Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
ESSAY ASSIGNMENT ON FORENSIC SCIENCE
All students enrolled in Psychology 106, Forensic Science, will write an essay that
reviews a technique of criminalistics and/or forensic psychology issue, and applies it to one or
more criminal cases (I will consider civil cases, but bear in mind that there may be less
documentation or less rigorous methods used to obtain the evidence). This document details the
requirements of the essay.
Structure
This essay requires some specific sections. These will not only ensure a better grade, but
will also help you to organize your paper.
Broadly, the essay should have these sections:
•
•
Introduction. The opening paragraph should briefly introduce the forensic science that
you will be discussing, and mention the case to which you will apply the science. The
next several paragraphs should then teach the reader all about the forensic technique. As
a general approach, the paper will be much stronger if you focus on the forensic science,
rather than the case(s) you chose. Demonstrate your knowledge of the forensic technique,
and then use the case to support what you wrote about the technique.
Application. The middle section should specify how the relevant forensic science
techniques were applied or misapplied in the case you cover, and what the consequences
were. Note here that you will want to write about the science, using the case to support
your argument. Do not talk about the case and add in little tidbits about forensic science.
For example, a poorly written essay might have a sentence like, “O.J. Simpson’s trial
included a lot of forensic science, like blood spatter, DNA, and trace evidence.” A wellwritten essay would focus on one or two of these; “DNA evidence was an important
component in O.J. Simpson’s trial, in that it indisputably placed him at the scene of the
crime…” A reasonable rule of thumb is to keep the forensic technique as the subject of
the sentence, and the case as the direct or indirect object.
•
•
Conclusion. The essay should close with a broad summary of the forensic science as it
was applied in the current case, and then focus on current trends or future solutions that
could improve the forensic technique, education for jurors on how to evaluate forensic
science, and so on.
References. This section is critical. You must cite a minimum of three sources from
which you obtained your information. You will probably cite the textbook as one of
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
them. These must be cited in the essay body as well, so that you cannot be accused of
plagiarism.
Finding Resources
Half of the point of this assignment is to demonstrate how well you understand one or
two forensic techniques/issues. For that reason, I highly recommend narrowing your topic to one
or two techniques and then choosing appropriate cases to support your review of the
technique/issue.
Good method: I am interested in insanity. Excellent cases to support what I want to
write about are John Hinckley, Jr., and Andrea Yates.
Poor method: I am really interested in the Steven Avery case, so let’s see if I can find
some forensic topic in there to write about.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of cases that would likely be appropriate for
most techniques we cover in this course, but remember the following:
Timing. Newer techniques, such as many computer techniques, have probably been used
less frequently than older techniques, such as fingerprinting. Also please bear the timing of the
case in mind. Cases currently underway are not as likely to have forensic information publicized.
Try to find cases whose outcomes are already known, and for which you can access details of the
forensic science that was applied.
Focus. In any given criminal case, there are likely multiple forensic techniques applied.
Choose a case that has a focal technique or issue. For example, the kidnapping of the Lindbergh
baby included handwriting analysis, wood pattern analysis, and tool imprint analysis, among
many others. Do not try to cover all three.
Many papers in the past have received poor grades because they wasted space and lost
focus writing on irrelevant details. If your essay topic is interrogation techniques, there is no
need to spend a paragraph writing about how gruesome the crime scene was. You are not writing
a screenplay, you are writing an essay.
When searching for cases that exemplify certain techniques, you might consider books
such as
Steadman, D. W. (2008). Hard evidence: Case studies in forensic anthropology.
Rao, K. N. (2012). Forensic toxicology: Medico-legal case studies.
Loue, S. (2013). Case studies in forensic epidemiology.
…and many others.
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
Notice that we do not focus on these topics in the course, but they are still important to
forensic science. If you choose a topic that is not covered in the course, I will grade a little more
leniently, taking into account the fact that you did more effort to become familiar with the topic.
However, if you choose to apply forensic science that is covered in the course, I will focus
mostly on your ability to correctly describe the technique and apply it to the case.
I also recommend watching a few episodes of the series, Forensic Files, as each episode
generally has a focal forensic technique, and many full episodes are publicly available for
viewing. However, if you use a case from an episode, make sure to also use multiple resources to
gather more information on the case. Do not simply recount the information given in the episode
(I have seen most of them and will probably recognize if you have not done additional research).
