Students will create an applied project based on an actual public administration issue relevant to their current (or former) workplace or profession. (PLEASE PICK A TOPIC WITHIN LAW ENFORCEMENT) It should be an examination of a particular public administration issue that is relevant to operational practice and performance, and which has a potential solution(s). From that perspective, the project should be prepared as if it was an internal consulting report to be presented to the organization’s decision makers. In general terms, the intent of the project is to identify a public administration matter or issue (e.g., budget, evaluation, etc.) that the student can approach using the knowledge obtained in the program.
Grading for papers will be based on the completeness of the project relative to the topic analyzed and how well the topic integrates the concepts learned in public administration. All capstone projects will be submitted in Week 7. NO PROJECTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE, BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS SUBMIT YOUR PAPER EARLY.
The written submission for the applied project will be a minimum of 15 typewritten pages and a maximum of 20 typewritten pages (Times New Roman 12 point font, double-spaced typing, with one inch margins all around). Students will use the APA standard method of noting references. All APA publication rules will be observed. Poor writing quality will produce a substantially lower grade. Proper spelling, grammar, and syntax are important. The purpose of a project is to gather research on a particular topic from a number of legitimate resources, which in turn will be used to develop the project. The key to the written portion is to compare and contrast the research, in relation to the project. Every paper has a beginning, middle and end (introduction, body, and conclusion). Papers will be uploaded to the Turnitin site on the course webpage to detect the incidence of plagiarism.
