Issue Paper
Criteria for Assignment:
The Paper must be typed, double spaced, and use a font comparable to Times Roman 12. Total length should be approx. 7-8 pages.
- Choose a social problem. Present the nature and scope of the problem in your introduction, which should include statistics and information regarding the issue in the United States. Use at least three scholarly resources (References) from books, journal articles, or the web, in addition to the textbook. Be careful not to choose something so broad (poverty, racism, harassment) that you are overwhelmed by the literature. Try instead something like “women in poverty”, “institutionalized racism”, or “sexual harassment”.
2. Provide information and data for elaboration on how this issue affects life for “special populations” like women, children, elderly, etc., using at least three more scholarly sources. With the above examples, perhaps you might consider the effects of poverty on women who have experienced domestic violence, institutional racism’s effects on Latino/a immigrants, or sexual harassment of LGBT populations.
3. Discuss two successful interventions that address the social problem and are evidence-based. What might a social worker do to address individuals experiencing this problem or to solve the problem at a larger level? These should be interventions that a social worker might provide. One intervention should relate to how the social worker might intervene with an individual experiencing the problem, and the other should relate to how the social problem could be addressed on a macro level. Refer to the Allen & Mears et al article for an example of an article that describes an intervention and the evidence to support it.
4. Discuss how you believe Social Work values, ethics, the strengths perspective, and systems thinking might be a part of the solution or remedies to the issue or associated problems.
5. Close your paper with a brief summary or conclusion.
Note: The Paper will be graded on how well you fulfill these areas as well as grammar, sentence and paragraph structure.