Students are expected to adhere to the writing guidelines found in the “Writing for Criminal Justice Majors” document that is available from the AsULearn page for this course.
● The paper is to be double spaced typed.
● The paper must be a minimum of 12 pages of text, NOT including title and reference pages.
● Papers should have a title page with the student’s name and internship agency.
● Pages should have a header and be numbered.
● Major headings should be used for each section. See the AsULearn page and the APA style guide or Purdue Owl for more information about the proper use of headings.
● Proper APA-style in-text citations must be used where appropriate.
● APA-style reference page identifying all utilized sources must be included.
My agency is the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
Section One: Overview (approximately two pages)
The first section should briefly provide an overview of the internship, including a discussion of the internship agency and a summary of the student’s major responsibilities and activities during the internship. This should include highlights and major assignments that were given to students by their agency. There is no need to “list” everything that was done, but students may want to briefly discuss those tasks that were most common or most informative. It should conclude with an explanation of how the intern became interested in the research topic.
Section Two: Academic Research (minimum 6 pages, maximum 10 pages)
The second section requires students to review academic/scholarly literature that is related to a student’s experiences and chosen research topic. You are allowed to use only two or three direct quotes, and only one of those may be over 40 words, but less than 60 words. This is the most time-consuming and problematic part of the paper for most students, so it is vital that students understand what is expected and follow these requirements. The purpose of this section is to briefly summarize several research articles related to the student’s topic of interest and to highlight general knowledge, challenges, and issues related to this topic. The research topic should be relevant to the internship experience. For example, a student interning with a police department might select the topic of community policing or police community relations, which most police departments engage in and a student is likely to have observed during the internship, rather than the topic of police use of deadly force, which is relatively rare and unlikely to have been observed by an intern. An intern at a probation and parole office, for instance, might choose to research supervision of offenders with mental health problems, a practice which an intern would probably witness during the internship.
Section Three: Integrating Research and Practice (approximately four pages)
This section of the paper, perhaps more than any other section, demonstrates the student’s readiness to graduate. The purpose of this section is to draw comparisons and/or contrast academic research with the student’s observations and experience during the internship. Interns are encouraged to discuss their research with agency staff to obtain their thoughts on these issues and incorporate those views (and the extent to which the student agrees or not) into the paper. Staff comments should be discussed generally without identifying individual staff members. Students are expected to critically evaluate the academic literature in relation to their internship experiences. It is insufficient to simply quote a single sentence from a source and then describe whether or not your observations are similar. Students must REFLECT upon the research and their experiences during the internship. Capstone-level analysis includes application of research to experience and well-thought-out assessment and logical expression of conclusions. For example, were the findings, ideas, recommendations, etc., of particular sources consistent with the student’s experiences during the internship? What might be explanations for why they were similar or different? How do research findings impact practitioners in the field? Are there advantages of the expert’s policies or recommendations over observed practices? These are just some examples of the types of issues and level of examination that would be appropriate.
Section Four: Reflection (approximately two pages)
The final section of the paper requires that the student engage in a meaningful reflection about the internship relative to their education, professional goals, and personal development. This might include a discussion about the internship experience in relation to your education, courses you have taken, etc.
There are no specific requirements other than to provide a substantial discussion about the experience—both positive and negative (if relevant)—and what it meant to you. This section should be no more than two or three pages in length.
Thank you so much!!
