UNIT THREE SEMINAR:

Narrow Your Topic and Make Your Point!

CM103: Effective Writing I for Criminal Justice Majors

Welcome to seminar!

We will begin at the top of the hour. Please feel free to chat with your

classmates in the interim.

In this seminar, we will discuss …

The Writing Process

Picking a Topic

Crafting A Thesis

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1. Invention

2. Drafting

3. Revision

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Brainstorming

Freewriting

Outlining

Journaling

Clustering or Mapping

Invention is all about generating ideas.

Bra

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Co

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d Dialoguing

Asking the Journalist’s Questions (who, what, when, where, why and how)

Annotating or talking back to a text

1. Choose a topic that is familiar to you, one that you want to become more familiar with, or one that you feel strongly about.

2. Select a topic that has available reference materials; you will have to support your claims with academic sources.

3. Choose a topic that is “doable.”

4. Choose a topic that is significant. Ask yourself why does this topic matter?

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LAW ENFORCEMENTCH

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•Less than lethal use of force

•Remote offender tracking and GPS

•Electronic surveillance and civilian privacy

•Reliability of Brain Fingerprinting

•Digitalization of police records

CORRECTIONSPO

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OPI

CS •Privatization as a cost effective means of managing prisons

•The SuperMax system as a response to violent offenders

•Rehabilitation in the prison system

•Cell phone bans in prisons

•Mixed gender issues in prisons

POSS

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TO

PICS

 

DISASTER MANAGEMENT•Mass Casualty Incidents and crowd control (or Martial Law)

•Use of social networking for emergency and disaster responses

•Effectiveness of electronic models to predict natural disasters

•Civilian preparedness

•Hospital (or prison) evacuation planning, procedures, and responses

POSS

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FIRE SCIENCE FIRE SCIENCE

 •Emergency services in rural areas

•Technology and Fire Science

•Technology and forensics in arson investigation

•Risk assessment and fire prevention in urban and/or rural areas

•Controlled pyrotechnics in entertainment venues (theater productions, concerts, or public fireworks displays)

NA

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ICAsk A Question… And Then

Answer It…!Fire ScienceShould rural residents pay city fire houses to respond to rural fires?

How has the evolution of technology changed the field of fire science?

CorrectionsIs rehabilitation in prison possible? Is it cost effective?

Should females guard males? Should males guard females?

NA

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TH

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ICAsk A Question… And Then

Answer It…!

Law EnforcementShould more local police departments adopt less than lethal force weapons e.g., thermal guns, drug darts, or shotgun-firing nets?

Is the use of video surveillance in public by the police “reasonable police action” or an infringement of the 4th Amendment?

Emergency ManagementAre national disaster exercises too costly?

What policies should govern the use of social networking sites for emergency response purposes?

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Best Advice from Diana Hacker, author of Rules for Writers…

Tattoo on the inside of your eyelids the following definition"[A thesis] is a debatable point, one about which reasonable persons can disagree. It is not merely a fact [. . .]. Nor is it a statement of belief [or faith] [. . .]. Neither facts nor beliefs can be substantiated by reasons, so they cannot serve as a thesis for an argument" (Hacker, p. 574).

Know that your thesis statement serves as the crux of the argument that is your paper; it is your informed opinion about your paper's subject…

Hacker, D. (2008). Rules for writers (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.

1. Is properly limited (not too broad or too

narrow)

2. Is arguable (think controversy)

3. Takes a stand

4. Passes the “duh! test”

5. Passes the “so what?” Test

6. Answers either the how or why

question.

Characteristics of a Good Thesis StatementC

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E-mail: Ebranch@kaplan.edu

AIM address: EleBranch

Office Hours:Mondays 8:00 to 10:00 p.m.,

and by appointment