First Part

1. Select one of the fourfollowing areas that you are interested in researching for your paper summary and research essay later in the session:

Police culture

Use of force

Police Corruption

Policing strategies

2. Start researching to find an appropriate scholarly article or book chapter about your chosen topic. The three ways that I would recommend to begin your research are:

A good old-fashioned library search. Start looking through the library here and at other universities to see if there are any books on your chosen topic that might be appropriate. Get any relevant books out on load and read. You can also borrow books from libraries at other universities – ask the librarians here at Macquarie how to set this up.

Google scholar – google scholar searches work similarly to regular google searches but results are generally (though not always) limited to academic sources (mostly journal articles). Once you have identified a useful looking source on google scholar you will likely have to access it through the library portal in order to avoid having to pay an access fee. Write down the name of the journal as well as the issue number, name of the article, and author. Put this info into a library search and go from there. Google searches are a great way to start researching. However, keep in mind that search results are not always comprehensive.

3. From your research, select a single article or book chapter that informs your research area and that may be useful to include in your research essay due later in the session.

4. After you have selected the scholarly work then you can begin the summary and review process.

Part Two – Writing the summary and review

5. Read the article/book chapter in detail and highlight those sections where the author ismaking their main points. Look carefully at the introduction, the opening sentences of each paragraph and the points made in the conclusion. Note each different point that is made and the evidence/ arguments that the author uses to support their claims. These notes will provide you with a summary outline.

6. Provide a citation of the work at the top of the page. Please make sure that you cite the work In this unit the required formatting for citations is SAGE Harvard. There is a link to the SAGE Harvard guide up on the iLearn page in the assessments section. Ask your tutor if you need any clarification about this.

7. Restate in your own wordsthe main points that the author is making, as well as the arguments/ evidence that they have used to support their claims. Go into an appropriate level of detail and use your summary outline as a guide.

8. Once you have completed a detailed summary of the article, it is time to express your opinionabout the validity of the work. Critically reflect on the piece to determine the following:

• What are its strengths and limitations?
  

• Does the author make a convincing argument(s) or not?
  

• Are they showing bias? If so, how is this expressed?
  

• Are there any significant omissions or things that could be improved?