Due Date
Essays are due on the date and time specified on the syllabus. They must be turned in
using the Turnitin app available on Blackboard. Hard copies and emailed essays will not be
accepted. If the essay is late, then in addition to the points lost for stylistic and writing problems,
unsupported conclusions, or erroneous information, the following penalties will apply.
Lateness
On time
< 24 hours
24 – 48 hours
> 48 hours < 72 hours
> 72 hours
Penalty
None
1 letter grade
2 letter grades
Half credit
Not accepted
Format
There are several standard writing styles which specify things like acceptable font, font
size, page margins, and so on within academic writing. Psychology uses the American
Psychological Association (APA) format. This is the preferred format for course essays, but if
your major uses another style (e.g., Chicago, MLA, etc.), please make a note of that in the title or
after the title in parentheses and follow that style. You may find specifics about APA format at
these websites:
www.apastyle.org
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
or you may consult the publication manual:
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (7th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Additionally, I have prepared an MS Word document that is already set up in the
appropriate format (available on Blackboard). You may use that as a template, but please use
headers appropriate to your essay. The template is for formatting issues only.
Your essay must be a minimum of four full pages of 12-point Times New Roman or Arial
font text, double spaced (approximately 1400 words), with 1” margins on all sides. That is, if you
have a page with the title only, and a page with references only, then your document should be
six pages total. If your essay body is not four full pages, penalties will apply.
Length
4 full pages of essay body
3.5 pages
3 full pages
2 full pages
Penalty
None
1 letter grade
2 letter grades
Half credit
If your essay is triple spaced, and in size 14 font, I will correct the spacing and font size
before grading. Microsoft Word automatically puts extra spaces between paragraphs, so make
sure to remove those or I will count them against your essay length.
Style
A common mistake from undergraduates is to approach an essay as they might a good
story or a screenplay. The point of an essay, however, is to make a strong case for a position,
support an argument with evidence, or inform the reader on a topic—its primary purpose is not
entertainment. Although this does not mean that the paper should be boring, it does mean that
your writing should focus on evidence and rational arguments rather than flashy or colloquial
language. Additionally, avoid conversational tone, instead striving for clear, precise language.
Poor Style Example 1: “I am going to cover some things about the case of Ronald
Cotton. So, what do we know about this case? Ronald Cotton was wrongfully in prison for a
really long time, and he didn’t need to be. The reason he was in prison was eyewitnesses who
were too worried about blaming someone.”
(Notice the conversational style, rather than formal writing. The writer follows a stream-ofconsciousness style that is distracting and unprofessional. This paragraph gives superfluous
information, while not providing other relevant information, and makes evaluative statements
that are not necessarily true.)
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
Poor Style Example 2: “Picture a young, blond woman just walking merrily on her way
home after a party at some friends’ house. Now picture this same woman, her lifeless corpse
abandoned in an alleyway after a brutal attack from a merciless psychopath. This is precisely
what happened on a tragic night in July of 1985…”
(This style abandons the informative purpose of the essay and instead tries to evoke emotions.
Remember that an essay is not a novel or a short story, so this style is out of place. Stick to
facts.)
Better Style: “Eyewitness testimony is heavily relied upon in many criminal cases,
despite its several limitations. The case of Ronald Cotton includes several examples of the
weaknesses of eyewitness testimony as evidence. Mr. Cotton was wrongfully imprisoned for
more than 10 years based largely on eyewitness testimony that was later found to be faulty. After
initial review of some of eyewitness memory’s limitations, I will demonstrate how each was
present in Cotton’s case, and likely affected the witness’s accuracy.”
(Notice the formal, informative, factual language, allowing the reader to evaluate the statements.)
The Use of Quotations
Including quoted text in your essay demonstrates to me that you know how to use the
copy and paste functions on your computer. That is all it demonstrates to me. Therefore, avoid
quotations unless they are absolutely necessary, and only when they support your aims for the
paper. When you must include a quotation, lead into it, presenting the purpose and/or
background for it. After you have given the quote, you must cite its source, and then address
what it was out of the quote you wanted the reader to glean. Then, you must transition back into
your own thought flow. Using excessive or unnecessary quotes is not only distracting and
disruptive to your own thought flow, but it demonstrates to the reader that you are not familiar
enough with your subject matter to explain it in your own words.
