Provide a brief overview of your paper and identify some of the sources you will draw on. Please address the following issues:

• THE SOCIAL PROBLEM: What is the social problem you will examine.

• HISTORY OF PROBLEM AND POLICY: When did the problem first emerge historically? What historical eras will you examine?

• CONTEMPORARY POLICIES STRATEGIES: What contemporary federal policy will you examine in-depth.

• ARGUMENT: What is the paper's primary argument/thesis?

• ANNOTATED SOURCES: Please provide 8 scholarly sources you will use in your discussion. The articles should come from appropriate sources (peer reviewed journal, research/position papers of legitimate think thanks or research centers, government documents may be appropriate as well).

• Sources should be in APA style. Sources should be up to date in most cases (some seminal or historical works may be older).

• There should be a brief annotation of the source summarizing its' major finding or contribution. Please explain why it is relevant/appropriate to/for your topic.

Policy Analysis Paper

The final assignment for this course is a policy paper that analyzes a specific "social problem," the historical emergence of the social problem, the history of policy interventions designed to address the problem, and contemporary proposals, ideologies, and debates that surround a contemporary FEDERAL social welfare policy in your chosen topic/arena.

Requirements

This paper should be 12-15, double-spaced, typed pages with 12-point font. This page length DOES NOT include references. The references and footnotes should follow American Psychological Association (APA) formatting. Please see the publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Ed) for guidelines. It is also available on the web at www.apa.org.

Getting Started

One way is to start by identifying a target population in which you are interested. Then choose a specific problem experienced by the population. Of course many populations experience multiple social problems-but try to hone in on one or two specific problems that are addressed by federal policies. For example, poverty problems and the elderly, homelessness and the mentally ill, domestic violence, or teenage motherhood and poverty. The topic must be broad enough to ensure that contemporary and historical policy literature exists and narrow enough not to be overwhelming. In your discussion of the policy response, you will discuss one or two contemporary FEDERAL policies that address the problem. For example, if you're looking at domestic violence, you may want to choose the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). If you're looking at the issue of poverty among the elderly, you might end up discussing the Old Age Security and Disability Insurance Program (OASDI) of the Social Security Act.

Contents/Outlines

Your paper should cover the following 6 sections, following the outline below:

INTRODUCTION: Introduce your reader to your paper topic and your argument/thesis. What will you be discussing? What are you going to argue/prove in this paper?

THE SOCIAL PROBLEM: Introduce the reader to the population group and the social problem(s) that you have selected. What is the specific problem being analyzed? Who is the population experiencing it? Provide some statistics regarding the subgroups who experience it. You may include such factors as the age, gender, ethnicity, and region in your description of the target population. What are the observable signs of the problem (e.g. scope, magnitude) and what are the consequences of the problem for the population, sub populations? Use this section to introduce your main argument or thesis. What are you trying to prove in this paper?

HISTORY OF PROBLEM AND POLICY: This piece has two components. You may choose to define them separately, or together, depending on the logical flow of your paper. Part I is to explain, based on your literature review, the history of the emergence of this problem as a "social problem" in the United States. What social, economic, and political factors contributed to its emergence? How has the problem definition changed over time? What are the trends in ideological and value-based approaches to the problem as a social problem? Part II is to explain the history of government and/or other institutional response to the problem. How has the problem been treated over time? What policy solutions have been offered? What historical factors led to more or less relative concern with the problem? What are some of the underlying historical factors involved in these policy responses (e.g. were there gender, race, class, or other dynamics?). You'll need to link this historical analysis back to the paper's main argument.

DISCUSS CONTEMPORARY POLICIES STRATEGIES: This is where you discuss contemporary solutions to the problem. You should focus on one or two (at most) federal policy solutions. Where are we now in trying to solve the problem? What has changed today to influence the redefinition of the problem (i.e., how has the problem changed over time)? How has policy been reshaped? Describe in detail the current policy designed to meet the problem. You can use the Gilbert and Terrell reading to help with your discussion here.
EVALUATE THE POLICY. Provide an analysis of the current policy as it stands. Your evaluation should also address social justice issues. Has there been anyoutcome research concerning this policy strategy? If so, what does it show? Use the historical background to guide this analysis-How do contemporary strategies reflect their historical precedents? How do they differ? Be sure to weigh your evaluation against other viable alternatives. In this section, you will present your paper's main argument in full force.

CONCLUSION. Based on your comprehensive analysis, offer suggestions as to the policy direction that we should take in tackling the problem. What are the barriers to moving in this direction? What are the social or economic conditions that might favor your suggestions?

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Your bibliography should include at minimum 10 sources. The Social Welfare Policy Research Guide available at the library http://libguides.rutgers.edu/socialworkpolicy is a great place to start to help find references and resources. The majority of your sources should be scholarly books and articles published in academic journals or policy brief and articles published by legitimate research centers/think tanks. The Social Welfare Policy Research Guide will help you to find and distinguish between various types of sources.. In addition, IRIS (which houses books) and electronic indices such as Sociological Abstracts, and America: History and Life are invaluable in finding sources through the library. It is strongly recommended that you use the RU library site-rather than a general internet search-for the bulk of your research as the library houses or links too well vetted materials.