis can be to make an assertion or an argument, or in an informative essay or research piece, to set up the direction and sequence of the writing References reflect theory as cited. Theory ties into critical thought. Scholarly effort.  Citing reference in text (include the page number): 15 points o Direct quote – Turvey notes that “serial killers are generally bad people” (Turvey, 2008, p. 23). o Indirect quote – Turvey believes that serial killers are destined to violate laws and they are bad people (Turvey, 2008, p. 23). o References  Your reference must be scholarly sources written by scholars or professionals in their field.  News articles should only be used for citing events.  Most popular internet sites do not qualify as scholarly/academic sources and cannot be used. Here are a few tips for determining whether an internet source is scholarly:  Websites that end in .edu or .gov are usually scholarly  Websites that end in .com, .net, and .biz are unlikely to be scholarly sources. You are strongly advised to ask your instructor whether such a source is acceptable before using.  Websites that end in .org may or may not be scholarly. Verifying with the instructor is advised.  Wikipedia.org and About.com are not acceptable sources.  Carefully read Purdue OWL’s guide to evaluating sources and pay particular attention to what it says about internet sources: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/04/ o Use the following link to The Owl at Purdue University for the proper use of APA format: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/  Critical thought – 25 points o Writer applies theory to original and critical thought. Questions material and analyzes scene from a fresh perspective. Uses theory to examine evidence in novel way. Work questions or argues existing points of view. Supports or disagrees with author based on own thoughts.