On a similar note, an essay is not a book report. Do not tell me what other people wrote
about a topic—you write about the topic, citing those sources. For example, “Dr. Jones’s paper
explains that handwriting analysis is…” is nice, but your assignment is not to tell me what Dr.
Jones knows about handwriting analysis. Your assignment is to tell me what you know. A much
better sentence would be, “Handwriting analysis as a forensic technique assumes that no two
people will have the exact same writing (Jones, 2012).”
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
Please consult the Roosevelt University Writing Center, AUD 442, (312) 341-2206,
writingcenter@roosevelt.edu for proofreading, or help in constructing your essay. Be sure to take
this instruction sheet with you.
Example Essay
Here is a very brief example of what your essay should resemble. I have given only small
portions of each section. Please use the APA Format Template provided on Blackboard to guide
your paper’s format.
Eyewitness Memory Applied to the Case of Ronald Cotton
Eyewitnesses are indispensable to the legal system. Given that physical evidence is not
always present at a crime scene, or may take considerable time to process, an eyewitness is often
the main source of evidence for investigators or prosecuting attorneys. They may quickly
provide information about a sequence of events and descriptions of perpetrators, assisting
authorities in building a case. However, despite its clear utility, eyewitness testimony is prone to
several weaknesses, including contamination, and the cross-race effect.
Variables Affecting Eyewitness Accuracy
There are several phenomena that can affect the accuracy of an eyewitness’s memory.
Many of these variables are relevant to the actual occurrence of the crime, such as characteristics
about the perpetrator. Some other influencers of memory accuracy become relevant immediately
following the crime. One characteristic about the perpetrator that is known to be important to
accurate memory is that person’s race.
The cross-race effect. A widely researched phenomenon that is relevant to eyewitness
memory is called the cross-race or other-race effect. This effect is the reliable finding that
people tend to perform more poorly when discriminating between faces that are of another race
than their own. Specifically, the cross-race effect is where a successful identification of an
unfamiliar face is more likely if the suspect and witness are the same race, but less likely if their
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
races differ. Additionally, faces of another race are more difficult to distinguish from one
another.
The cross-race effect has been found across all races (Meissner & Brigham, 2001), and is
particularly problematic in eyewitness memory cases where the witness and the perpetrator were
not of the same race. In such cases, the witness is more likely to choose a suspect from the
lineup who was not the perpetrator…
Memory contamination. Whereas several things specific to the moment of the crime
are relevant, there are also phenomena that occur following a crime that may influence memory
accuracy. One common weakness of eyewitness memory is that of memory contamination (e.g.,
Loftus, 2003). In this context, contamination is where memories become influenced by
information that the witness did not experience firsthand. Often, the witness will inadvertently
integrate the new information into the existing memory, thus blurring the lines between true and
false memory.
Memories of events may become contaminated when new information is introduced
about an event. In essence, the brain processes this new information along with the memory of
the event, and sometimes the witness is later unable to separate them. This is an important
phenomenon where criminal cases are concerned, as a witness may then appear in court,
swearing under oath that they witnessed specific details about a crime, when in reality, they did
not.
The memory contamination phenomenon has been thoroughly researched by
psychologists. For example, Jenkins and Davies (1985) conducted an experiment with
undergraduates, wherein the participants watched a filmed mock crime scenario and then were
presented with either misleading information in a composite, or nonmisleading information…
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
The Faulty Identification of Mr. Cotton
The case of Ronald Cotton includes several examples of the weaknesses of eyewitness
testimony as evidence in criminal cases. Mr. Cotton was wrongfully imprisoned for more than
10 years based largely on eyewitness testimony that was later found to be faulty (The Innocence
Project, 2013). This section will detail the weaknesses of eyewitness testimony that were
involved in his wrongful conviction. Namely, the topics described here are (a) memory
contamination and (b) the cross-race effect.
