For the writing assignment in this course, you should select one the following topics to write a 4-6-page essay (excluding the title and reference pages) in which you critically review the literature related to one aspect of your chosen topic using no fewer than 5 (FIVE) additional scholarly journal articles from the DSU Library website OR Google Scholar (Do NOT use google.com). You may use readings from this course as part of your essay, but you must use the FIVE additional scholarly sources in addition to whichever course readings you wish to include. Newspapers, Wikipedia, Tumblr, Facebook, Buzzfeed articles, and all other non-scholarly sources are strictly prohibited.
Critical analysis refers to specific style of writing that tends to avoid summarization. Instead, you could compare ideas across readings, relate concepts between two seemingly different situations, address bias or evidence problems, argue a counterpoint, discuss implications of the author’s arguments, emphasize points of importance, debate theoretical positions, emphasize incongruity you find while reading, relate the concept or topic to another scholarly source, ask questions the original author ignored, and so forth.
Literature reviews are not just recycled summarizations of existing literature. Instead, you should attempt to find themes or issues that cut across the research, find gaps in the existing literature, or collect literature that explains or helps us understand a specific aspect of the topic that is not addressed at length in the course. For example, gendered victimization is an extremely broad topic. Do you mean risk factors for victimization among female adolescents? Do you mean motivations given by adolescents for perpetrating gendered forms of violence? Do you mean how factors like substance use and mental illness can make increase risk of victimization? Do you mean racial or gender differences in one or more types of victimization? As you can see, there are numerous ways of approaching any of the topics, so I want you to choose something of interest to you. The topic is only a general direction for your paper, and most of the topics could be applied to multiple situations. The key will be finding enough literature on your specific topic to fulfill this assignment. If you have a question about your topic, please email me at your earliest convenience and we can discuss the feasibility of your topic for this assignment.
The critical writing assignment is considered formal writing – this means that I expect you to do all of the following: Write with purpose. Each sentence should contribute to your overall writing (no fillers like very very very very interesting). Additionally, you should use the same glossary of terms that the readings’ authors use; do not make up your own descriptors or tell the reader “Basically…” Your tone should be literal and formal using proper English spelling and grammar. Do not use clichés, text speak (e.g. ROFL), emoji, non-text characters, or non-scholarly sources. You should write in paragraphs which are organized to fit together.
No more than one (1) properly cited, short (no more than 20 words) quote is allowed in submitted assignments. Instead of quoting the work of others at length, you should instead paraphrase and synthesize material into your own words. Extraneous quoting (including more than one quote) will reduce your score significantly for an assignment.
All essays must use APA formatting for in-text citations and reference list and be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Your assignment should be typed, double-spaced, 12-point font. Each essay should be between 1000-1300 (4-6 pages) words in length, with one-inch margins on all sides and page numbers. Please do not vary your font, font size, kerning, spacing, or punctuation to overcome the length requirement, as this is readily apparent to your instructor.
Essay Topics:
· Organized Crime in the United States
· Italy and Albania
· Colombia and Mexico
· Russia and the Former Soviet Union
· Asia
· Africa
· Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs
· Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking
Other topics may be acceptable at the discretion of the instructor – these determinations will be made when turning in the paper topics and outline portion of the assignment.
Paper Topics and Outline (Part of Critical Writing Assignment)
In order to facilitate your critical writing assignment, you will be required to turn in your essay topic, sources, and an outline for your paper by Monday 06/03/2024. You must provide an outline of your paper at this time, including paragraph by paragraph breakdowns of the points you intend to cover in your assignment.
Topic: You should type your topic in a word document, as well as one or two sentences specifically identifying what you want to research for your paper. For example, organized
