Assignment Details
Your Unit 4 Capstone paper is a culmination of everything you have researched about your selected topic in Criminal Justice. You will now synthesize your collected information. That means you will provide your personal assessment in a professional analysis in an 8–10-page Capstone research paper. Here is your roadmap:
- Unit 1 – You wrote a problem statement and described the issue.
- Unit 2 – You created a video that provides an overview of the issue.
- Unit 3 – You conducted research by creating 8 Annotated Bibliographies.
- Unit 4 – You will now use your Unit 3 Annotated Bibliography to create your Literature Review, which is one component of your Capstone paper. You will include a title page, an introduction to the problem, a topic analysis, a conclusion and a reference page See below for more information on how to write your Literature Review – and how to format your Capstone paper.
Here is a basic outline for you to follow for your Unit 4 Capstone paper:
- Title Page – APA formatted.
- Introduction to the Problem – (1 to 2 pages) – This is where you analyze the issues or problems in your chosen Capstone topic. You may reuse your IP1 paper for this part of your Capstone paper, as long as you make any applicable updates, based upon your research and edit it so that it is not longer than 2 pages.
- Literature Review – (4 to 6 pages) – This is where you discuss or write about background information that you discovered when you completed your 8 Annotated Bibliographies in Unit 3. Do not copy-and-paste your Annotated Bibliography into your Capstone research paper. Instead, write in paragraph form, about the information that you discovered and documented in your Annotated Bibliography. Specifically, in your literature review, you will analyze what those authors wrote about in their articles. You should be able to write a minimum of at least ½ page (or more) for each of the 8 annotated bibliographies that you submitted in your Unit 3 assignment. Click here to learn more about what a literature review is. It should be written in paragraph form.
- Topic Analysis – (2 to 3 pages) – This is where you present your own personal, professional and scholarly analysis about your Capstone issue(s), which is based on all of your research.
- Conclusion – (1 or 2 paragraphs, with 3 to 6 sentences per paragraph) – This is where you present your final conclusions and recommendations on how to mitigate or possibly solve the Capstone problem(s) that were identified. Your conclusions and recommendations should represent a synthesis of all that you have learned over the course of the program. You should be taking what you have learned and building upon that learning; combining concepts, skills and competencies into your final recommendations, demonstrating a deeper understanding of the issues based on your research and accumulated of learning.
- Reference Page – APA formatted.
An abstract is not required for your Unit 4 paper because you will write an executive summary about your Capstone project in Unit 5.
Click here for a blank Capstone template in Microsoft Word to guide you in writing your final Capstone research paper. Save it to your computer.
This is the roadmap of your Capstone project:
- Unit 1: Problem Statement – Choose a topic and write 2-3 pages about how or why it is a problem that needs to be addressed in the Criminal Justice system.
- Unit 2: Video – Create a 2-3 minute video where you explain the problem(s) in your selected topic.
- Unit 3: Research & Review Preexisting Literature – Create 8 APA formatted Annotated Bibliographies for your topic.
- Unit 4: Capstone Paper – Write an 8-10 page Capstone paper about your selected topic.
- Unit 5: Executive Summary – Write a 1 to 2 page executive summary about your Capstone project.
