1. Essay topic

You select a crime or justice problem, that you would like to address and then at least two countries for comparison. You can choose Australia as one country and then at least one other country for comparison. You will critically assess differences between these countries and demonstrate in which ways each country might learn from the other in order to address this problem.

2. Resources and research

Your research essay should demonstrate your skills in doing independent research and analysis on a specified topic. You should have consulted a range of resources for information and analysis. You have to reference all your sources according to the system in use at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (APA). For your essay you should use and list at least 10 references.

3.  Structure and organization of essay

Your essay should have a short introduction clearly identifying your topic, the type of crime problem and the key questions that you are going to address. You also need to explain why these are important, and how your essay will address them. The essay is then structured around addressing this crime problem/ these key questions / issues and follows a good ordering and development of arguments in doing so.  The essay concludes with a short, clear summary of your main arguments and conclusions referring back to your initial crime problem/ key research questions/ issues. You can use subtitles for structuring your essay.