You are required to read and summarize research articles this semester. The article summary is limited to a single-spaced one page paper. For this assignment, you must summarize the article listed below:
Probation and Parole in the United States, 2019 – https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus19.pdf
Provide the following four items in your article summary:
Place the correctly formatted APA citation for the article at the top of the page.
Provide the Article Overview at the beginning of your summary explaining the overall contribution of this article. Think of this like a summary of the summary. It should consist of 3-5 sentences listing the main points of the article. You will do this last in practice but putting it first lets you easily see the content of this article without reading the entire summary. Make sure this section includes:
Who did they study?
What did they study?
What was the main contribution (or the big ah-ha finding)?
…and if you can find it, why is this so important?
Define the Methods being used. This includes the sample information and measures (or variables) used during the study.
Sample: The sample may be a group of participants or previous studies that have explored the topic. Be clear on this. State if the authors mention different populations. For example, some authors refer to previous studies to report new findings and expand the knowledge on the topic in the field. This is called conducting a meta-analysis. The other studies might have samples of prison inmates, offenders who were released on bail, or individuals on community sanctions. State what they looked at. This section should summarize who was studied, from where, when, and the total number in the sample.
Measures: The measures are the variables the author looked at.
Independent Variable(s) (IV): The IVs are what impacts change in the dependent variable (DV). For example, many studies have evaluated the impact of race and socioeconomic status on recidivism. In this case, race and SES would be the IVs and recidivism would be the DV. IVs can be anything the researchers hypothesize and can include items such as type of program used for treatment, an individual’s level of self-control or impulsivity, or if the individual experienced physical or sexual abuse as a child. Note those measures that were most significant in the article if there were many discussed. Make sure to explain vague concepts (such as how they measured self-control). Specifically state “The independent variable(s) for this study were…” Part of the assignment is ensuring you can correctly identify the IV and DV.
Dependent Variable(s) (DV): CJ is often concerned with the outcome measure of recidivism (often operationalized as a new arrest, conviction, incarceration). Other outcome measures may include quality of life markers, prison misconducts, or test scores. These are the dependent variables. You can think of this is the outcome the researchers are trying to explain. State the DVs of the study specifically, “The dependent variable(s) for this study were…”
Outline the Findings of the study. Focus on the main findings discussed in the article. Be specific. If the authors tested a relationship between childhood abuse and involvement in criminal activity as an adult, make sure you discuss what they found. Was this a significant relationship or not? The relationships between the IVs and DVs defined under the measures section should be discussed in the findings. Note: This will be your longest section. Make sure you add statistics whenever possible but ONLY if you understand what the statistics mean.
Assignment Requirements
You are required to summarize this article in one single-spaced page. The main point of this assignment is for you to learn how to summarize research articles. Additionally, this will increase your skills in taking large amounts of information and synthesizing it down into the most important points. One page summaries are commonly used in graduate school or literature review presentations when you work in the field. This is a good skill to learn!
The following items must also be met:
Margins are one inch and use a 12 point font (APA approved).
Submit an assignment cover page with your name, date, and the class title.
You can have one direct quote (with the proper citation) in this paper but paraphrase otherwise. The direct quote is limited to one sentence only.
For this assignment only, you do not need in-text citations that reference the article itself (except for a quote). However, you do need an in-text citation if the original author is referencing someone else. The APA proper syntax for this is (Authors as cited by Assigned Article Authors, Assigned Article Year).
