Requirements

– Enter your theorists into dialogue with one another – avoid looking at each theorist separately (with respect to the policy). Instead, draw comparisons/connections between theorists

– Your primary sources should be academic sources, as well as government or agency reports, policy documents, news articles from reputable outlets, etc.

-Put the theory into critical conversation with your policy issue
◦ What assumptions does the theory help you challenge about your policy issue? Do these assumptions support or contest the contentions of your chosen theory?
◦ How do the theories enhance our understanding of your chosen social policy issue?
◦ Do the theories illuminate different perspectives on the policy issue?

-What you need to do is to take your analysis past a simple description. You need to progress beyond identifying a link between your policy issue and your chosen theories – use the theory to break your policy issue down into parts. Through this breakdown, analyse key concerns you can identify in the social policy issue you are discussing

-Explain in the introduction what theories (and theorists) you use, your policy issue, your basic argument, and how the essay will proceed step by step (the structure)

-Signpost the structure throughout the essay, indicating the logical progression from paragraph to paragraph and section to section (so linking sentences at the ends of paragraphs and sections are important). This is called “transition”

-Provide persuasive analysis of evidence in support of your argument

-Ground your argument in the theoretical and conceptual debates of the theories and policy issue

◦ Please remember to use specific theories. It’s not enough to write on the general concerns or principles of a topic such as modernities, etc.