Everything Old is New Again: The Criminology/Criminal Justice Freshman Research Seminar

Abstract

This is a report of an action-research project undertaken in tandem with the development of a new freshman seminar in criminology and criminal justice. In the freshman seminar the goal is to teach the research, critical thinking and writing skills that are the underpinnings of scholarship and good citizenship. Utilizing a unique approach, this class focuses on resources available through the University library and is taught by a professor, two librarians and a graduate teaching assistant. We hypothesize that freshmen who experience this seminar will show improvement in critical thinking skills, and that this will contribute to greater levels of academic success. This report describes the educational innovation (seminar) in sufficient detail to make replication possible, and presents preliminary findings that indicate the seminar enhances research and writing skills, fosters ability to think critically, and has a positive influence on students’ academic careers.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Olivia Zabrucki for her efforts with the critical thinking data. We would also like to thank Ted Chaffin for helping to get this project off the ground.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.