Memory contamination was part of what led to Mr. Cotton’s conviction. After the first
witness had identified Mr. Cotton, albeit hesitantly, as the perpetrator, the second witness learned
of this fact. This is an example of memory contamination because…
Furthermore, the cross-race effect was almost certainly present in Mr. Cotton’s case, as
he is African American and the eyewitness, Jennifer Thompson, is European American. During
the crime committed against her, research suggests that it would have been more difficult for her
to encode the unique facial features of the perpetrator, because he was of another race. Then, as
Thompson was shown a lineup of African American men, the research suggests that it would
have been more difficult for her to distinguish between the men’s faces, and to compare them to
her fragile memory of the perpetrator…
Cautions for the Use of Eyewitness Evidence
The case of Ronald Cotton serves as an unfortunate example of the weaknesses inherent
in eyewitness memory. Due to these and other weaknesses, witnesses, jurors, and judges must
use caution when weighing eyewitness evidence, because the costs can be so great. Although
eyewitness testimony is often vital to the strength of criminal cases, unless there is adequate
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
physical evidence supporting the eyewitness accounts, the risk of wrongful conviction may be
too great to rely on eyewitness testimony alone. In Mr. Cotton’s case, had the jury…
[Page break]
References
Innocence Project. (2013). Eyewitness Misidentification. http://www.innocenceproject.org/
understand/Eyewitness-Misidentification.php[15 January 2014]
Jenkins, F., & Davies, G. (1985). Contamination of facial memory through exposure to
misleading composite pictures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 164-176.
doi:10.1037/0021-9010.70.1.164.
Loftus, E. F. (2003). Our changeable memories: Legal and practical implications. Nature
Reviews: Neuroscience, 4, 231-234. http://edssspa.pbworks.com/f/
Loftus+False+Memory.pdf[14 January 2014]
Meissner, C. A., & Brigham, J. C. (2001). Thirty years of investigating the own-race bias in
memory for faces: A meta-analytic review. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 7, 3-35.
doi:10.1037//1076-8971.7.1.3
Grading Rubric
The following rubric will be used as a guide for determining your grade. It should also
inform your writing.
Element
Description
Anchors
Overarching
Turned in
On time, using Turnitin on Blackboard.
(Above)
Length
See Table Above.
(Above)
Use of APA
Adheres to APA style manual.
Topic
Topic appropriately covers forensic science or forensic
psychology.
0 = Little
2 = Mostly
0 = Unclear
2 = Clear
Earned
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
Style
Writing style is formal, clear. Word choice is precise
and concise.
Organization
The paper is organized using headings and topic
sentences. The thought flow is easy to follow.
Grammar
Correct punctuation, subject-verb agreement,
consistent verb tenses, correct spelling, etc.
0 = Difficult to follow
2 = Informal, unclear,
wordy
4 = Formal, clear.
0 = Difficult to follow,
abrupt shifts in topic
3 = Easy to follow
0 = Distracting errors
2 = Few errors
Introduction
Intro. of Topic
Intro. of Case
The paper topic is apparent within the first few
sentences, and is not just a rehearsal of the chosen case.
E.g., Topic is “Insanity as applied to Jeffery Dahmer”
versus “Jeffery Dahmer’s crazy case, with mention of
some forensic stuff.”
The Case is introduced as supporting discussion, rather
than the other way around.
0 = Case description
2 = Class topic is clearly
the subject.
0 = Case is focus
2 = Case supports topic
Application
Application
Sufficient details of case to make connection.
Depth of
Knowledge
Demonstrates advanced knowledge of the forensic
topic chosen.
Accuracy
Case elements are correctly applied to the chosen topic.
0 = Too many/irrelevant
details distract
2 = Clear connection
1 = Shallow
3 = Acceptable
5 = Advanced
0 = Stretched, wrong
1 = Acceptable
2 = Clear and logical
Conclusion
Conclusion
Concise summary of main points with application
towards future research, current practices, policy
improvements, etc.
0 = Incomplete, shallow
2 = Clear, logical,
thorough
References
References
Number of sources cited in material.
0 = None
1 = 1 or 2
2 = 3 or more
Total
Criterion
Time Penalty
Length Penalty
Use of APA
Topic
Style
Organization
Grammar
Introduction of Topic
Intro. Of Case
Application
Grade
2
2
4
3
2
2
2
2
Ricks, PSYC 106, Essay Description
Depth of Knowledge
Accuracy
Conclusion
References
Total
5
2
2
2
30