Police Brutality Report

Police Brutality Report

1. Introduction (1-2 pages): The introduction section should be designed to interest your reader in your topic and proposal and provide some context for your project. The introduction should include a clear and unambiguous statement of the research problem or question. The importance and significance of this question should also be discussed. At the end of your introduction you should state what the gap in the literature is that you are trying to address (e.g., “The proposed research project attempts to fill _____ gap in the literature by examining _____”).
a. What is the topic? How is it “officially” defined and by whom?
b. Why is the topic a problem? Why is the problem significant?
c. Provide historical context for the topic. For example, how has our understanding of the topic evolved over time?
d. What is the scope of the topic today?
e. Why does the topic continue to be an important area of study?
f. Summarize the contents of this paragraph
g. Introduce the reader to the next paragraph

2. Literature Review (3-5 pages): The literature review should include a review of existing research on this topic area that is relevant to your particular question and hypothesis. You must include at least five (5) scholarly journal articles in this literature review (not books, newspapers, magazines, or internet sites). The literature should be condensed in an intelligent fashion with only the relevant information included (you do not need to provide a detailed summary for each article), and citations must be in APA format. You should include a summary of the existing literature which leads to a clear statement of your hypothesis and research questions. Be specific about what is predicted (e.g., “It is hypothesized that…”).
o Literature review is a well-written summary of existing research on the topic
o Literature review includes at least 5 scholarly sources
o Specific hypotheses are included at the end of the literature review
o Research design and method section is well-written and clearly laid out
• Structure and Organization
o Does the paper have an introductory paragraph with a clearly laid out plan?
o Is the purpose of the paper clearly stated?
o Is there a conclusion to the literature review?
o Is the substantive content of this paper separated by headings?
• Proper Citation
o Do in-text citations follow the APA guidelines?
o Is there a correctly formatted reference page that includes ALL sources cited in the text?
o Are ALL authoritative statements and generalizations backed with citations?

• Grammar
o Is this paper written in a clear, concise, and coherent fashion?
o Are there grammatical/spelling errors?
o Is the paper written in a formal (and non-conversational) fashion?
o This paper is not written in the first person (e.g., I, we, our, us, my, me)
o Are there contractions or slang in the body of this paper?
o There are no more than 3 direct quotes in this paper.
• General Requirements
o Title page (with meaningful title, the date, your name, University of Houston-Victoria, and the course number and name)
o Abstract
o 4-7 pages of typed text (excluding title page, abstract, references, and appendices), 12 point, Times New Roman, 1” margins