The purpose of this paper is for you to connect a problem that impacts families to a policy that has been established in an attempt to address part (or perhaps all) of that problem. In developing that connection, you will need to include the following components in your paper:
1. Introduction – What is the problem?
Students will write a brief summation of the issue and how it impacts families. This should be no longer than a paragraph and MUST be informed by the content provided as well as relevant outside research. APA-style citations should be included in-text to identify relevant source material.
2. Scope of the problem – How big is the problem?
Students will use the resources provided and relevant outside research to describe the scope and impact of the issue on families. Particular attention will be paid to evidence of unequal or different impacts based on gender, race, SES, age, sexual orientation, family structure, or other relevant family demographics. This section should be at least one-half page in length and should include in-text citations for source content.
3. Description of policy – What has been done to help/fix the problem?
Using the information provided in Canvas and any relevant outside sources, students will describe a policy or set of policies which aim to address the focal family issue. This section will be no more than one paragraph and should include a brief description of the policy and its purpose along with appropriate APA citations back to relevant source material.
4. Evaluation of Impact – Did the policy work? Did it fix the problem?
Students will digest information from provided sources and relevant outside source material and prepare a brief (approx. one-half page) summary of the impact the identified policy has had on the focal family issue. Citing relevant sources, using APA, the students will describe how the policy has or has not impacted the family issue (the policys intended consequences) as well as any unintended consequences that may have resulted from the policys implementation. As with the above sections, this portion should be primarily informed by research and should contain APA in-text citations for used source material.
5. Personal reaction – How do I feel about it?
Having outlined the issue, relevant policy, and its impact, students will conclude their paper with a brief discussion of their own educated opinions on the issue and policy. Students should describe their opinions in light of the information they included earlier in the paper and should discuss how those opinions were or were not influenced by their research for this paper. As this is entirely based on opinion, there is no right or wrong answer for this section. Instead, points will be based on whether the students clearly articulate their educated opinion and how they arrived at it.
These papers should be at least 2 pages plus a reference page and follow APA guidelines including 12pt. Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, double-spaced text, section headings, and APA citations.
THESE ARE TIPS LEFT FROM THE PROFESSOR DOWN BELOW !
1.). You must cite every single sentence in your paper that is not your original thought. You must cite the source that provided that information to you. Failure to do so is plagiarism.
2.). Some of you are citing the source but are also quoting directly without using quotation marks. This is also plagiarism. In a paper of this length (2 pages) you should have minimal (but preferably NONE) direct quotations. Your entire paper should be paraphrased, or put into your own words and then cited.
3.). If I receive any more papers that are not cited properly, I will not give you a grade. I will notify you, and you will have 24 hours to revise the paper and receive a grade–otherwise you will get a zero. It is really important that you understand this concept of how to incorporate the work of others into your papers.
4.). Confusing the problem with the policy. Some of you are writing about problems with or things you don’t like about the policy as the problem. The problem is the social issue or struggle that the policy is trying to fix. If you are confused about this, please email me prior to completing your next paper so that we can review this together and be sure you have the correct outline for your paper.
5.) The scope of the problem needs to include its impact on families; as well as whether or not families are impacted differently based on things like race, gender, family structure (ie., single parent families, LGBTQ families, etc), SES, etc.
6.). Review your APA reference page. Google Owl Purdue APA – great website that will answer questions. A couple of errors I see frequently are:
Only the first word of a journal article, the first word after a colon, and/or proper nouns are capitalized. Like this:
Food insecurity in preschool children: What is so different about Boston?
If that was the name of the journal article, do you see how the first word (Food) is capitalized, the first word after a colon (What) and a proper noun (Boston) are capitalized?
