End-of-Life issues Term Paper

For your term paper, choose a particular topic and use the descriptions of your service learning experience and your previous analyses of your service learning experience to write about this topic in detail. Your paper should be between 15 and 25 pages long and incorporate theoretical and empirical issues that were discussed in class or that you read in the literature. You should examine at least eight different academic references (academic books or journal articles – not web sites), which should be included in the paper. The paper is due on December 5 during regular class time and is worth 44% of your final grade.

I will grade the term paper according to the following criteria:

Form

- Is the paper typed and double-spaced?
(Exception: lengthy quotes should be single-spaced and indented on both sides.)

- Is there a title page that includes the title, your name, and the course title?

- Is the paper organized in a logical way (i.e. introduction, method, results, and conclusion)?

- Were headings and subheadings used?

- Does the paper have 1-inch margins on the left, top, and bottom of the page and a 1.5-inch margin on the right side of the page?

- Is the font size either 11 or 12?

- Except for the title page, are all pages numbered?

- Does the paper contain any grammar and spelling errors?

Content

1. Introduction

- Describe your research topic.

- What gap in knowledge does your paper address?

- Explain how your paper is related to previous theoretical or empirical work in this area (i.e., do a relatively brief literature review using academic journal articles and books).

- Give an overview of your paper.

2. Method

- Describe exactly what you did to get your “data”, i.e., your service learning experience.

- Describe the settings (i.e., the hospice care center, the nursing home, or the assisted living facility) and the residents you worked with in detail.

3. Results

- Describe your findings in detail. Give evidence from your reflection journal entries to illustrate your points. Be explicit! Quote from your journal entries.

4. Conclusion

- Present a short summary of your major findings and insights.

- How do those findings relate to past research? Do they confirm or contradict prior research?

- Make suggestions for further research based on your findings and, if appropriate, recommendations for social policy and practice.

5. References

- List all the articles and/or books that are cited in the paper, using APA reference style. You should have a minimum of eight academic references. Web pages do not count!

If you encounter any problems pertaining to the service learning project and the term paper (e.g., volunteering, writing the reflection journal entries, choosing a topic, or writing the term paper) come and talk to me.