For this assignment students choose a news article focusing on an individual or family and their experience living in poverty in BC. They then have 4 questions to answer about the article that make links to the course content and themselves. I have gradually refined this assignment over the years. When I first began instructing this course students had to analyze four articles. I later refined it down to 2 articles, and finally 1 article with 4 clear questions.

I chose this student exemplar because I believe this student follows the assignment instructions very well and provides concise analytical answers with a good amount of depth. I do suggest to student to use subtitles to differentiate their four answers, but the student’s responses are so clear that subtitles are not totally necessary.

Assignment Instructions

Assignment 1: Policy in the News

The purpose of this assignment is to examine the foundations of decisions made about who is deserving of social welfare benefits and under which circumstances.  The assignment exposes how definitions and historic context impact how and who received these benefits.

i)       Select an online article, resource, or profile from a reputable source that describes a situation in which an individual or family is experiencing challenges associated with living in poverty.  The article should highlight the experience of an individual or small group (i.e. a group of friends or a family) as well as contain information about the broader issues they face. (Choose articles based in BC if possible. Articles from other parts of Canada may also be acceptable)

ii)      Answer the following questions in long answer form, approximately 1 page per answer:

 1) Provide a summary of the article, including a description of the challenges faced by the individual or family featured.

 2) Provide definitions, explanations and historic context for the terms “deserving” and “undeserving poor”. Explain these historic definitions persist in terms of impacting and attempting to define the person or family in your article.

3) Explain how the person in your article’s experience of poverty intersects with or is compounded by other systemic issues such as housing, immigration, colonization, racism, health and mental health, gender oppression, etc.

4) Write about how you relate and/or do not relate to the article or the experience of the person in terms of your identity, privilege, social location and/or experience.

Include a link to the article with proper reference citations in your submission.

The completed assignment has a required length of approximately 4 pages (one page per answer). This does not include the title page or reference list. The assignment should be double-spaced, 12-point font, with APA referencing used throughout.  

Be sure to include all reference sources that you have consulted to answer the questions in the assignment.

Your paper MUST include 2 sources in your reference section: the article you chose and the textbook, all other sources are optional.

Assessment Criteria for Assignment 1

CONTENT & LINKAGES: Did you follow the assignment instructions? Did fully answer each question? Did you make links to the course content?

DEFEND: Did you explain how you came to make the claims that you did? Did you explain the “why” behind the claims you made? Do you offer evidence from the article you chose to back up your argument?

SELF: Did you explain why this issue is important to you, how it relates to your social location and offer a self-reflection on your findings?

ANTI-OPPRESSIVE ANALYSIS: Did you discuss how structural forces and intersecting identities impact the person and story in your article? Did you situate the issues discussed in a social and historical context?

CLARITY: Is your writing brief, direct and to the point? Is there enough information to understand the articles and your response, not too much or too little? Did you follow APA style?

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