Each student will be required to write a term paper. The subject of the paper will be application of the ideas discussed in the class combined with research to be used to support the analytical part of the paper. The paper will consist of three parts:
1. You will be expected to write a narrative about a milestone in your life that had an impact on how you developed. A milestone can be any event or ascribed status. Examples of milestones may be family dynamics, school attended, marriage, birth of a child, divorce, death of a loved one, a contracted disease, influence of a mentor, physical impairment. That is, the list is endless. Only you know what factors in your life helped to shape your present behaviors and perceptions.
2. Analyze the milestone from the perspective of how it changed, influenced or reinforced your life journey; and,
3. You should then compare your reactions to research in the field. That is, did you react to the milestone as the research indicated. Or perhaps you reacted vastly different to some of the researchers’ conclusions. Your instructor thinks this is very important. If one cannot apply what one reads to one’s own life, then how is one to have the empathy needed to work with people in the human services network? The purpose of the term paper is to take learning out of classroom theoretical constructs and make it real.
The paper needs to include, minimally, five references (the required text and class hand-outs do not count). Your instructor is very liberal as to the type of resources you can use: books, magazines, newspapers, television documentaries, internet research (however, sensationalistic sources as the National Enquirer or television “reality shows” will not be accepted). You may also interview persons who have experienced a similar milestone (this may count for no more than two of the required references). The paper needs to be footnoted/endnoted/parenthetical citations and contain a works cited page. (You may choose either MLA or APA). The length of the paper should be 7-10 pages.
