This introductory chapter attempts to answer the question ‘what is criminology?’ by exploring the origin of criminology as a discipline together with an overview of some of the types of question that may be of interest to criminologists. It sets out the structure of the remainder of the book, the first part of which introduces the source material that is commonly used in the study of criminology. The second part focuses on academic skills, while the final part concentrates on research methods.
Chapter
1. What is criminology?
Chapter
6. Study skills
This chapter discusses study skills for criminology students. It includes practical advice on different approaches to note-taking and organizing notes, time-management and planning, working with others, and getting the most out of seminars and lectures. It also includes an introduction to personal development planning (PDP) as a means of reflecting, planning, and taking action in respect of personal, educational, and career development.
Book
Emily Finch and Stefan Fafinski
Legal Skills is structured in three parts, covering a full range of legal skills. The first part deals with sources of law and includes information on finding and using legislation, case law, books, journals, and official publications, making sure you understand where the law comes from, and how to use it. The second part covers academic legal skills and provides advice on study and writing skills, legal reasoning, referencing and avoiding plagiarism, essay writing, dissertations, problem solving, and revision and examinations. The final part of the book covers the practical legal skills of oral presentation, mooting, negotiation, and drafting.
Book
Emily Finch and Stefan Fafinski
Criminology Skills covers both study skills and research skills in one manageable volume. The text is designed to enable you to develop an integrated understanding of the key skills required to succeed in your study of criminology. A three-part structure introduces you to the skills of finding source materials and takes you through the academic skills you will need to succeed in your degree, before finishing with a section on research methods and writing dissertations and research reports. The book provides an ideal introduction to the key study and research skills that you will need to demonstrate during your study and practice of criminology. Criminology Skills first helps you establish a strong skills foundation before incrementally building to a more advanced level increasing the competence, and confidence, with which you will be able to approach projects that require strong academic and research skills. After an introduction to the study of criminology, the book covers: books and journals; statistics and official publications; media and web sources; criminal law; study skills; writing skills; referencing and avoiding plagiarism; essay writing; presentations; revision and examinations; research ethics; gathering data; quantitative analysis; qualitative analysis; and dissertations and research reports. It is accompanied by online resources.
Chapter
10. Study skills
This chapter focuses on the skills needed to study law. It begins by describing how a law degree is structured and what sorts of activities students are likely to take part in as part of that degree. It then discusses lectures, seminars, and tutorials; note-taking; working with others; time management; learning from feedback; and personal development planning.
