Devry PA582 Week 6 Course Project Latest 2018 August

PA582 Public Policy Formulation and Implementation

Week 6 Course Project

Policy
Research Paper

Objectives

The Policy
Research Paper is a course-long project that allows you the opportunity to
examine a current (add: local, state, or) national societal issue that you feel
could be properly alleviated, or perhaps even resolved, via public policy
making.

This paper
is valued at 200 points. This paper will be graded on the quality of the
research topic, the quality of the information properly cited within the paper,
the analysis and recommendations, grammar, and sentence structure.

As you
consider topics, remember that this policy paper should contain a comprehensive
assessment of the problem, the proposed policy, and the potential consequences
of implementation of that policy. When you write your paper, you should think
of yourself as a staff person who must advise a policy maker facing a problem
that must be resolved in the near future. As this staff person, adopt one of
the perspectives of public administration as discussed in class, and frame your
responses around this approach.

The Policy
Research Paper should be 8 to 12 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font. The paper
should include a cover page, table of contents, introduction, body of the
report, summary or conclusion, and a reference page). The page count does not
include the cover, table of contents, or reference page(s).

Even though
this is not a scientific-type writing assignment, and is mostly creative in
nature, references are still very important. At least six authoritative,
outside references are required (anonymous authors or web pages are not acceptable).
These should be listed on the last page titled references.

The paper
should follow the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines.

Appropriate
citations are required.

All DeVry
University policies are in effect, including the plagiarism policy.

Papers are
due during Week 6 of this course.

Any
questions about this paper may be discussed in the Course Q & A Forum.

The paper
should include the following components.

Components

Define the
Issue Introduce the problem
or issue that you are researching. The purpose of this section is to tell the
reader what problem you are addressing and why it is important.

Background Describe any historical aspects of the
topic, particularly ones that are important to an understanding of the issue.
Also important to this section is a discussion of key stakeholders and policy
networks. Policy networks include concerned citizen groups, elected officials,
and special interest groups.

Identification
of Policy Alternatives This is the
main section of your paper. In this section, you will describe what is
currently being done (if anything) with respect to the problem, and then
compare that to what could be done. When you consider possible alternatives
that the government could take, remember to include the following.

Description
of two to three alternative methods to resolve the issue you presented

Consequences
of each alternative method: For example, who would be affected, what costs
might be incurred and by whom, and what benefits might be realized?

Description
of evaluation criteria: This should help you compare alternatives across a
number of areas. For example, cost could be key criteria for comparing
alternatives, but there may be other concerns that are equally important to
resolve. You might find an inexpensive alternative, but it might not be
politically feasible to implement, for example. Once the criteria are
identified, you should establish a way to prioritize the criteria. Which are
the most important and why? Think about the discussions in class regarding
decision making and evaluation.

Recommendations Remember that you wrote this paper
from the perspective of a staff person presenting this analysis to a policy
maker. Now you are ready to make a recommendation on one of these alternatives.
In this section, outline which alternative you would recommend to the policy
maker, including a brief summary of how you arrived at this conclusion.

References