The Research Paper will be 19% of the course grade and consist of 14-20 double spaced pages (excluding title page and reference page). The research will address one of the following five topics: 1. T

1 APA Style ( 7th ed.) Guide The Basics of Academic Writing , Information Literacy, In -Text Citations , and R eference Fo rmatting This APA Style 7 th editi on guide was designed to help introduce the college social science ma jor to best practices on selecting acceptable scholarl y references for academic writing and to model examples of the basic requirements o f formatting in-text citation and references . Basic Writing Rules 1. When in doubt do not guess, simply contact your profe ssor for clarification. 2. Use Times New Roman 12 font ONLY. 3. No underlin ing . 4. Double -space your paper, including the reference list. 5. 1”. Margins . 6. Indent new paragraphs .5” 7. Paragraphs need to be at least 3 to 5 sentences in len gth . 8. Reference list entries are in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author of each work. If no author, use the first word in the articles title. 9. Italicize journal titles and volume numbers. Do not italicize issue numbers or page numbers. 2 10. Italicize book titles . 11. Do not use quotes in your analytic papers. Your analysis is the main point of writing the paper. Avoid this mistake and stay away from using any quotes in your criminal justice writing. Paraphrase and cite the source. 12. References cited in the text must appear in the refere nce list and vice versa. 13. Anything that is not common knowledge to the public needs to be cited. You must give credit to the sources that inspired your thinking on a topic. 14. Give credit to the sources with a n in-text citation after each sentence. Do not wait to the en d of the paragraph to use in -text citations . Each sentence that needs to be cited should have an in -text citation like this example (Bond, 20 20 ). General Principles for References • Use the most original source possible. • Use the most up -to-date and reliable source available. • General rule is that references should not be older than five ye ars from date published . • Your paper is only as good as its weakest source. The Following ARE Acceptable Scholarly References • Scholarly Periodicals • Peer -Reviewed Journal Articles • Scholarly Books • Student Theses or Dissertations • Official Government Reports. Example, reports or studies from the DOJ, etc. • Court Ru ling (Legal R eference ) from a credible and reliable source. Acceptable Scholarly Source Peer reviewed journal research articles are those that appear in criminal justice or public policy related journals or periodicals that have passed a rigorous peer -review process to validate the research contained in the article. The review process involves forwarding the research study to several researchers , practitioners, and professionals associated with the journal and these researchers review the study for reliability and validity, bias, proper research policies and procedures, ethical treatment of research subjects, ethical practices of the researchers, etc. If all of these and other crite ria are met, the study can then be published in that journal. The Following are NOT Acceptable Scholarly References and will not be used in your academic wr iting , even if you can locate them in the online library they are not to be used. If you wish to use any of these type of references, just know they are not acceptable college level writing resources and you should contact your class professor for permission before using these sources in any of your academic writing (forums, exam essays, term papers, etc.) • Class Lecture Notes • Encyclopedias • Dictionaries 3 • Your Personal Experience (military, police sheriff, corrections, etc.) • Popular Books • Popular Magazines • Radio and TV Broadcasts • The Internet (Googling, private websites with no quality peer -review program) • Wikipedia • Newspapers • Textbooks, unless your instructor authorize s the student to use the class text or other textbooks. • Professional website such as PoliceOne.com , etc. • Blog Articles Information Lit eracy Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to 'recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information . The first s tep in locating references for your academic writing is to know where to look. The APUS Online Library academic databases are a great resource to find current peer -reviewed journal articles. Peer -reviewed journal articles are the highest quality and credible sources that can be used in your papers . Use current peer -reviewed journal articles that ha ve been published within the last 5 years. There are other locations to find accep table and credible peer -reviewed journal articles such as Google Sc holar . Reference List: Basic Rules Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper and should be the last page after your conclusion on a separate page . The reference list provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page References centered at the top of the page. All text is to be double -spaced just like th e rest of your essay . Reference and I n-text Citation Examples The models presented in this guide are from the APA Style 7 th Edition Publication Manual . Use these examples to help you format your references . Notice how the references are double spa ced and if there is a second line with the references it is indented. This i s called the hanging indenta tion. Notice how references with a DOI web address are active hyperlinks. If your reference does not have a DOI Number assigned from the academic databases, you will need to check if a DOI number has been issued since publication. It is the student responsibility to ensure if a DOI number has been issued , and that it is included with the reference when formatting. To check on the DOI use CrossRef . 4 Book with a DOI Number Brown, L. S. (2018). Femi nist therapy (2nd ed.) American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092 -000 Parenthetical citation: (Brown, 2018). Narrative citation: Brown (2018) stated... Book with no DOI Number Burgess, R. (2019). Rethinking global health: Fram eworks of power . Rout ledge. Parenthetical citation: (B urgess , 201 9). Narrative citation: Burgess (201 9) claimed ... Journal Article ( Database or Goo gle Scholar) with a DOI Number Huestegge, S. M. , Raettig, T., & Huestegge, L. (2019). Are face -incongruent voices harder to process? Effects of face -voice gender incongruency on bas ic cognitive information processing. Experimental Psychology , 66 (2), 154 -164. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618 - 3169/a000440 Parenthetical citation: (Huestegge et al. , 201 9). Narrative citation: Huestegge et al. (201 9) argued ... Journal Article without a DOI Num ber (Database or Goo gle Scholar) Ahmann, E. , Tuttle, L. J., Savient, M. , & Wright, S. D. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD coaching resear ch : Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31 (1), 17 -39. Parenthetical citation: (Ahmann et al. , 201 8). Narrative citation: Ahmann et al. (201 8) observed.... 5 Government Document Online National Institute of Mental Health. (2016). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 16 -1679). U.S. Gove rnment Printing Office. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml Parenthetical citation: (National Institute of Mental Health , 201 6). Narrative citation: National Institute of Mental Health (201 6) created .... Government Web Page (Official Agency Website) United States Secret Service. (2016). Special agent hiring and training. http://www.secretservice.gov/ Parenthetical citation: (United States Secret Service , 201 6). Narrative citation: United States Secret Service (201 6) discovered .... Legal Reference U.S. Supreme Court case with a page number Brown v. Board of Educ ation , 347 U.S. 483 (1954). https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940 - 1950/347us483 Parenthetical citation: (Brown v. Board of E ducation , 1954 ). Narrative citation: Brown v. Board of E ducation (1954 ) resolved .... Disser tation of Thesis from a Database Hollander, M. M. (2017). Resistance to authority: Methodological innovations and new lessons from the Milgram experiment (Publication No. 10289373) [Docto ral dissertation , University of Wisconsin -Madison ]. Pro Quest Disse rtations and These s Global. Parenthetical citation: (Hollander , 2017 ). 6 Narrative citation: Hollander (2017 ) articulated .... The Basics of In -Text Citations Parent hetical citations are always inside the sentence like this example (Bond, 20 20). If there are three or more authors, even for the first use of the reference the in -text citation is formatted in this manner. (Bond et al., 2020).