CRJU 3150 Taft College Statistics Worksheet

PART 1: INTRODUCTIONFORMAT: Include a separate cover page with your name, date, and class section (CRJU 3150).
Your introduction should be a minimum of two paragraphs. Format your paper as doublespaced, with one-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, and American Psychological
Association (APA) reference citing when applicable. Your paper should be uploaded as a Word
document and submitted through Canvas by 11:59pm on the due date to receive credit. NOTE:
Canvas checks assignments for plagiarism. Plagiarism can result in receiving a 0 for the
assignment.
GRADING: Introductions are worth 5% of the final course grade. Students will be graded based
on depth of ideas, completeness (i.e., adequately describing the required components), and
quality of writing. Late assignments will be graded as 0.
INSTRUCTIONS: Writing should be professional and scientific, not personal. Do not use the firstperson words (i.e., “I,” “”me,” or “my”). Your introduction should build upon and develop your
topic proposal. Components to be included in your introduction:
1. Start with a statement signifying the importance of your topic. Why should people
(academics, policymakers, criminal justice professionals, the public) care about your
topic? For example, consider these questions:
a. What is the problem and why should it be researched?
b. Does your topic impact a large proportion of American people? Perhaps your
topic deals with traumatic or harmful behavior?
• Is there research or a government report that presents statistics about the
prevalence of the behavior you are interested in studying?
c. Is the current system (of what you are studying) flawed? Has prior research
reported conflicted findings? You might not be able to answer this until after you
complete your literature review. Think of this question as a potential revision for
your final paper.
2. Relate your research question/hypothesis to your introduction of topic significance. Your
research question/hypothesis should flow immediately following your topic introduction.
The transition should be seamless and not abrupt.
a. How does your hypothesis relate to the problem?
b. Does your research support or oppose previous studies on the topic? Are you
furthering a research agenda to contribute new knowledge to the discipline? Will
your research address the problem?
3. Outline the key characteristics of your study and describe what you expect to find.
a. Restate the research question and hypothesis.
b. What data set was used?
c. What is the independent variable?
d. What is the dependent variable?
NOTE. You should be actively reading literature on your topic to inform your writing of the
introduction.
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
EXAMPLE:
Introduction
A recent report published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(2016) suggests that 30% of youth in the United States engage in violent delinquent acts, such as
robbery, burglary, and assault, by the age of 18. While most youth are not engaging in violent
behavior, there are a significant number who are. One potential explanation of delinquency is
identified in the tenets of situational opportunity theory. According to situational opportunity
theory, the risk of youth committing delinquent acts increases when parents are not present
(Osgood et al., 1995).
Considering the scope of juvenile delinquency and linkages to situational opportunity
theory, the purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between parental supervision
and juvenile delinquency using data from the 2016 National Student Survey (NSS). The
following research question was proposed: is there an association between parental supervision
and delinquency? The corresponding research hypothesis was that if parental supervision
increases, then delinquency will decrease. The dependent variable was delinquency, measured
as self-reported fighting on school grounds. The independent variable was parental supervision,
measured as the frequency of parental presence after school.
References
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2016). Rates of delinquency in the
United States (OJJDP Publication No. 34589-RT). Retrieved from
www.ojjdo.gov/delinquency_report.pdf
Osgood, D. W., Wilson, J. K., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Johnston, L. D. (1995).
Routine activities and individual deviant behavior. American Sociological Review, 61(4),
635-655. doi:10.2307/2096397