Students will write a scholarly paper that is a minimum of 8-10 pages in length (8-10 pages excluding the title page, abstract, and reference page)References may be found in the APUS library or se

Students will write a scholarly paper that is a minimum of 8-10 pages in length (8-10 pages excluding the title page, abstract, and reference page)

References may be found in the APUS library or search engines such as Google Scholar.  The paper must include at least five, peer-reviewed sources that cover your chosen topic from the list below. Keep in mind that 5 is the minimum.  A good quality research paper usually contains in excess of 10.   Sources should be less than 10 years old and if using statistical  data, it should be less than 5 years old.  Do not forget to use in text  citations to credit your sources.

Note  that references used for your research need to be  peer-reviewed/scholarly journals. These journals typically have the  following characteristics: 

1. articles are reviewed by a panel of experts before they are accepted for publication; 2. articles are written by a scholar or specialist in the field; 3. articles report on original research or experimentation; 4. are often published by professional associations; 5. utilize terminology associated with the discipline.

 Use of newspapers, news magazines, and similar periodicals must be kept  to a minimum, and will be acceptable only as sources for supplementary  information. 

References like “Wikipedia,” “Psychology Today,” and “Court TV” are not  primary sources, are not peer reviewed (reviewed for empirical  integrity, accuracy, and authenticity), and are not appropriate  references for scholarly writing (with the possible exception of use for  anecdotal background information).

Research Paper Topic 

Choose a topic relevant to criminal investigations.  Examples include:

Wrongful Convictions

The  paper should be of high quality, free of spelling and grammatical  errors, and of original work. Plagiarism will not be permitted and  occurrences of it will result in the procedures outlined in the "Student  Handbook."

 IMPORTANT NOTE: Once you have submitted the assignment  it is automatically run through Turnitin.com (plagiarism checker).   You  MUST be below a 20% match to other sources.