HON 201: Site Research

Paper 4: Pursuing Justice, Past and Present

You will be researching how a contemporary topic has been handled in the court system and, where relevant, in the broader sociocultural arena. How does that handling engage with and/or reject the definition of justice you worked to establish in Paper 3? Take care to distinguish among concepts of what justice is; what people believe it to be; and how people seek to implement it. 

Source Requirements: AT LEAST SIX sources: TWO course texts (one of which much be Plato's Republic), TWO scholarly sources, and at least TWO additional secondary sources of your choice.

Given that you are engaging with a modern topic, non-scholarly sources like news articles, magazine articles, and blog posts will likely be useful. You may, of course use more than two of these types of sources!

Length: 7-8 pages

Citation Style: MLA

Due Date: 11/29/2022, Midnight

To begin, let's work through the research process. 

1. Understand your assignment - Review your assignment and be sure you know what is expected of you.
2. Choose a topic - Your topic should be complex, controversial in some way, and interesting to you - you don't want to write 8 pages on something you have no interest in! 
   • Sample Topics: Immigration; citizenship; welfare; foster care; lethal injection; civil rights related to privacy; discrimination on the basis of race, sex or gender, sexuality, religion, or ability (physical, emotional, intellectual). There are many other topics you could choose, these are just some examples.
3. Write a research question - What question(s) are you trying to answer about your topic? 
4. Generate keywords 
5. Find Background information 
6. Begin searching for sources (and evaluating them!)
7. Read, use/integrate sources into your paper

Here are a few great places to find background information:

• Credo Reference
• Britannica Online
• Oxford Reference
• SAGE Knowledge
• WISE (Westminster's Library Catalog) 

Academic Journals

• Academic Search Complete
• JSTOR
• Omnifile Full Text
• Project MUSE
• Humanities Source
• Philosopher's Index
• Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text
• Gender Watch
• Violence & Abuse Abstracts

  Need help? Ask a Librarian! 

The library subscribes to several sources of current news including:

• U.S. Major Dailies (NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, etc.)
• World Politics Review (political news)
• Chronicle of Higher Education (articles concerning current events in Higher Education)
• Reader's Guide Full Text (popular magazines and videos)

You can also find news articles online by visiting local and national news sites (although not all articles will be free. Don't pay for subscriptions - contact a librarian for help!).

Here are a few examples:

• New Castle News
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• NBC News (National)
• ABC News (National)
• CBS News (National)
• Google News

When viewing online news sources, remember to read critically and apply the CRAAP test.  

Librarians are here to help you get started with your research, find resources while you are researching, and help you identify the information you need to complete your citations.  We can also provide some guidance on how to structure your paper or format your citations, but the tutors at the Academic Success Center are the best people to help you with your writing.

Writing tutors are able to read your paper and help you edit it, both at the word/sentence level and to improve flow and structure.  They can also help you proofread your citations and ensure they are properly formated. 

No matter the size, topic, or scope of your paper you should consider having a writing tutor read it and provide feedback before you turn it in (allow time for editing!).  Every paper benefits from a second opinion!