Instructions

FINAL ASSIGNMENT RESEARCH PAPER

Students will write a scholarly paper that is a minimum of 8-10 pages in length (8-10 pages excluding the title page, abstract, and reference page)

References may be found in the APUS library or search engines such as Google Scholar. The paper must include at least five, peer-reviewed sources that cover your chosen topic from the list below. Keep in mind that 5 is the minimum. A good quality research paper usually contains in excess of 10. Sources should be less than 10 years old and if using statistical data, it should be less than 5 years old. Do not forget to use in-text citations to credit your sources.

Note that references used for your research need to be peer-reviewed/scholarly journals. These journals typically have the following characteristics:

1. articles are reviewed by a panel of experts before they are accepted for publication;
2. articles are written by a scholar or specialist in the field;
3. articles report on original research or experimentation;
4. are often published by professional associations;
5. utilize terminology associated with the discipline.

Use of newspapers, news magazines, and similar periodicals must be kept to a minimum and will be acceptable only as sources for supplementary information.

References like “Wikipedia,” “Psychology Today,” and “Court TV” are not primary sources, are not peer-reviewed (reviewed for empirical integrity, accuracy, and authenticity), and are not appropriate references for scholarly writing (with the possible exception of use for anecdotal background information).

This assignment is a criminal profiling research paper. The student will pick a high-profile criminal listed on the assignment page and explain the biological, situational, and developmental factors that contributed to this criminal’s behavior to include geographic mobility, victimology, and M.O./signature.

Examples of Possible Criminal Profiles

David Berkowitz (son of sam)
Dennis Rader (BTK)
Ted Bundy
Jeffry Dahmer
Albert Fish
John Wayne Gacy

Aileen Wuornos

Make sure you provide the following:

1. Give a thorough description of the criminal’s background (life story).

2. Utilize course material to explain the criminal’s behavior to include geographical mobility, victimology, modus operandi, and signature

3. Discuss how psychological theories and research contributed to the apprehension, prosecution, understanding and/or treatment of this criminal.

The paper should be of high quality, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and of original work. Plagiarism will not be permitted and occurrences of it will result in the procedures outlined in the “Student Handbook.”

IMPORTANT NOTE: Once you have submitted the assignment it is automatically run through Turnitin.com (a plagiarism checker). You MUST be below a 20% match to other sources.