Murder

Annotated bibliography

Due date: Friday March 13

Length: 500 words

An annotated bibliography requires conducting independent research and evaluating different academic sources. Students will be required to find and assess 3 different academic sources (either 1 book and 2 peer-reviewed articles or 2 books and 1 peer-reviewed article), and write a short (150-200 word) summary and critical analysis of each. The total length of the assessment is 500 words.

What to do:

1) Select what type of offence you are planning to focus on in your research essay, for example, assault, murder, hate crimes, etc. (Note that you are able to change your chosen offence at a later stage if you want, although this may cost you time in doing additional research).

2) Start researching to find appropriate scholarly material about your chosen offence. The three ways that I would recommend to begin your research are:

a. A good old-fashioned library search. Start looking through the library here and at other universities to see if there are any books on your offence type that might be appropriate. Get any relevant books out on load and read. You can also borrow books from other libraries if you organise a Caval card – ask the librarians here at Macquarie how to set this up.

b. Google scholar – google scholar searches work similarly to regular google searches but results are generally (though not always)limited to academic sources (mostly journal articles). Once you have identified a useful looking source on google scholar you will likely have to access it through the library portal in order to avoid having to pay an access fee. Write down the name of the journal as well as the issue number, name of the article, and author. Put this info into a library search and go from there. Google searches are a great way to start researching. However, keep in mind that search results are not always comprehensive.

c. Search through library databases. These link directly to online criminology journals (e.g. the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Policing & Society, Criminology and Criminal Justice, etc.). These represent arguably the best and most comprehensive academic resources available.

3) From your research, select material that seems to relate most directly to your topic, and that will help shed light on it in some useful way. Your research essay has to do with theories about crime causationfor your specific offence, so try and select articles with this in mind.

4) After you have chosen your 3 academic sources you are required to write an evaluation of each one. The evaluations are to be between 150-200 words each, and 500 words in total. In your evaluation you must:

a. Begin by providing the proper citation for your source

b. Describe the content of the source (what issue does it address? How was any research done? What does it conclude?)

c. Evaluate its validity and usefulness/relevance to your research (What are its strengths and weaknesses? Does it usefully inform your research? How?)

Important Points to Remember:

• All sources must be proper academic/scholarly texts. Academic texts are subject to much higher standards in terms of quality, objectivity and accountability than other sources available through the media and online. For the purposes of this assessment, appropriate scholarly sources are limited to either books or book chapters(preferably published by a university, e.g. Oxford University Press), or peer-reviewed journal articles. Peer-reviewed articles are those published in most academic journals (e.g. British Journal of Criminology, Criminology & Criminal Justice, etc.). Do not cite websites (e.g. Wikipedia) or news media (e.g. Sydney Morning Herald or ABC News). These can be used in some assessments but not this one!

• Use correct formatting. One of the primary purposes of this assignment is to get you used to proper scholarly conventions. Appropriate formatting is easy to get right and an easy way to attain easy marks. All it takes is some attention to detail. There are many different styles of academic formatting. For your PICT subjects the required style is SAGE Harvard.

Click on the following link for detailed information on appropriate referencing:

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/repository/binaries/pdf/SAGE_Harvard_reference_style.pdf

• Adhere to the word limit. In academia and in most work settings, it is important that you are able write to a brief, that is, to respond to set tasks in the way intended. With regard to the word limit, you must stay within a 10% range (i.e. between 450-550 words). Anything either over or under this will attract a penalty.

Useful Links

There are heaps of good resources available online to help you write an annotated bibliography. Check out the sample links below for some useful additional information:

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/annotated_bib.html

http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/bibliography

https://academicskills.anu.edu.au/resources/handouts/writing-annotated-bibliography

MURDER

Instructions
This assignment is to demonstrate your mastery of how the criminal justice system works. This assignment is designed to give you an opportunity to display your knowledge of the parts and processes of the criminal justice system. The more specific and detailed the paper is, the more effective it will be in demonstrating your understanding of the system.
Step 1. Select one of the three Case Studies below. Where there is more than one person arrested/charged in that case, please focus on ONE of the subjects for the purpose of this research paper.
Case Study 1 – MURDER
Watch the following YouTube video.
Following an introductory paragraph, your project assignment should start with the arrest of the John Burke.

