Section I: Introduction

Introduce the topic and give the organizational plan of the paper.

Section II:  Purpose/ “So what”

Provide a statement of the crime problem. Why is it important enough to study? This is the “so what” of your topic. Who/what does it impact?

Section III: Literature Review

What have other researchers found out about this topic? Thoroughly describe this crime problem by including the prevalence, frequency, location, type of offender (demographics), etc. Use official crime statistics (not just secondary sourcesthose articles that talk about what the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) saysrather, go directly to the UCR) whenever appropriate and use RECENT sources.

Also use empirical studies here.

This section should reference at least 3 different sources, two of which are empirical studies.

Section IV: Theory Application

Pick two  SOCIAL (not biological or psychological) theories from your textbook that you think explains this crime problem. Thoroughly describe the major tenets of each of the two theories, identify the theorist associated with them, and then explain how they apply to the particular crime problem. Don’t forget to APPLY the theory to your crime problem.

Since this is a theory course, this is the MOST important section of your entire paper. Your time and energy should be focused on this section.

Section V: Programs/Policies

Provide a literature review on at least two programs or policies that are currently being used to address this crime problem. Find evaluations of the program to see if they are effective. Not all programs will have evaluations, but many of the more well-known programs willso if you are using a well-known program, be sure you seek out evaluations.

Section VI: Contribution to the Field

Which theory do you think best explains your crime problem and is supported by one of the programs/policies in Section IV as a way to decrease the problem? In other words, if you were asked why your crime problem occurs, you could explain it via this theory (Section III), the literature review on the crime problem (Section II), and the programs/policies that are being used to address this problem (Section IV).

Section VII:  Conclusion

Write a concluding paragraph to your research paper.