Earning an MA degree requires you to master the literature, this final assignment is intended to familiarize you with Emergency Management theory and its associated literature. Thus, when completing this assignment, you are required to research that literature and complete a traditional term / research-based paper. For this course, the overall theme of the term paper will be your assessment of the history, present status, and future of some aspect of emergency and disaster management law that is significant to today’s world (in other words, a relevant issue) and that interests you. You can choose some policy, law, or regulation that promotes or hinders sound emergency and disaster management. You can choose to present your work as a case study, presenting the issue with your analysis and predictions supported by illustrative (case) examples. Or you may complete your work as a formal research paper with an articulated thesis statement and defense. In either case, you may support the law, policy, regulation or issue you choose, or disapprove it; but either way, you must give your related logic and evidence to support in support of your position in doing so.
This final course project will be due by the end of the course; Week 8. By Week 2, you must submit your topic and proposed approach to it through the link on the Assignments page for the Week 2 assignment. You need to obtain your instructor’s approval before proceeding to develop and submit your work for a grade. Topics that are significantly similar to concepts covered in the course, or in the forums and/or in other assignments will not be accepted in fulfillment of this final paper.
There is no stipulated maximum length for this paper, but I expect the paper to be complete. Typically, a term paper in this level course should have between 10-15 double-spaced pages in the body of its text not counting the title page and References page(s). You must include at least 10 sources. Work not attaining at least 10-pages or having at least 10-sources will be considered as non-responsive and will not attain a sufficiently passing grade.
The term paper will be graded in accordance with the rubric located in the assignment section of your course classroom (See: term paper assignment) for details.
Your term paper must be formatted in conformance with APA Style (the most recent edition of the APA 7th Ed manual). You can find the APA Style guide in the APUS Online Library. No other formatting and citation style will be accepted.
Your assignment will automatically be scrutinized by Turnitin.com for an originality report when you submit the assignment – nothing further is required from you. Plagiarizedassignments, re-utilized student-created work and works exhibiting a high-similarity score indicative of an over-reliance on supporting material and the works of others, will not be positively assessed for credit.
Use this information and reference somewhere within the paper as this is my initial supporting reference.
Initial Supporting Reference
To support my research on this topic, I have selected McIntyre and Strother’s (2023) article, The Role of the Stafford Act in Enhancing Federal and Local Coordination for Disaster Response, published in the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. This study offers a detailed analysis of how the Stafford Act shapes cooperation between FEMA and local agencies, particularly fire departments, during major disasters. McIntyre and Strother (2023) explore both the advantages and limitations of the Stafford Act’s framework, discussing its role in coordinating resource allocation, enhancing operational effectiveness, and structuring support across federal and local levels. By using case studies, this article provides concrete examples of the Act’s influence on real-world disaster responses, making it an essential foundation for evaluating the law’s impact on current and future federal-local partnerships in emergency management.
Starting with this reference enables a grounded exploration of how the Stafford Act impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of disaster response coordination between FEMA and local fire departments, with insights that will support the analysis of policy implications and possible improvements for future practice.
Reference
McIntyre, D., & Strother, M. (2023). The role of the Stafford Act in enhancing federal and local coordination for disaster response. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Also, Will you purposely be excluding wildfires managed under Fire Management Assistance Grants or including them? (you can message me about this particular question)