The conference that I had today regarding my inquiry project was quite helpful. We were given some tips on researching and writing our research paper as well as feedback on our Inquiry Proposal. Megan told us that JSTOR and ERIC are good databases to use for our research. I got a lot of good feedback from my classmates and Megan. As far as my research proposal goes, I was told that I need to come up with one question to focus on throughout my research paper. The research question that I came up with at the end of the conference to focus on is:
What are the differences between a Criminal Justice degree and the Police Academy education and is a Criminal Justice degree really necessary for Police Officers? The first half of my paper is going to focus on the differences between the Criminal Justice degree and the Police Academy education and the second half is going to focus on whether or not a Criminal Justice degree is necessary for Police Officers.
My group also gave me the advice that I should also look at other law enforcement agencies and their requirements for Officers. My plan was to focus on the CMPD because I have ties to this agency, but it would help me expand my research if I looked at other agencies as well. So, I am going to focus on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and use other agencies to comapre and contrast against the CMPD. I am going to compare and contrast the CMPD with other Police Departments (NYPD, Metro PD (DC), LAPD) and some local ones (Mint Hill PD, Pineville PD, Davidson PD, UNC Charlotte PD) and some federal agencies (USSS, FBI).
Rachel, I find it pleasing that you found the conference helpful. Also, I am glad that you got some helpful advice from Megan and your peers as well. I believe that the main issue that my group had collectively was focusing on a specfic issue or solution. Megan consistently reminded us that we had such creative minds which resulted in our broad topics. I find your topic very intriguing, and I think that using a local agency will allow you to gather information that people loclaly are familiar with. I would like to see you personally do some research at the local agencies and maybe interview someone with experience in these fields.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I am impressed that you got so much good feedback from your conference. I really like the two topics you are choosing to focus on, and I think you will have no problem at all transitioning from one to the other. I am also very interested in the other Police Departments you have chosen to include, and how they compare and contrast with local ones. I think you will be able to find a lot of research and I am interested to see where it leads you.
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