The purpose of the paper is to provide the reader with a synopsis of a problem or critical issue in US crime, what we know about the pre-exiting policies that are causing or contributing to one of the problems or issues, and what alternative policy options are recommended.All information contained in the paper must come from academic sources unless your instructor tells you otherwise. In addition, you should not rely on your own knowledge about the topic. Moreover, you must use a minimum of 10 academic sources when writing your paper. Your paper must be written in APA format and must include citations written in APA format. Failure to include citations constitutes plagiarism. Your paper must include a title page as well as a reference page. Points will be deducted from papers that do not meet the page requirement or that do not incorporate eight academic sources.
The Structural Elements of the Capstone Research Report
Policy reports directly reflect the different roles that the policy analyst commonly plays, i.e. from researcher to advocate. The type of report that you are writing is one from the more action-oriented, advocacy end of the continuum (but that is nevertheless based purely on evidence and not your opinion). Although there is much variation even at this end of the scale, the most common elements of the policy brief are as follows:
Title of the Policy Report
Executive Summary
Context and Importance of the Problem (also called the Introduction)
Pre-existing Policies, Policy Options, and Research
Conclusion
Policy Recommendations
Reference Page
