How can better education be provided to the world’s people?

PRFS301 – Policy Paper Instructions – 10-13-2020

 

Instructions for Policy Paper

 

 

One of the course requirements is a policy paper. Everybody is assigned a different policy problem. To locate the policy problem you have been assigned, navigate to the Course Material for Week 1 folder, and navigate to document titled, Policy Paper Topic Assignments.

 

Your paper must have a tile page and several sections titled, The Problem, Strategies for Addressing the Problem, Ethical Justification for the Policy Solution, Policy Advocates and Influence Strategies, and Sources. Except for the title page, each section must have the appropriate subheading at the top of the page.

 

Title Page: State the title of the paper, your name, the title of course, and the semester.

 

The Problem (2 pages, double-spaced): Describe your problem and explain why it is important. In describing the problem, be sure to discuss the types of people (e.g., poor residents of developing countries, females, children, elderly, ethnic groups) who are most significantly affected by the problem and exactly how they are impacted. Explain whether it is a short-term problem, a long-term problem, or both a short-term and long-term problem. Discuss why a solution to this problem is important to global sustainability – the ability of the biosphere and human civilization to coexist today and in the future. Back up all your statements with real world, specific examples, and statistical data.

 

 

Strategies for Addressing the Problem (3 pages double-spaced): Describe a policy for solving the problem and the organizations who will implement it.

 

Be specific about the characteristics of the policy proposal. Below are the types of questions you should be addressing in this section of the paper, though not all of them pertain to every policy proposal and most policy problems will require consideration of additional questions.

 

· Will the policy target all people experiencing a problem or just some of them?

· Does the policy involve a change in national or international laws?

· How will the policy be funded?

· Will partnerships be formed between nations, government organizations, and/or private sector companies?

· Will new organizations be created?

· What will people/organizations be asked (or required) to do?

· What resources (staff, technology, organizations, infrastructure, etc.) are required to implement the policy?

· Will the policy have unintended consequences? If so, how can they be minimized?

 

Do not propose any policy that is unlikely to be adopted because it is radically at odds with the characteristics of the international system or a nation’s political culture. For example, in attempting to reduce wars, it is not feasible to suggest that nation states be abolished or that countries will be prohibited from having armies. And if pollution is the policy problem, it is not realistic of ban all automobiles.

 

Ethical Justifications for the Policy Solution (3 pages, double-spaced): Use four ethical theories to justify solving your policy solution. Use four subheadings to differentiate among the theories. For example, if utilitarian theory is the first theory discussed, the subheading would presumably be “Utilitarian Theory.”

 

Policy Advocates and Influence Strategies (3 pages, double-spaced): Discuss the organizations who you will recruit to advocate for your policy. And describe the strategies you will encourage them to employ to increase the odds the policy is approved and implemented.

 

Note: In this section of the paper you are not discussing the organizations implementing the policy (e.g., a government agency). That is addressed in the previous section of the paper. In this section, you will discuss the organizations (parties, interest groups, corporations, etc.) who might advocate for the adoption of the policy.

 

Your discussion of influence strategies should draw on the course material assigned for weeks 4-8. During weeks 4-8, various political participation strategies are discussed (activities of international organizations, interest group lobbying, etc.). Of course, the influence strategies you recommend will depend on the nature of your policy problem and the types of likely to advocate for it. But you should discuss strategies addressed in two or more different weeks. For example, if you are seeking to reduce poverty in Africa, you might advocate for increasing the turnout low income voters (week 5), interest group lobbying (week 6), and civil disobedience (week 7). Though you should demonstrate your knowledge of strategies covered in the course, you are welcome to research and recommend additional strategies.

 

In discussing influence strategies be specific. For example, if you recommend lobbying indicate who will lobby, what lobbying techniques will be employed, when lobbying will occur, and what types of elites will be lobbied.

 

Sources (One or two pages, double-spaced): You must have at least ten sources (books, chapters, articles, and websites), though you are welcome to include more sources. All sources should be included in the body of the paper and listed in the Sources section. Do not include sources you may have consulted, but from which you did not draw information/ideas.

 

Use the APA parenthetical citation style in the body of the paper. Look for examples in the section titled “Parenthetical References” at the bottom of the site accessed with the following link: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/08/

 

In regard to parenthetical citations, the APA style grants authors the option of supplying specific page numbers where information was obtained from a source. But I am requiring that you do this. So, when citing a source in the body of the paper, do not just supply the first and last page of the article/book. Note the page(s) where the information /idea is discussed. A hypothetical example of a correct parenthetical citation follows:

“In 2015, there were 355 U.S. citizens killed in mass shooting (James, 2015, p. 87).”

 

Use the conventional APA bibliographical style when you list sources in the Sources section of the paper. Examples of this style appear at the top of the site referenced in aforementioned online document.

 

No Quote Rule: This paper may not contain any quotes – not even a short quote.

 

Identifying Sources.

 

Research Guide

 

The Rice Library website offers a research guide for PRFS301. Here is the link to this site: https://usi.libguides.com/globalethics

 

The site contains links to several online resources. They may help you get started with your research by providing basic information about your topic and where to find sources in the Rice Library databases. But the links are more relevant to some topics than others and you will need to consult many additional sources.

 

Embedded Librarian

 

This class has an “embedded librarian,” Ms. Kate Sherrill. Her phone number is (812) 465-1277 and her email is kmsherrill@usi.edu.

 

Online databases

 

Identifying Sources. The USI library has many online databases available for your research needs. The fUSIon search allows you to search dozens of the Library’s databases at one time.

 

The individual databases and fUSIon can be accessed from the Library’s web site (https://www.usi.edu/library ).

 

Three relevant databases are JSTOR, ProQuest Central, and Academic Search Complete. JSTOR has mostly academic (peer reviewed articles) while the other databases have articles from both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed journals. These databases contain the full-text of many articles, but when full-text is not available you can request it through our free Interlibrary Loan service. Google Scholar (accessed just by typing in Google Scholar in any search engine’s search box) is another good place to search. Google Scholar results will always give you the article’s citation information and abstract, many have links to free full-text access, while others are paywalled on the publisher’s website. There is a brief tutorial on the PRFS 301 Research Guide (https://usi.libguides.com/globalethics) to help you link your Google Scholar account to the Library’s databases to increase your free full-text access. To get those articles that are not available in full-text on the web or in the databases, use the “Request it” link in the Google Scholar result to initiate an Interlibrary Loan.

 

 

Evaluation Rubric

 

 

• Format: Correct length, organization, headings, and parenthetical citations in the body of the paper, and appropriate sources. Writing meets criteria for the Writing Intensive Embedded Experiences category of CORE39.There are no quotes in the paper. (0-20 points)

• The Problem (0-20 points)

• Strategies for Addressing the Problem (0-20 points)

• Ethical Justifications for the Policy Solution (0–20 points)

 

• Policy Advocates and Influence Strategies (0–20 points)

 

 

Submission of Policy Paper

 

Upload your paper to the folder titled, Folder Where You Will Upload Your Policy Paper,” in the Policy Paper folder located in the Course Material for Week 8 folder. It must be submitted as a WORD document by the day and time specified on the syllabus. Late submissions (or submissions in a format other than WORD) will not be accepted. (If you wrote your paper with an application other than WORD, convert it to WORD before submitting).