Students will choose a subdiscipline in forensic sciences: Anthropology; Criminalistics;
Digital & Multimedia Sciences; Engineering Applied Sciences; Pathology/ Biology;
Questioned Documents; Toxicology. This will help focus your research topic choice.
Choose a research topic that interests you, research it, submit thesis statement about
your topic of choice. I will give feedback on your thesis statements and research topics.
Students will then submit an annotated bibliography with a minimum of 15 sources.
Each source should be properly cited using JFS format and should include 2-3
sentences why the source is relevant to the topic and your thesis statement. This
exercise should help you outline your paper. Students will submit a 1st draft of research
paper and I will provide feedback. The research paper should be 5-6 pages in length,
double spaced, Times New Roman, 12pt font, 1 inch margins. I will provide feedback on
the 1st draft. Students will prepare a 5-7 min presentation on their research topic. Think
of the presentation as the best summary of your research paper. Your final project for
this class will be worked on throughout the course and all together is worth 47% of your
grade.
Thesis statement:
In forensic investigations, firearms and tools are crucially examined as showcased in case studies like the investigation into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, where ballistic analysis played a vital role by determining bullet trajectories. Additionally, techniques like gunshot residue analysis have emerged as indispensable instruments tying suspects to crime scenes while contributing valuable evidence in criminal cases.
