The first writing assignment focuses on the relationship between theory and rese

The first writing assignment focuses on
the relationship between theory and research. The goal for this assignment is to demonstrate how research is used to support or refute theory.
should use APA style for references and for any citations placed within the text.
The first step is to choose a theory. At this point we have not discussed the full range of theories, so here is a list of possible choices.
• Deterrence
• Rational choice
• Routine activities (either micro or macro level)
• Differential association
• Social learning
• Social structure-social learning
• Containment
• Techniques of neutralization
• Social control/bonding
• Self-control
• Control balance
• General strain theory
• Institutional anomie
• Labelling
• Reintegrative shaming
With theory in hand, the second step is to find three articles which test your chosen theory. These must be articles which present empirical data, operationalize the concepts from the theory, and compare the empirical results to theoretical expectations. You cannot choose articles which summarize large swaths of research (literature reviews), or secondary sources (textbooks, readers, or websites). Also make sure they are referring to criminological theory as other fields may use similar labels for their ideas (e.g., don’t use a study on nuclear weapon proliferation deterrence or toxic gas containment—these aren’t referring to the deterrence and containment theories you read about).
You cannot use the articles from the text. They must be articles you find on googlescholar or Academic Search Complete. Google Scholar is an excellent resource for this exercise (as a search engine of academic literature).
Step three: Read the articles. Understand the research questions, methods (sample and variables), results, and implications.
Step four: Write. Each paper should have three specific sections. This should end up at least 4-5 pages.
• Explain your chosen theory. Note all concepts, how they are related to one another, and how they are related to crime.
• Summarize each article. What were the research questions? How did they go about
answering the questions? And what were the results?
• Generalize the results to make statements about the empirical validity of the theory. To what extent is the theory supported by the research that you reviewed?