Ultimate writer

There are three steps to this project:

1. Choose a topic that is relevant to present-day Victoria, BC. In later assignments, you will design a project to help with this issue, and will perform a cost-benefit analysis on your project and alternatives to it. I recommend one of the following topics, but you are free to choose your own:

· Homelessness (includes tent cities)

· The opioid addiction crisis

· Lack of affordable housing

· Lack of parking

· Lack of appropriate care for the elderly

· Lack of affordable day care for young children

· Lack of appropriate mental health care options

2. Research the issue using at least two sources. These sources can be articles, videos, podcasts, statistical series, etc. You must cite all the sources you end up using for part 3, in APA format, in a bibliography.

3. Write a BACKGROUND on the topic of your choice, with a MAXIMUM word count of 500 words. You can think of this background as a short news article that informs readers of the basics of the issue at hand. The idea is that before you design a project to help with an issue, you should know the most important facts about the issue.

Your background article should try to answer the ‘W-H’ questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? For example, if you were writing about the opioid crisis, you could explain…

WHO is addicted to opioids, and WHY this happened

WHAT opioids they are taking, and WHAT the effect of addiction is on their lives

WHERE they are taking the opioids

HOW they are obtaining the opioids

WHEN the crisis started

WHY the crisis continues

WHO is currently dealing with the crisis (volunteers, medical professionals, etc.), WHAT are they doing, HOW is it funded, and WHY hasn’t it been enough?

(Information on what is currently being done about the issue is crucial for deciding on what the ‘do nothing’ situation is, later on.)

The EU textbook (Guide to Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects, linked to on the 416 Coursespaces pages) includes a number of excellent examples of background summaries. Section 2.3, ‘Description of the Context’, gives tips on writing the background. Concise backgrounds (sometimes included as part of the project description) can be found on pages 101, 113, 127 – 128, 179, 191, 231 and 255.

BACKGROUND ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE

GROUP: ___C____

TOPIC CHOSEN:

BACKGROUND:

WORD COUNT: _________ ( 500)

BIBLIOGRAPHY (CITATIONS IN APA FORMAT)

SOURCE 1

SOURCE 2