Criminology, Law & Society Writing Guide

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Shorter In-Class Essays

Typically, short-essay identifications require students to define or identify a term or concept and briefly discuss its significance. You should try to be very concise and direct in your answer. In assigning this task, instructors are looking to see if you can define the term. They are also looking to see if you know the term well enough to explain its significance in relation to larger course themes and topics.

There are several ways you can explain a term's significance. You could site an example of how the term was used in a particular lecture or reading. Or, you could provide an example of how the term is applied in a particular historical or contemporary context. You could compare and/or contrast the term with another concept. You could even analyze the concepts meaning to point out conceptual ambiguity or multiple meanings depending on the context within which the term is used.

Students sometimes find short identifications difficult to do because they can't settle on one concise definition. Some students simply don't know the term well enough to give a convincing statement about its significance. Students should always define the term in their own words, and should not provide the verbatim definition presented in class. The goal of this type of writing is to demonstrate your own knowledge about the term and its significance to your area of study.

An example:

Conflict Theory: Conflict theory maintains that the source of social and legal inequality can be found in the unequal distribution of power in society; the dominant group in society uses its power to maintain its dominance and to maintain the inferiority of other less powerful groups. For example, whites used Jim Crow laws in the post-Civil War South to maintain their dominance and control over blacks. This theory is important because it provides a top- down perspective on inequality in the administration of justice, and it points out subtle ways in which apparently innocuous laws and rules can actually be tools of maintaining power by dominant groups in society.

The example provides a concise definition, a short relevant example and directly addresses the significance of the term to the area of study.