Assignment Description
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.
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.
