Culture Group Paper

Assignment Description

Before you begin this assignment, please make certain that you have read fully Chapter

5: Culture and Society in your text book.

Culture Group Paper Instructions and rubric are as follows:

Part I: Students will select a “culture” that they know little about (and not a member)

that has a significant presence in the Houston metropolitan area (e.g., religious, social,

racial/ethnic group, LGBT). Using journal articles, books, select governmental or top

tier university websites (like Rice University), and the biopsychosocial approach,

students will explore and discuss a developmental, psychological, social, and/or social

justice issue impacting their selected cultural group. This description of the cultural

group and “relevant issue” should be 3-5 pages and well cited and referenced. This

“relevant issue” will come from your research on this group. According to the literature,

what are their major issues; where are they in need of a macro level intervention? Is

there a discriminatory law, are there problems within the criminal justice system? Are

there large scale diet, health or mental health issues that are neglected or created by

inequality? See examples below.

Part II: Students will then create a course-related, macro intervention for the issue

selected in Part I of the assignment. This macro-level intervention should be

appropriate, feasible, and draw from evidence-based interventions in peer-reviewed

literature. As part of the intervention, students should provide a well-crafted set of

recommendations and resources for the cultural group that demonstrates cultural

awareness and competence. This part of the paper should be 3-5 pages in length and

well cited and referenced.

Thus, your entire culture paper should be 6-10 pages, not including the title and

reference pages. Examples of successful paper topics in past courses included some of

the following:

 Alcohol abuse and dependence among Native Americans/American Indians

living on reservations

 Issues of educational access for undocumented Mexican children, adolescents,

and young adults

 Addressing the mental health needs of traditional Chinese immigrants

You are encouraged to consult with the UHD Writing Center for assistance in preparing

your paper, and will receive extra credit for doing so (up to 2 full points out of the total

of 22 for this assignment!). As proof of consultation, you will upload a pdf copy of the

appointment slip into a special assignment portal in Blackboard Learn. Slips are due by

the paper deadline. Please do not send these via e-mail!

Paper Writing Instructions

 The paper should be double-spaced, with one inch margins and 12-point font (no

larger or smaller).

 No more than 3-5 pages of the body of your paper should be devoted to

summarizing information about your target culture and an issue impacting this

group.

 The remainder of the paper (3-5 pages) should be used to highlight your

understanding of the biopsychosocial approach/theory and an intervention for

the cultural group and issue you identified. Your intervention should be well-

cited/referenced, and include a set of recommendations and local resources to

address the issue you identified. This intervention must be macro-level (i.e., for a

cultural community or society as a whole).

 You should use peer-reviewed articles, including literature/systematic reviews,

commentaries, or theoretical/conceptual pieces, to discuss the issue impacting

the culture you selected. In other words, you should only use articles that include

qualitative or quantitative data collected by the article's authors, not articles

summarizing other researchers' studies.

 Use APA 5th or 6th edition style manual citations/references and good

grammar/syntax in crafting your paper.

 Consult with the rubric to make sure that you include all of the required

elements.

 Make sure that you have read Chapter 5 in your text book!

Please note that you can submit the assignment multiple times up until the due

date/time. Each time you submit the assignment, Turnitin.com will provide you with an

originality report that you may use to check for grammar/syntax, spelling, and potential

paraphrasing or plagiarism issues.

Papers showing evidence of poor paraphrasing will earn an automatic 30-

point penalty (i.e., one or more instances involving verbatim phrases without

quotation marks, and/or maintaining similar sentence structure from the source

material with only a few words changed); those showing evidence of plagiarism

will earn an automatic grade of zero points or “F” (i.e., whole sentences or

paragraphs taken verbatim from source material). To assist with avoiding these issues,

students are welcome to make in-person (or Zoom) appointments with me to discuss

elements of their papers and/or effective writing techniques.