Background

This week you are beginning work on the research paper. You’ll find and read some sources on a topic to use and work through some of the early plans in the discussion.

Directions for the Discussion Question Response

The Problem/Solution Research Paper must present an argument, so you will be showing a problem and suggesting a solution that readers need to be convinced by. You will be writing on ONE problem only. You will have to find an area to investigate, learn the current situation, and propose a change. In the discussion this week, you will be doing some initial planning to help you with this. Next week you will be writing a Proposal to formalize your topic choice. As noted in the research paper assignment prompt, the argument must relate to crime or criminal justice in some way. In addition, the topic must be arguable, must not be so current that there would not be good academic research on it, must not be so large that your paper cannot cover it in detail, and must use verifiable data, rather than faith-based or personal preference-based data. Basically, if the topic is less than one year old, there won’t be academic research on it.

In your initial discussion posting, explain two potential topics and suggest whom you might direct the paper to (the audience) for each. The ultimate goal for the Problem/Solution Research Paper will be to show that there is a problem, investigate the reasons why the problem has not been solved, and try to persuade the audience to accept your solution to the problem. Explain the topics in complete sentences and give both the potential thesis and the anti-thesis. If you cannot give an anti-thesis that someone might reasonably argue, then you don’t have an arguable topic.

It can be helpful to do some initial research as you are thinking about the topic. Just looking at titles or abstracts of articles in the online databases can provide some ideas. The resources in this module and the Research, Grammar, and Formatting module can help you learn how to start using the online databases. If you do not find an article on your potential topics in the online databases, that indicates it’s probably not a good topic. Anything that is too narrow won’t work, such as whether one prison in one state should repaint its cells. Anything that is a statement of fact (whether accurate or not) is not arguable and so won’t work, such as whether criminals have higher or lower IQ’s than the general population.

One way to check on whether your topic is arguable or not is to do the opposite claim and see if it could also be reasonably argued, such as these examples:

Thesis: In order to reduce the overload on the court systems and in fairness to those who commit minor crimes, cash bail should be eliminated for minor crimes.

Anti-thesis: It may seem fair and logical to eliminate the use of cash for bail, but without it, most of those accused of minor crimes will not return for their court dates.

As noted in the rubric, to be eligible for full points for the development of the response in this discussion, your response must be at least two well-developed paragraphs. Showing why the issues you are interested in are problems that need to be solved and what your background is in relation to these (or why you are interested in them) can help with the development.

Directions for the Reply to Someone Else

This is going to be a very important bit of feedback to the other student. Indicate which of the two topics you feel would be the better one for the Problem/Solution Research Paper, explaining why. If you feel that there might be a different choice of audience, again, explain who that would be and why you make that suggestion.