Been so busy with grading at work, I've only just had a chance to catch up on my DISing. Since I am one of those dreaded English profs, I just wanted to chime in with a couple of suggestions.
1. Narrow your topic. Crime in Sports is book-length material. Pick the one area of this topic that interests you and focus on developing the ideas related to that area, rather than spreading yourself too thin, and just skipping across many places.
2. Always go with your interests. You've done a good job with this part thus far, just don't get swayed by the idea that there is "more info" on something you are less interested in. The more passionate (albeit reasonable) you can be about your research, the better.
3. Craft a solid thesis that asserts some value judgment (in a position paper) or asserts a sound course of action (in a proposal paper) that controls the whole essay. Sometimes my students get so interested in the things they have discovered about their topics, they forget they are supposed to be arguing for something, not just informing me about the issue.
If you are following the classical Aristotelean argument pattern, you will need to do some research on those who disagree with your position on the issue. Be sure to do some objective research to present the opposing view fairly, before offering persuasive rebuttal. There is nothing worse than reading a student's paper that becomes a rant, often misrepresenting all views that are different from his own.
OK, end of lecture!
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