The Final Paper will serve as a capstone all we have discussed and you have learned in this class. The paper counts for 50 points which is approximately 19% of your grade. Similar to many of the assignments in this class I am not looking for perfection and do not adhere to a strict rubric. As you go further in academics or career, many assignments and/or job tasks are vague and ambiguous. I am looking for creative topics that are in some way novel to the field. You can use your paper topic from earlier in the semester but do not have to. That being said grading is essentially divided into five parts.
Topic-10 points. Is your topic relevant? Is it novel and unique? Also is it well outlined and supported?
Thesis- 10 points. This is different than topic. I.E. studying Community Policing is not enough, the topic is to broad. A thesis you might write for the topic is something like:
In recent years, Community Policing Efforts have taken ahold in many communities. One of the most effective reforms implemented by Community Policing is the use of positive social media to communicate messaging to the community. The aim of this research paper is to demonstrate how positive social media posts on behalf of police departments have increased positive feelings towards police departments.
Research-10 points. While their is no set number of sources, I expect that the paper is well researched and supporting evidence from academic articles are used. Encompassed within this section are correct citations as that is important in Graduate and Law School. The ability to synthesize research is essential in any job or graduate program.
Writing- 10 points. I do not count off for minor grammatical mistakes, spelling errors etc. That being said written communication skills are important and its crucial to be able to present your thoughts to others in written forms. Strong sentence structure, and overall good spelling/grammar are important.
Conclusion- 10 points. What did you find? Going back to the Community Policing and Social Media example, a suitable conclusion might be something like:
Through the use of social media postings, specifically, community updates posted on Twitter, there has a been a significant increase in positive engagement between police departments and the communities they serve. Community members who live in municipalities where the police post positive social media messages were found to have more positive interactions with the police and more positive general feelings towards law enforcement.
