RESEARCH PAPER: OUTLINE ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS OVERVIEW You must provide an in-

RESEARCH PAPER: OUTLINE ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
OVERVIEW
You must provide an in-depth outline of the research paper you plan to write based on the topic you selected upon completing your Quiz: Research Paper – Topic Selection. INSTRUCTIONS
Your outline must contain headings that correlate to your chosen topic. You must use the current APA recommended alphanumeric outline format below:
I. (APA level 1) (Author, year)
A. (APA level 2) (Author, year)
1. (APA level 3)
a. (APA level 4)
(1) (APA level 5)
II. (APA level 1) (Author, year) and so on
You must include the appropriate author and year (author, year) in your outline point. Generally, you will need author and year citations for most Roman numeral Levels (e.g., I. II, III and so on) or capital letter (e.g., A, B, C and so on) level points. You must describe each point with 1–2 sentences. See the outline example below.
Your outline must also include a Reference page with at least 5 peer reviewed journal articles. A peer reviewed journal article has been reviewed for content by generally three reviewers with expertise in the discipline. Please see the Research Paper: Outline Example. Note about per reviewed journals: Not all published literature in criminal justice is peer-reviewed. For example, NIJ Journal/Bulletin and some other National Institutes of Justice publications are not peer reviewed. For example, NIJ Journal articles may not have an abstract or will only contain notes—not References. Some articles related to criminal justice published on the Internet are not necessarily peer reviewed. This does NOT mean that NIJ Journal and Internet articles are not informative and useful. Peer reviews only ensure that several professionals with expertise in the specific area have critically read and reviewed an article; however, not adequately addressing the comments of peer reviewers could result in the rejection of the paper for publication.
Indicators of Peer Reviewed Literature:
There are a number of indicators that may help one identify peer-reviewed literature. In general, the surest way to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed is to go the JOURNAL’S website which explains the journals process for peer review. Other than that, below are 10 good indicators of whether a journal is peer-reviewed or not. 1. Journal is generally in the title
Journals related to criminal justice include, but are not limited to,:
Journal of Criminal Justice
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
Journal of Quantitative Criminology
Journal of Sociology
International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences
Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy
Homicide: An Interdisciplinary and International Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences
Criminology
Criminology and Public Policy
American Journal of Criminal Justice
2. Always has an Abstract, and most have keywords
3. Authors have a Ph.D. and are affiliated with a university
4. Could be two types of articles:
a. Empirical studies (Original research: Hypothesis, Experimental Methods, Data, Graphs and Charts, Discussion, Conclusions, Appendices with data)
b. Literature reviews (Compilation of other studies-meta-analyses)
5. Generally, has appropriate headings (outline) throughout the paper
6. Technical or discipline specific language and keywords
7. References (Bibliography, Works Cited) at the end of the article
a. This list is usually extensive (one page or longer)
8. Content is generally greater than 5-pages long
9. No or very few advertisements on any of the pages
10. Is generally in a relevant database in the Library, such as Criminal Justice Abstracts