two hmw of community and service

Conceptualizing Your Integrative Paper

Let me strongly focus on this assignment and its importance for your success in writing your Integrative Paper. You must spend some quality time thinking about items 1-4 below. If you do not, it will be an uphill struggle from this point as you try to wrap your mind around finding a topic for your paper and writing the style of paper that is required`. This IS an assignment that requires critical thinking! Look carefully at the information related to the Integrative Paper from the Introductory Materials and try to visualize what this paper is all about. Thanks. DR. S

For this assignment, you will need to thoughtfully consider a topic that represents a social issue/social problem of real concern to you. Consider the following items are vital parts in your conceptualization of the paper.

1. think about your volunteer site and what the agency or program's purpose may be.

2. identify a social issue, concern, or need that exists in the community and what the agency or program is doing to address the social issue or meet the need. You may consider a related social issue as well as those issues directly connected to your agency's purpose. Your task here is to identify a very specific social issue/problem so that you can conduct and research a valid literature review. Keep your social issue focused narrowly and on one topic and that will make your research much easier and more meaningful.

3. Identify ALL of the course concepts in your agency's effort to meet that need that you identify. Be flexible in your thinking and application of the concepts.

4. how does your volunteer activity help the agency meet their goals related to this social issue or need.

For example (as a beginning place to begin your critical thinking process): Domestic violence is a major social problem in our society. It affects thousands of families throughout the US. The womens' safe houses across the nation attempt to intervene in this problem by offering a temporary safe haven for women and their children and programs to help women deal with the abusive situation and its effects. Identify one specific social concern connected to domestic violence (psychological effect on children, psychological affect on women, lowered self esteem in abused women, etc. Remember it needs to be very narrow and specific. Domestic violence, as a topic, is TOO broad).

The key here is to make your social issue very narrow and specific or your paper will be too long and general. If you want to focus on the victims then pick a specific issue such as psychological issues of domestic violence. Narrowing your focus effectively from there, you could look at self esteem or feelings of self worth or respect for self or domestic violence's influence on motivation. You could also focus on a negative effect on children. Get your problem/social issue very narrow so you can focus on just one area to research.

You will need to solidly explore how the course concepts are at work in your topic. Think at several systems levels. For example: How do the concepts apply at the individual level (the women, the perpetrator, the child) as well as at the agency, community, and state or national levels (larger system level).

Remember that all agencies have a mission in your community and their programs are designed to meet some human need that is found among the individuals, families, or community groups.

This process helps you to see the far reaching aspects of a situation or problem and how community service efforts makes a difference in assuring that help is delivered to those who need it. You can also see how the course concepts are applied throughout the process.

Please see yourselves and your volunteer work as a very important part of how people receive the help they need in our communities. Without people who volunteer their time, there would be much less help delivered, much less unity in our communities, and certainly fewer individual recovery for those in need and fewer rewards and for those who serve.

Here is the assignment:

After completing the critical thinking exercise above, write a meaningful and descriptive paragraph or two that captures your social issue and gives you the direction for your paper. Be as brief and concise as you can be. Excessive words or writing in an expressive style defeats the approach of the paper. This paper is to be written in a technical/objective/scholarly paper. More about this later. Of course you may modify your conceptualization, however, try to be as effective as possible the first time. Stretch your brain around this one. Submit your conceptualizing paragraphs to Forum.

Best wishes. Dr. S