20 Sep Mental health and the criminal justice system

Im supposed to write about mental health and the criminal justice system and why I agree with Pete Earley and his position.

This is an overview of your research paper assignment, which will entail the Research Modules and the writing of Essay 3, the Research Paper.  The research modules that you are about to complete will teach you some basic principles of doing academic research and the steps of finding materials that are appropriate for an academic research paper.  The bibliography you are about to construct will support this paper.

You have just read a book club book:  Just Mercy or Crazy.  This book suggested many topic and commented on many social issues that we are facing in contemporary society.  Now its time to give your readers some insights into your thoughts and ideas about what you read.  We will approach this task from 1 of 2 angles:  An evaluation angle or a problem-solving angle.

Your research paper comes from your book, so you must be sure you have completed all of the discussion boards and quizzes related to the book.  You have 3 book club cycles to complete.

Keep in mind, though, that you will not focus on every aspect of the book.  For this paper, you will focus on a very specific, narrow line if inquiry that develops a particular aspect of your authors discussion, not everything that the author discusses in your book.  In other words, your research paper will not be on the book itself, it will be inspired by a topic you discovered during your reading of the book.

As you transition to the research paper, you will focus on one of the two following things.  There will be some overlap between the two, but you will move toward one of these goals:

Position:

If you choose the position angle, you will offer an exploration of your own position of the authors topic. To develop your paper, you will choose one or two very specific aspects of your authors argument that you felt particularly drawn to or that made a specific impression on you.  You can refer back to some of the things you discussed on the discussion boards for inspiration.  This position will become your thesis.

To make this argument, you will discuss whether or not you felt the authors argument was effective and/or complete.  You can either agree or disagree with one aspect of the authors argument OR talk about a place where the authors argument is incomplete or, in your opinion, runs astray.  You will use your research items to back up your opinion.

                  OR

Solution

If you choose the solution angle, you will offer a solution to some problem the author identifies in the text.  Many of the books have suggestions the author makes or small scale solutions the author finds that could or have been taken further.  You will choose one of these and offer a solution that is backed up by your research.  This solution will become your thesis.

Remember that you are taking a position on an issue OR advocating for a particular solution to one of the problems in the book that seems viable.  NOT BOTH.

Your finished paper should contain the following:

An introduction (8-10 sentences) that states your position or topic.

Summary Section (1-1 pages): A short summary of the book that sets up your position or solution.

Evaluation Section (1 -2 pages): A discussion or critique of the aspects of the authors arguments that lead you to your position or solution

Position or Solution Section (5-7 pages):  This section will present all of your research that you find through your module work and discuss how that research contributes to your thinking on your position OR develops your solution.

These are the required research sources.  You will find all of these through your module work:

Reference

News

Magazine

Journal

Internet

Focused body paragraphs that focus on one idea and contain evidence and analysis

MLA formatting throughout paper, including works cited page.

An absence of mechanical, grammatical error.

An inspiration paragraph that comes right before the conclusion and explains connection between book and paper.

A conclusion (10-12 sentences) that reiterates your main idea and leaves your reader with one last thing to think about.

This paper will be about 2000 words in length, somewhere between 8-10 pages.  Do not let this number frighten or intimidate you.  Its totally doable.

But rest assured, we will take it all step by step.  If you have already written some type of research paper, you have an idea of how this will go.  If you have never written a research paper before, you will be very pleased and proud of yourself when you are finished with this assignment.