CULT3025 Prisons, Punishment and Criminal Justice Assignment 1: Essay plan

After you have read this information, head over to the Assignment 1 Q&A discussion board to ask any questions and see what your peers are saying about this assignment.

Assignment overview

An essay plan or proposal is a short piece of writing that will set out the core arguments, conceptual framework and key points for Assignment 2: Essay. It is intended to be a concise outline of your essay rather than providing any substantive detail.

This assignment supports Subject Learning Outcome 1.

Use of generative artificial intelligence

In this assessment task, you will not be able to meet the learning outcomes related to a satisfactory demonstration of understanding of the learning materials by using generative artificial intelligence tools. Working with another person or technology in order to gain an unfair advantage in assessment or improperly obtaining answers from a third party, including generative AI, to questions in an examination or other form of assessment may lead to sanctions under the Student Misconduct Rule (Western Sydney University, 2023). Use of generative AI tools may be detected. More information is available on the Library web page Turnitin's AI writing detector (Library Study Smart, 2023). 

If your studies have been adversely affected by circumstances beyond your control, you may request an extension using the following options.

Note: A request for a short extension must be made within two working days and a request for special consideration must be made within five working days. Supporting documentation for applications of less than three days is optional but may be requested later.

Assignment details

Work your way through the following steps to meet the requirements of this assignment:

Step 1: Select the essay question you are going to address and undertake preliminary research on the topic.

Important: You should pick the essay question that most interests you since you will develop your essay plan into your Assignment 2: Essay.

If you need help choosing an essay question, go to 1.8 Discussion 2: Choosing your essay question.

Select one of the following essay questions. To assist you in planning out your approach towards the learning materials, modules of particular relevance to each topic are noted after each of the essay questions. You may wish to work ahead and review the learning resources, discussions and activities for these modules as they will support you in strengthening your position for your selected essay topic.

Essay questions

1. Emile Durkheim considers punishment, and the vengeance that underpins it, to be an important component of solidarity. Do you believe this to be true in contemporary Australia? (Modules 2, 3 and 11)

2. Consider this quote from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: "Generally speaking, punishment makes men hard and cold ... it sharpens the feeling of alienation; it strengthens the power of resistance" (Nietzsche 1967, p. 81). Do you agree? Substantiate your argument with case studies and other empirical evidence, while considering the goals of punishment. (Modules 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9)

3. Compare Foucault’s concept of discipline to Marxist ideas of punishment. Which of these do you think is more applicable in relation to the punishment of women and/or First Nations peoples? Use empirical examples to support your argument. (Modules 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8)

4. What are the various factors that need to come together for successful rehabilitation, reintegration and desistance? Illustrate with empirical examples, particularly in relation to particular groups of prisoners, such as women, First Nations people, people with disabilities, or an intersection of these factors. (Modules 7, 8 and 9)

5. There is enduring debate around reform of the existing prison system versus abolition. Which of these is a more desirable and/or realistic outcome in contemporary Australia? You may also use comparative examples to enhance your argument. (Module 9, 10 and 11)

Step 2: Plan your essay format

You might like to use the following Assignment 1: Essay plan template (DOCX 131 KB) to help you plan your essay. If this doesn't work for you, feel free to adopt an approach that best suits you; however, you must include all of the same listed components.

Tip: Take advantage of the discussions and activities linked under each required component of your essay plan. These have been designed to help support you in a 'hands-on' and 'collaborative' way, giving you the opportunity to apply your learning and collaborate with your peers and OLA throughout the early modules of this subject. In doing so, you will be completing small parts of this assignment iteratively along the way.

In your essay plan, include the following:

Essay question—At the top of the page, refer to the essay question you are going to answer.

Argument—In no more than two sentences, explain your answer to the essay question. Every essay should contain an argument or contention, which is your informed response to the essay question. This is differentiated from an opinion because it is coherent and reasonable, and can be substantiated by theory and empirical evidence.

If you need help developing your argument or contention, go to 2.7 Discussion: Determining your stance – argument or contention.

Theories/conceptual framework—Write no more than two sentences to explain how your chosen framework will make sense of and substantiate your topic.

If you need help aligning relevant theories to form a conceptual framework, go to 3.8 Discussion: Aligning relevant theories to form a conceptual framework.

Factual examples or evidence (where applicable) comprising statistics or case studies etc.—List your sources.

Essay plan—You should present a paragraph-by-paragraph plan of your research essay.

Resources—No fewer than six academic sources (books, chapters, journal articles) that you will use in your essay. After each source, include a sentence explaining why it is useful for your essay.

Note: the reference list is not included in the word count.

Step 3: Your essay plan must contain the following:

Introduction—An introduction orients the reader to the topic, previews the stages of the essay, and clarifies the writer’s position. This is also where we like to see some reference to the theory that will be used to substantiate the argument. Think of theory as a tool to help you tell a story in a particular way and help you make the point that you want to make.

Background paragraph—In this paragraph, immediately after the introduction, you should explain the core issues of the essay. If you are writing about mass imprisonment, then this is the paragraph in which you provide an overview of statistics, reasons, practices, explain trends, and so on. This gives the reader the basic information that they need to understand the rest of your argument. You may need two paragraphs to provide enough background information, depending on the topic you choose.

Body paragraphs—The body of an essay consists of a logically sequenced series of paragraphs that develops the essay topic and arguments. It’s where you develop your ’story’. Each paragraph should express one key idea that relates to your analysis and argument. Begin the paragraph by introducing the key idea and then explain and elaborate on the idea using relevant scholarly literature and research evidence.

Conclusion—Restates the major argument developed in the essay. Briefly summarise major points and implications.

Assignment tip

View the marking guide under 'Assignment criteria' to see a detailed breakdown of how your work will be assessed. This is an excellent place to start your preparations for this assignment.

Refer back to the marking guide frequently to make sure you are meeting the requirements.

Supporting resources

Harvard WesternSydU style – In-text citations (Western Sydney University Library 2020).

Harvard WesternSydU referencing style guide (PDF 199 KB) (Western Sydney University Library 2019).

Library Study Smart—a library resource that will assist you in completing your assignments (Western Sydney University Library 2021). 

Western Sydney University Library has further information about referencing on its Referencing and citation page.

As you’re finalising your draft, don’t forget that the Assignment Feedback Tool is available 24/7 to help you refine your grammar, referencing, writing style, and more. For more details, see the Assignments and support page in your Welcome Module.

Rubric 

You will be assessed on the following criterion:

1. Content extent of reading/research:

– accuracy and depth of knowledge

– relevance of information

– sufficiency of evidence and documentation

– concise presentation of a convincing argument.

2. Understanding:

– understanding of problem or project

– judgement of significance of material

– awareness/understanding of different arguments in reading

– recognition of implications of evidence

– ability to think critically

– grasp of relevant theory.

3. Independence:

– judgement and initiative in readings and research

– originality in use and interpretation of evidence

– development of argument

– independence in use of concepts and language.

4. Style:

– correctness of grammar and scholarly documentation

– organisation and presentation of material

– brevity/concise.