Rise of the opioid crisis in Alberta, Canada

GNED 1401-008/024/036/065

Writing for Academic Success

Instructor: Erika Watters

Policy Essay Assignment Worth: 20%

Due: December 7-11 (See Evaluation Criteria and Submission Guidelines Below)

The Assignment: Without exceeding 1500 words, write a policy essay incorporating a minimum of six secondary sources*.  A policy essay asserts that a particular law, policy, or practice should – or should not – be maintained, introduced, re-introduced, modified, or dropped in order to address a particular problem or need.  The problem you choose to address should be one any reasonable person would agree is a problem, one in need of a solution. The essay’s claim – your solution to that problem – must be controversial; a controversial claim is one about which reasonable, well-meaning people might disagree.

Choosing a Topic: Aim to address a contemporary problem you care about, ideally one you already know something about. Please note, however, that this is an academic research paper, not a personal essay. To that end, personal experiences and the use of personal pronouns are to be avoided. Ensure as well to limit your essay’s topic; a research essay be should narrow and deep, not broad and shallow. Consider addressing a local issue.

Prohibited Topics:  Essays on abortion or capital punishment will not be accepted, nor will those on Pharmacare because I’ve given you a model student essay on that topic.  You’ll see that model essay posted on Blackboard under “Policy Essay Materials.”

Word Count: Essays that exceed 1500 words will not be accepted. The essay’s word count does not include the essay’s Works Cited list.

*Research Requirements: The essay must incorporate a minimum of six secondary sources. At least 50% of those secondary sources must be accessed via the library’s subscription databases. While your sources do not need to be scholarly or peer-reviewed, (although those are certainly welcome) your sources should include experts or authorities in their field. Students who fail to meet these research requirements may not receive a passing grade.

Documentation and Academic Integrity: Each time you cite a secondary source in your essay, you must cite that source using MLA documentation guidelines. All word-for-word quotations must be surrounded with quotation marks. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism and will result in a zero on the assignment. All in-text citations should clearly direct readers to your Works Cited list, and all (and only) the sources you cite in your essay must appear in a Works Cited list using MLA format. Please see the MLA guide to documentation for further details.

Evaluation Criteria

Introduction

The essay’s introduction will be evaluated according to how well it does the following:

1. a) Puts ‘a face’ on the problem and indicates the scope and gravity of the problem
2. b) Describes and contextualizes the problem your policy claim addresses
3. c) Identifies the current policy if one exists or once existed and defines key terms
4. d) Asserts a clear, concise underlined policy claim at the end of the introduction

Body 

The essay’s body paragraphs will be evaluated according to how effectively they employ, integrate and document credible secondary sources, and how clearly and consistently they do the following:

1. a) Acknowledge an opposing view (one asserted by an authority) in the topic sentence:
2. b) Concede the full or partial merits of that opposing view
3. c) Provide a convincing counter argument (one asserted by an authority)

Conclusion

The essay’s conclusion will be evaluated according to how clearly it expresses a call to action and how effectively it motivates the essay’s intended audience to act on that call to action.

Style

The essay overall will be evaluated according to how effectively it adopts a formal style and tone throughout. The essay should be free of wordiness, awkward expressions, and grammatical errors.

Documentation

Ensure 50% of sources are from library databases and that the essay adheres to all MLA guidelines.

Due Date and Submission Guidelines: Essays may be submitted beginning on Monday, December 7 @ 9:00 am MST. Only essays submitted on December 7 by 11:59 pm created in Word and conforming to MLA format will receive written comments. Those submitted after December 7 @ 11:59 pm but before Friday, December 11 @ 11:59 pm will not be considered late, but will not receive written comments. Essays submitted after December 11 @ 11:59 pm will not be accepted – nor will any essay that exceeds 1500 words or is about abortion, capital punishment or Pharmacare.

Other Submission Requirements: Electronic Copies of Secondary Sources are a Must-Have

For verification and grading purposes, for all sources other than audio visual ones, you must submit a copy of the ‘title page’ (the page that indicates the source’s author, title, date of publication, etc.) of the sources cited in your essay and the pages of those sources you cited in your essay. Please highlight only the portion of the document you cited in your essay and include that highlighted portion with the source’s title page. Please organized those files in the order they appear in your Works Cited list. Screen shots, scans and PDFs of these are all acceptable. Links alone are not. Entire journal articles, book chapters etc. are not required, nor are they desired. Assignments submitted without highlighted copies of the cited documents and their title pages will not be accepted as the essay cannot be adequately assessed without those.