Step 2. Describe the process that the offender would go through in the criminal justice system, beginning with arrest. For purposes of this assignment you are to assume that the offender will be eventually convicted, thus your paper should also include all stages in the criminal justice process subsequent to conviction. Upon conviction, you must also determine the probable sentence the offender will receive, (institutionalization or community-based supervision); explain why the sentence you have chosen would most likely occur, and what the offender can expect in light of this sentence. Students who exhibit mastery of this project and how the system works will also provide a probable alternative to the selected sentence, fully explaining “why” this alternative could also occur. In essence, this paper will track the offender from removal from the community by police, to return to the community free of imposed supervision.
Step 3. Conclude your analysis by discussing what you believe to be the weakest link in the criminal justice process and the strongest link in the process. Provide explanations to support your assessments for both. Careful critical thinking is required. Invest considerable effort in thinking about what you have learned over the course of the term in addressing this final aspect of the mission.
The sources you are to use to obtain information for your descriptions of the criminal justice process include the course reading material and two peer-reviewed journal articles. As an academic paper it must contain APA formatted citations throughout the paper whenever information is being presented from a source.
Even though you may have personal experience in the field (e.g. police officer) or use knowledge obtained in previous courses, information used in this paper must be supported through the use of citations which meet the criteria for sources indicated above.
An example of the correct page header and title page format can be found in Unit 3 of the APA Tutorial in the Course Content.

Here are the sections that should appear in your paper, each of which should be subtitled:

• Introduction
• A brief description of the crime
• Description of the processes in the adult American criminal justice system the offender would go through, beginning with arrest
• Your analysis of the weakest and strongest links in the criminal justice process
– Conclusion
Form and Format Requirements
• Paper should be a minimum of 1,500 words and a maximum of 2,000 words
• Double space
• 12 pt. font
• 1” margins
• Use APA citations for all sources
• Include reference page (not included in word count)
•Additionally –
• Create a cover page for your assignment (not included in word count)
• Include your name
• Course title and number
• Project title
• Topic selected
• Date of submission

MURDER

Instructions
This assignment is to demonstrate your mastery of how the criminal justice system works. This assignment is designed to give you an opportunity to display your knowledge of the parts and processes of the criminal justice system. The more specific and detailed the paper is, the more effective it will be in demonstrating your understanding of the system.
Step 1. Select one of the three Case Studies below. Where there is more than one person arrested/charged in that case, please focus on ONE of the subjects for the purpose of this research paper.
Case Study 1 – MURDER
Watch the following YouTube video.
Following an introductory paragraph, your project assignment should start with the arrest of the John Burke.

Step 2. Describe the process that the offender would go through in the criminal justice system, beginning with arrest. For purposes of this assignment you are to assume that the offender will be eventually convicted, thus your paper should also include all stages in the criminal justice process subsequent to conviction. Upon conviction, you must also determine the probable sentence the offender will receive, (institutionalization or community-based supervision); explain why the sentence you have chosen would most likely occur, and what the offender can expect in light of this sentence. Students who exhibit mastery of this project and how the system works will also provide a probable alternative to the selected sentence, fully explaining “why” this alternative could also occur. In essence, this paper will track the offender from removal from the community by police, to return to the community free of imposed supervision.
Step 3. Conclude your analysis by discussing what you believe to be the weakest link in the criminal justice process and the strongest link in the process. Provide explanations to support your assessments for both. Careful critical thinking is required. Invest considerable effort in thinking about what you have learned over the course of the term in addressing this final aspect of the mission.
The sources you are to use to obtain information for your descriptions of the criminal justice process include the course reading material and two peer-reviewed journal articles. As an academic paper it must contain APA formatted citations throughout the paper whenever information is being presented from a source.
Even though you may have personal experience in the field (e.g. police officer) or use knowledge obtained in previous courses, information used in this paper must be supported through the use of citations which meet the criteria for sources indicated above.
An example of the correct page header and title page format can be found in Unit 3 of the APA Tutorial in the Course Content.

Here are the sections that should appear in your paper, each of which should be subtitled:

• Introduction
• A brief description of the crime
• Description of the processes in the adult American criminal justice system the offender would go through, beginning with arrest
• Your analysis of the weakest and strongest links in the criminal justice process
– Conclusion
Form and Format Requirements
• Paper should be a minimum of 1,500 words and a maximum of 2,000 words
• Double space
• 12 pt. font
• 1” margins
• Use APA citations for all sources
• Include reference page (not included in word count)
•Additionally –
• Create a cover page for your assignment (not included in word count)
• Include your name
• Course title and number
• Project title
• Topic selected
• Date of submission