Social/Public Problem Paper: Each student will select a social problem. Students will then write a paper that discusses both the “social” perspective and the “public” perspective of the problem (e.g. social problem: poverty public, problem: child poverty in America; social problem: gender inequality, public problem: discrimination of women in the workforce).

This paper should identify any characteristic of the population which suffers this problem or that is at risk. The paper should draw on considerable outside research and supply original and critical insights into the topic chosen. Your paper should only focus on the problem and not the public intervention.

Students are encouraged to use APA academic writing style. All papers should be 8 pages long and must be word processed (typed), double spaced using Times Roman 12-point font. Use a spell checker, proofread your paper yourself and have someone else read it and give you input before you turn it in. Your paper must contain a minimum of 4 sources (Please do not use the textbook as a source!). You may not use sources or websites such as www.wikipedia.org or wiki.answers.com!

Social Problem Themes:

nAging

nEconomic Disadvantage

nFamily & Community

nHealth and Medicine

nHomelessness

nMental Illness

nPhysical & Substance Abuse

nCrime & Delinquency

This paper valued at 25% of your final grade.

All papers are graded based on the following:

• Introduction and Research question(s) – 25%
  • Ability to grab reader’s attention
  • Ability to stay within requirements
• Analysis – 50%
  • Construction of main points
  • Consideration of counterarguments
  • Quality of writing
• Conclusions – 25%
  • Organization and scholarliness
  • Logical flow
  • Supporting references