Blog 17: Preliminary Research

I want to conduct research to find scholarly information about crimes such as: rape, abuse, and murder, and how to prevent being a victim of these crimes. I would like to find statistical information about what types of crimes college students in particularly are victims of. I hope to find what makes a person vulnerable to being a victim and what types of locations the crimes happen in. After doing that research, I would like to follow up with research on some select cases that experts have studied and outline them in my project.

Once I have all the doom and gloom research over with, I want to do some research in how prevent yourself from falling victims to the types of crimes I plan to research. I hope to find information from experts or even from past victims that have spoken up about their experience. I expect to find a lot of information on how drugs and alcohol can plan a role in being a victim.

I hope to find some good information to inform my audience of the dangers that lurk around every corner because ignorance is not bliss. I also would like to find some prevention methods and plans of action if something like this would happen to you. Knowledge is power. I feel like college students are mostly interested in having a good time and so they seem to forget that others could have very bad intentions.

In my preliminary research I found several possible sources:

Department of Public Safety. "Annual Campus Security Report." The Ohio State University Department of Public Safety. The Ohio State University, 2009. Web. 21 Jan. 2011. http://dps.osu.edu/campus_safety/Annual_Security_Fire_Safety_Report.pdf.

Dobbs, Rhonda R., Courtney A. Waid, and Tara O'Connor Shelley. "Explaining Fear of Crime as Fear of Rape Among College Females: An Examination of Multiple Campuses in the United States." International Journal of Social Inquiry 2.2 (2009): 105-122. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 22 Jan. 2011.

McMahon, Sarah. "Rape Myth Beliefs and Bystander Attitudes Among Incoming College Students." Journal of American College Health 59.1 (2010): 3-11. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.

McMahon, Patricia Pasky. "Sexual Violence on the College Campus: A Template for Compliance With Federal Policy." Journal of American College Health 57.3 (2008): 361-366. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.

Welsh, Brandon C., and David P. Farrington. "Evidence-Based Crime Prevention: Conclusions and Directions for a Safer Society." Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice 47.2 (2005): 337-354. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.