Motivation

I am having some difficulty with my paper, there is plenty of information available to me, but I am unsure how to incorporate it into the paper. I have written over the topic of causes, I have mentioned many different types of arsonists. What can be done for these arsonists has also been mentioned, I gave a paragraph about prevention and what programs are available to help prevent a child or adult from becoming an arson. I have written about the psychological aspect of arson and also on Firefighter arson. I am still only about four pages into my paper and I am struggling to come up with four more pages worth of information that I can present and then give my opinion on.



Another struggle for my is my works cited page, I believe I am doing it correctly, but I am still unsure about some of them. I have the required amount of sources both "dead tree" an on-line. It is my belief that I will be able to pull this paper together, it may take some dedication and motivation. but I believe it is possible.

History

While I was continuing to write my research paper, it crossed my mind that I really did not know when arson had started being investigate. I tried looking up when the first recorded case of arson was, but with no success, what little information I found suggested that arson is a fairly young criminal act, and since very few arsonists are ever caught there is not a whole lot of information on said cases.

Arson history may not be very detailed, but arson has excited throughout the centuries in fact I remembered that in fact one of the worse supposed cases of arson a cured as far back as 64AD when the Roman Emperor Nero was said to have intentional set fire to Rome so that he could build a more beautiful Rome. I have yet to complete the search throughout history on some of the other cases of supposed arson, but I believe that I will continue to find more and more cases of arson as I go.

Writing

I have gone back and look at my two page rough draft of my research paper. I have come to the conclusion that while arson is a subject that just about everyone knows something or other about, there are many details that are not common knowledge. While starting to write this paper I had some difficulty making my paper sound like a persuasive paper instead of a research paper. There is lots of information that a reader should know when learning about arson, and in my case having chosen to write about treatments for arsonists it is doubly important to out line the different causes of arson. However, while doing this I am constantly struggle to stay on track and not wonder into subject matter that is not relevant to my work.

The research has been hard, and the writing even harder for this paper. However, I have enjoyed the learning and hopefully I will be able to convey my enthusiasm for the topic into my research paper.

Struggles

While I have enjoy learning more about arson through my research, it is starting to become more difficult to find information related to my topic. I have done extensive research not only on line, but I also went to my local public library and attempted to find some sources that were not just posted on the internet. There were many books published on the subject of fire and the dangers of fire, but there was not much in the way of arson. I tried to look up books that would talk to arson and arsonist but was unable to find any.

I continue my search for information about this topic, and am hopeful that I will be able to find information that is not everyday knowledge.

The Book of Fire

"The Book of Fire" written by William H. Cottrell Jr. covers many different subjects such as; types of fires, fire fuels, fire classification system, and many more topics. This book was helpful in identifying the actions of fire and the danger that is involved in many types of fire.

This book was easy to read and understand. I enjoyed learning about fire and it components. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever had an interest in Fire.



Cottrell, William H. . The Book of Fire. second edt.. Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2004.

Motives and Solutions

According to Richard N. Kocsis; "Invariably whenever arson occurs, one question always stirs the public conscience: why do some people deliberately light fires to cause harm? The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the motivational and psychological factors operating in some individuals who commit arson, and to offer suggestions aimed at tackling the problem of arson"

"Arson: Exploring Motives and Possible Solutions" by: Kocsis, does exactly that, it explores motives, such as; profit, animosity, vandalism, crime concealment, political objectives, and psycho pathological factors. putting them in perspective that helps the reader to see where the arsonist may get his or her motivation.

While reading this article it accorded to me that there are many different reasons that someone would participate in arson. Many times the reason that an arsonist strikes is unknown and if we could only find out why someone would wish to damage or hurt someone or something it may help us to better treat the individual.

Serial Arsonists

"interFire" contains an overview of what a serial arson is; "Serial arson is an offense committed by firesetters who set three or more fires with a significant cooling off period between the fires (Douglas, et al, 1992)." The information contained in the article within this sight, is based off of: "the result of on-going research conducted by the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC)"




This sight was created to help law enforcement to better understand who they are fighting. I greatly appreciate how in depth the information in this article is, it give a new meaning to arson and arsonists. It also was helpful in defining what exactly an arsonists is.