Crime and the Criminal Justice System — Your paper will examine the status and condition of African Americans in comparison

3) Crime and the Criminal Justice System — Your paper will examine the status and condition of

African Americans in comparison to whites in the area of crime and the criminal justice system.

This topic includes a discussion and examination of crime rates, rates of victimization,

punishment (e.g. incarceration), and any problem associated with this issue area as it relates to

the lives of African Americans in the United States.

Note that unless otherwise indicated, 10 points will be deducted for all items that do not conform 

to these guidelines. 

_____ The paper is 10 pages in length – excluding the cover page and the bibliography; 

_____ The paper is a new paper that has never been submitted in another class at VCU;

_____ The paper is written on a topic that has been pre-approved (100-point deduction); 

_____ The paper includes a bibliography that has at least 5 (five) peer-reviewed sources. 

_____ Each source in your bibliography is singled spaced with a space separating each 

individual source. Sources are listed in alphabetical order of the author’s last name (last name 

first).

_____ The primary sources for the paper are journal articles and academic books that have been 

peer reviewed. You may not use abstracts to journal articles or books as a citation in your paper; 

_____ Internet citations are limited to one of your five (minimum) sources. Please note that you 

may use up to three Internet citations, but only one will count toward your 5 minimum required 

sources;

_____ You cannot use internet sources for information that is contained in journal articles and 

books.

_____ The paper is typed in Times New Roman 12-point font, and double-spaced with one (1) 

inch margins;

_____ Pages in the paper are numbered in chronological order; 

_____ The paper has a cover page that includes the title of the paper, your name, and other 

relevant information. There are no other headers other than page numbers on subsequent pages; 

_____ The paper includes a thesis statement, setting forth what you will cover in the paper, on 

the first page; 

_____ The paper includes relevant information/data to support your thesis statement and a 

discussion of alternative views;

_____ The data (statistics, etc.) are the most recent available;

_____ Large direct quotations (those exceeding 3 sentences) are limited to two and are indented 

and single-spaced. 

_____ The paper includes a conclusion that sets forth your position regarding your topic;

_____ The paper includes parenthetical citations, footnotes, or endnotes for all of the sources 

that you use in your paper (please note that the use of nonstandard citations will result in a 30 

point deduction in your research paper grade); –

_____ Each parenthetical citation, footnote, or endnote includes the page number(s) where you 

found material that you are citing (please note that failure to indicate the page number(s) within 

the citation will result in a 10 point deduction in your research paper grade, per citation in which 

this occurs);

_____ The paper is not a patch quilt paper—a series of quotes quilted together with little to no 

paraphrasing or analysis.

_____ The use of more than one chapter from an edited volume (an edited book) counts as one 

source.

_____ Wikipedia or any other encyclopedia or dictionary are not used or cited as sources in your 

paper. 

_____ Required class readings or any other class materials are not used as a source for your 

paper. 

_____ The following items may be used, but are not counted as sources in your bibliography: 

Amendments to the Constitution; __ Sources of tables or charts; _____ Court cases ______ 

Wrighten- African American Politics

6

Census Bureau data can be used, but is not counted as one of your 5 minimum required sources. 

_____ Newspaper articles (including CQ Researcher articles) are limited to one of your five 

(minimum) sources. Please note that you may use up to three Newspaper or CQ Researcher 

articles as citations, but only one will count toward your minimum five sources; 

_____ Access World News citations must include the complete citation from the original source; 

_____ The paper has a separate bibliography that includes bibliographic references for all 

parenthetical citations, footnotes, or endnotes used in your paper, and each type of source, i.e., 

books, journal articles, newspaper articles, internet, are separated in individual sections; 

_____ All bibliographic references correspond to a parenthetical citation, footnote, or endnote in 

your paper;

_____ All tables and charts are reproduced and the source is noted directly beneath the table or 

chart (sources for tables and charts are not bibliographic sources). Inserting copies of charts, 

tables, etc. is unacceptable;

_____ The paper has been re-read and edited and conforms to the rules of English grammar— 

EXCESSIVE GRAMMATICAL OR SPELLING ERRORS WILL BE PENALIZED; 

In sum, this research paper should follow academic standards and not be plagiarized. It should be 

proofread and well-written.