soc 1500 esaay and proposal guidelines Winter 2019 Essays - Articles

SOCIOLOGY *1500 CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Guelph Winter 2019 Essay Proposal and Essay Guidelines Criminological theories are often used to understand and explain criminal behaviour and the functioning of the criminal justice system. As you will learn in class, many theories have been developed to uniquely account for, understand, and explain crime. Generally speaking, where biological and psychological theories of crime focus on the individual, classical and contemporary sociological explanations are more interested in understanding the influences of groups and social contexts. For this assignment, you will apply two criminological theories learned in class to help us understand why a crime committed in North America in the last 20 years may have occurred. You will obtain relevant details of the crime from reports published by major North American news organizations or other reputable outlets. Care fully review the following information which inc ludes guidelines for writing essay proposals and essays, important formatting details, and responses to frequently asked questions (FAQ) Formatting and Submission Instructions: Papers (proposal and essay) must be doubled-spaced with 12 point font in Times New Roman. Please include page numbers and word count for your essay. Please use APA referencing format. You may use first-person pronouns if you wish. Please submit your work via the Dropbox on our Courselink. Please submit your proposal and essay in either Microsoft Word or PDF only. Please include a cover page with your essay topic title, your name and your U of G Student ID number. Essay Proposal Guidelines: Value: 10% of your Final Grade. Length: 1-1.5 pages, double-spaced. Please submit via the Dropbox on Courselink Your proposal will provide a brief introduction to the essay you plan to write. It will allow you the opportunity to receive written feedback about your ideas and the theories you plan to use. You may use subheadings in your proposal to organize your work. a. You should begin by providing a one-paragraph description of the crime that you will analyze. At this point your description does not need to be overly detailed, but you should provide enough information for your TA to assess whether the theories you have chosen are the best fit for your argument. b. The crime you select must have occurred in North America within the last 20 years (i.e. the criminal event occurred within the last 20 years, not the trial or appeal) c. Your paper will focus on a specific offence/group of offences perpetrated by an individual/group of individuals. d. You must cite a least 1 news source in your essay proposal. Theories Next, identify the 2 theories you will use to analyze the crime you have selected and briefly explain why these theories may be useful for understanding why that crime occurred. For each theory, you should first describe the theory in your own words (1-2 sentences so we know you understand that theory) and then explain how that theory can be used to help understand why the crime you selected may have occurred (2-3 sentences). Please look through our textbook to identify theories that you might find useful (we likely will not have covered them in class before your proposal is due). Thesis Finally tell us what your essay's argument will be. As a reminder, a thesis sentence is used to convey your argument to your reader. Your thesis must convey an argument; that means it should go beyond a simple statement identifying the two theories you will apply. Please DO NOT use direct quotes in your proposal. Please paraphrase everything (in your own words) so we know you understand the material before you go on to write your essay. Essay Guidelines Value: 25% of your Final Grade Length: 4-5 pages double-spaced 12 point font in Times New Roman Please submit via the Dropbox on Courselink. Your essay will build upon the essay proposal by more fully describing the crime you have chosen to study and by presenting your argument as to how the two theories you have identified may be used to understand why the crime occurred. You must cite at least 3 news sources in your essay. All material that is not your own (any ideas, statements, quotations) must