Portfolio Assignment on Current Issues/Challenges of Justice Agencies in Canada

The Portfolio Assignment requires students to investigate and discuss a current issue/challenge to justice agencies in Canada. You may focus on Policing, the Court System, Criminal Law, Corrections, Private Security or even a specific (Canadian) criminal case.  Two parameters are that your subject must be current and you must analyze from a Canadian perspective. Even with these parameters there are a vast number of topics from which to choose. Please try to select something that is unique and interesting to you. You will find that conducting the required research is far more enjoyable if you have a personal interest in the subject.

The Portfolio must be completed in Power-Point however there is no requirement to present your findings. Your completed Power-Point document will be converted to PDF format and submitted through Blackboard.

As design is an important component of the assignment, Power-Point provides students with a platform to create a submission that is well-organized and visually appealing. Please be sure to review the screencast – Academic Research Tutorial - located in the Week 5 module as an example of this project is included and discussed.

this assignment may be completed individually or with one partner, provided that both students are currently enrolled in LAWS 1017. 

Given the create element of this assignment, there is no requirement to include a cover page that adheres strictly to APA guidelines. 

 

You should however include a title slide that communicates essential information:

The Title of the Assignment > ‘Portfolio Assignment’ or other title relevant to your topic selection

Name(s) and Student Number(s)

Course Name, Course Number and Section Number

Name of Course Instructor 

Due Date of the Assignment

You must locate and include in your Portfolio, ten (10) quality resources pertaining to your subject. Please utilize a variety of information sources if possible. For example, you may include Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, Scholarly Journal Articles etc. You may even elect to include a Video resource but please limit videos to 1 of your 10 items. Note that all resources must have been published in the last 10 years and you should rely strongly on information pertaining to Canadian criminal justice. Note that for each resource you are required to provide a citation that is structured according to American Psychological Association (APA) writing standards.

You must provide a concise Discussion of each source of information you have included. Discussions must be inserted into the Portfolio adjacent to the relevant source. You must explain the significance of the source and how it is associated with the theme of your Portfolio. The length of each discussion will vary in relation to the size and depth of the source however, one hundred (100) to two hundred (200) words is considered acceptable.

The Portfolio Assignment must conclude with a five hundred (500) word Reflection piece. In this section you must express your current thoughts regarding the subject including what you have learned through conducting research for the assignment.

 

Your conclusions and findings are most important. Your topic was likely chosen with an opinion in mind concerning the matter. Did your investigation confirm your initial thoughts? Did the investigation cause you to change to your thinking? Communicating your thoughts is crucial to achieve high marks for this portion of the assignment.

The Portfolio Assignment will be marked out of 70 and contributes twenty-five percent (25%) to the final grade for the course. Please refer to the Marking Rubric (also posted in Blackboard) for a complete listing of the assessment criteria. 

Completed projects are due no later than Friday of Week 11 > Nov 26, 2021 by 11:59 p.m.

 
The Portfolio must be submitted (in .PDF format) in the ‘Tests & Assignments’ section of Blackboard. Please do not email assignments to the course instructor.

Unless arrangements have been make prior to the assignment due date, late submissions will be penalized -10% per day to a maximum of 3 days at which time a mark of ‘0’ will apply.

Please be sure to complete the Portfolio using PowerPoint. Once completed, convert to .PDF format and submit through Blackboard.  It is essential to recognize that your course instructor will not be able to access Google Docs or open any submissions created using Pages. Failure to submit in the required format will create delays in marking and may impede calculation/posting of your final course grade.