This analysis project requires you to tackle a problem within your field of study by first exploring it, its causes, and its impacts. Then, if you want, you can recommend one or more practical solutions to solve the problem.
After deciding on the problem you wish to tackle, begin building questions about it. Your goal for the analysis is to answer the questions through your sources. Finding multiple angles and perspectives is ideal so that you explore those possibilities in the final paper before settling on your recommendation. Be sure to identify what is at stake.
Here are questions to help guide your analysis:
- What is the problem being addressed (explain, describe, and “prove” that it exists)?
- Who is affected by this problem?
- Why does this problem exist? (Identify the root causes.)
- Why does the problem persist? (Identify the major factors that contribute to the problem’s ongoing presence.)
- What is at stake if the problem is not solved?
If you decide to include a solution, use these questions to guide you:
- Who can take action?
- What should they do, exactly?
- Why would this help?
- What are the positive and negative aspects of your solution(s)?
- PURPOSE: To analyze a problem and possibly provide a solution
- AUDIENCE: Classmates, others interested in the field
- LENGTH: 750-900 words (Times New Roman font). Please do not go significantly (~10%) under or above the word count requirement. This word count includes only the paragraphs in your final essay (not the Works Cited/References page or previously submitted sections).
- SOURCES: 5 (five) sources from the APUS Library (These may include sources you used in previous assignments. Going under this number will cost points in grading.)
- FORMAT: The citation style that is appropriate for your discipline
Submit your assignment as a Word document attached to the assignment link so it can be automatically processed through Turnitin. You can save your paper with a title like this: Your Name Portfolio Final Paper.