San Diego State University Imperial Valley Campus
Course Syllabus CJ 497 Investigation and Report
Spring 2015
Instructor: Richard C. Martin, Ph.D.:
(best way to reach me)
Office Hours: by appointment
E-mail: rmartindiaz85364@yahoo.com
1. Course Description: This course focuses on the analysis and investigation of
topics in the field of Criminal Justice. The investigation and research is
designed to give participants the opportunity to perform an in depth analysis of a
special topic within the field of Criminal Justice to increase participant’s
knowledge in a specific area Participants are encouraged to develop new skills
when opportunities present themselves such as, information collection methods;
how to analyze organizational dynamics, how to analyze a criminal justice
environment; application of appropriate research design; research statistics; the
use of computer for research analysis; and report writing
2. Student Learning Objectives:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
Understand how to select appropriate research topics
Understand how to produce criminal justice research
Understand how to plan, organize, design and conduct research
Understand how to produce a literature review of existing topics
Understand the scientific foundation of criminal justice inquiry
Understanding the problems with measuring behavioral and cultural
variables.
vii. Learn how to write a professional research report using the APA Format.
viii. Develop skill and knowledge to discriminate “good” from “bad” research
reported in academic and trade journals
3. Choose a topic: Choose a topic in the field of Criminal Justice that you can learn
from and is of interest to you. A suggestion is to choose a topic related to what are
Criminal Justice current events within the Imperial Valley. State your specific
research topic as a question. Be sure to choose a topic for which there is sufficient
information but that is not so extensive that it will be tricky to complete a paper.
After choosing a topic, you must get approval of that topic before proceeding with
your research.
.
4. Research Paper Guidelines:
i. Introduction to the Research Paper: A research project is an
examination of a specific topic by finding information from
numerous diverse sources. Information can be obtained by
reading about the topic, interviews of individuals, collecting data
from primary sources, or collecting data from secondary sources.
The information collected is used for analysis as well as to draw
conclusions. You must record sources of information in footnotes
and cite all sources used in the bibliography.
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ii. Suggested Research Paper Steps:
1. Choose a broad topic related to the field of Criminal
Justice. E-mail topic to the instructor and post on
blackboard assignment.
2. After approval of the broad topic, find and review
information related to the topic.
3. Make an appointment with Bill Payne the reference
librarian to do a computer literature search on your topic.
Mr. Payne’s e-mail address is bpayne@mail.sdsu.edu and
his phone number is 760-768-5626
4. Define and narrow a specific research topic related to the
field of Criminal Justice for your paper. E-mail specific
research topic to your instructor and post on blackboard
assignments.
5. Read sources of information and prepare a preliminary
bibliography (have instructor review preliminary
bibliography prior to next step). The paper requires having
some sources that are not internet. Post on blackboard
assignments
6. Do more literature review if needed
7. Develop a research plan (have instructor review plan) post
on blackboard assignments
8. If necessary conduct research steps in addition to review
of literature
9. Write a first draft
10. Write a second draft
11. Prepare footnotes and final bibliography
12. Write a final draft
13. Proofread the final draft. Post final draft post on turnitin
assignments on blackboard.
o Examples of Specific Research Topic: (1) “In
what way is Information Technology used to
improve operations performance of a specific
criminal justice agency in the Imperial Valley.”
(2) “How California Budget Cuts have affected
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a specific criminal justice agency in the Imperial
Valley.”
5. Sections of the Research Paper:
i. Title Page
ii. Abstract (a two page summary of research topic, methodology,
results and conclusions)
iii. List of Figures (if needed)
iv. List of Tables (if needed)
v. Introduction and Literature Review
vi. Methodology
vii. Results and Discussion
viii. Summary and Conclusions
ix. Bibliography
6. Suggested length: There is not a set length for the paper; however, the paper
has to be a comprehensive research project for which three credit units are
earned. A suggested length is 10 to 15 pages double spaced.
7. Grading:
Research Report Grading Rubric
Distinguished=100-90
Proficient=89-80
Intermediate=79-70
Deficient below 70
Paper is very well
written
Participant is almost
as good as one
receiving a
distinguished rating
but one or two
elements are not
always done.
Participation is
generally similar to
one getting a
deficient rating, but
there are one or two
elements done well
Paper poorly written
There are sufficient
references
Sufficient amount of
data collected
Data analysis is
correct
There are not
sufficient references
Data has not been
collected correctly
or not enough data
collected
Data analysis is poor
Paper is in good
format
Paper is not in
proper format
References are cited
correctly
References are not
cited correctly
8. E-mail and Blackboard- Every student enrolled in CJ 497 is required to have a
ROHAM e-mail account that is linked to Blackboard. Login to web portal click
button Roham/e-mail account. It is the student’s responsibility to check blackboard
on a regular basis, at least every couple of days.
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9. Meeting: There will be on mandatory meeting during the semester that will
occur within the first two weeks of semester. Time and location will be posted
on blackboard and e-mailed to participants.
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