topic research

Answer the following questions (Your response should be no more than 1 page).

• Which topic did you choose and why? Describe your interest in the topic.
• What specific aspects of the topic might you want to find out more about? For example, if youre interested in the topic sex work, you may want to find out more about sex workers experiences of victimization.

PART 2 – Justification

Answer the following questions (Your response should be no more than 2 pages not including bibliography at the end).

• Why is this topic relevant to criminology and criminal justice?

1. Go to the library page (or scholar.google.com library page is better) and run a search using your general and specific topic as keywords. Look at how many academic (peer-reviewed) sources you find. Look at how many were published in the last 5 to 10 years. This should give you a hint of the relevance of the topic. The more you find, the more interesting it seems to be for sociologists/criminologists. You can compare the numbers by searching a different topic.
2. Read a couple of abstracts and/or introductions of some of the articles you find, and see what researchers are saying about the relevance of your topic. Use this as evidence and support for your justification. REMEMBER TO CITE YOUR SOURCES!

• Why learning about your topic is relevant to our society?

1. By our society I mean the world, not necessarily the US. If you choose to examine a topic outside of the US (highly recommended, as I do research and I am interested in things outside of the US ), explain why it is relevant for that place or how knowing about what happens in another country will assist people (researchers, policymakers, professionals) in the US.
2. One way of assessing social relevance is by looking at the news. Do a general search of your topic and see what news websites (not social media) are saying or reporting about it. For instance, if you decide to work on sex workers, if you find recent news items about sex workers in our area that could be a sign that the topic is relevant. But even if you dont find much, you can still make the case of why it is important for our society to learn about it. REMEMBER TO CITE YOUR SOURCES.