This paper should contain your research question/hypothesis, an abstract, an introduction/problem statement and a literature review. Your Research Question/Hypothesis: Your specific research question(s) or hypotheses should be stated in your introductory paragraph and in your abstract. Abstract: Your proposal will begin with an abstract of your proposed study (one paragraph). This is basically a summary of your proposal and it includes your research question. Introduction/problem statement (1-2 paragraphs): After the abstract, research proposals generally begin with an introductory section that describes the research problem and establishes its significance. This section answers the following kinds of questions: What exactly do you want to study? Why is it worth studying? Does the proposed study have theoretical and/or practical significance? Does it contribute to a new understanding of a phenomenon (e.g., does it address new or little-known material or does it treat familiar material in a new way or does it challenge an existing understanding or extend existing knowledge)? Literature Review (2-3 pages): This section is a review of the literature on your topic. It is basically a term/research paper on your topic and tells the reader information that has already been discovered regarding your topic. The research problem or objective needs to be situated within a context of other scholarship in the area(s). The literature review presents a discussion of the most important research and theoretical work relating to the research problem/objective. It addresses the following kinds of questions: What have others said about this area(s)? What theories address it and what do these say? What research has been done (or not done) previously? Are there consistent findings or do past studies disagree? Are there flaws or gaps in the previous research that your study will seek to remedy? Three sources are required. All 3 sources must be from an academic journal, not books, newspaper articles or magazine articles. You may use these as additional sources beyond the required 3 journal articles. This section requires in-text citations in APA format. You must document your sources using the social sciences standard citation method, APA. This method is actually simpler than MLA. For example, to cite a textbook after you talk about a theory, you need only put the author’s last name and year of publication: His lack of self-control suggests Latent Trait (Siegel, 2008). Then in your References (bibliography), you write: Siegel, L. (2008). Criminology: the core. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. To find out the rules for APA style, please refer to the Berkeley Libguide at: http://berkeleycollege.libguides.com/content.php?pid=197278&sid=1650985. You can also look at the APA guide from the library at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/apastyle2010.pdf . You can also look at the OWL Purdue Writing Lab:http://owl.english ...

1. This paper should contain your research question/hypothesis, an
abstract, an introduction/problem statement and a literature
review.
Your Research Question/Hypothesis:
Your specific research question(s) or hypotheses should be
stated in your introductory paragraph and in your abstract.
Abstract:
Your proposal will begin with an abstract of your proposed
study (one paragraph). This is basically a summary of your
proposal and it includes your research question.
Introduction/problem statement (1-2 paragraphs): After the
abstract, research proposals generally begin with an
introductory section that describes the research problem and
establishes its significance. This section answers the following
kinds of questions: What exactly do you want to study? Why is
it worth studying? Does the proposed study have theoretical
and/or practical significance? Does it contribute to a new
understanding of a phenomenon (e.g., does it address new or
little-known material or does it treat familiar material in a new
way or does it challenge an existing understanding or extend
existing knowledge)?
Literature Review
(2-3 pages): This section is a review of the literature on your
topic. It is basically a term/research paper on your topic and
tells the reader information that has already been discovered
regarding your topic. The research problem or objective needs
to be situated within a context of other scholarship in the
area(s). The literature review presents a discussion of the most
important research and theoretical work relating to the research
problem/objective. It addresses the following kinds of
questions: What have others said about this area(s)? What
theories address it and what do these say? What research has

2. been done (or not done) previously? Are there consistent
findings or do past studies disagree? Are there flaws or gaps in
the previous research that your study will seek to remedy?
Three sources are required. All 3 sources must be from an
academic journal, not books, newspaper articles or magazine
articles. You may use these as additional sources beyond the
required 3 journal articles. This section requires in-text
citations in APA format. You must document your sources using
the social sciences standard citation method, APA. This method
is actually simpler than MLA. For example, to cite a textbook
after you talk about a theory, you need only put the author’s last
name and year of publication: His lack of self-control suggests
Latent Trait (Siegel, 2008). Then in your References
(bibliography), you write: Siegel, L. (2008). Criminology: the
core. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. To find out the rules
for APA style, please refer to the Berkeley Libguide at:
http://berkeleycollege.libguides.com/content.php?pid=197278&
sid=1650985. You can also look at the APA guide from the
library at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/apastyle2010.pdf .
You can also look at the OWL Purdue Writing
Lab:http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ Also,
some databases, such as Proquest, will automatically put its
listed sources in APA format for you. You can also use citation
assistants online or in Microsoft Word. Lastly, you can always
go to the ASC for assistance in writing, paraphrasing, and
referencing. Include only those articles that support the logic of
the argument and/or the proposed research methods. For
instance, if you are interested in studying juvenile delinquency;
the literature review would include studies on that topic, not
domestic violence. Discuss recent developments and potential
avenues for new research. Review the discussion and conclusion
sections of most scholarly articles – the authors will identify
ways to improve and/or expand research of a particular issue.

3. Using the information is a good way to come up with unique
research ideas. Finally, your independent variable and
dependent variable should be the framework to use in
developing the literature review. Remember that your
hypothesis will seek to test the relationship between the two
core variables, so knowing what the literature says about those
two variables will become critical.
TOPIC IS VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT!!!