PSYCH 108 Individual Social and Applied Psychology

This assessment is designed to allow you to explore an aspect of a topic from the course in more depth. You will select one essay topic / question that is provided based on the chapter of week 8 (Work and livelihoods), To answer the essay question we expect you to draw on a theoretical aspect discussed in the relevant chapter or textbook and draw on some scholarly literature (journal articles, books, book chapters), which you will provide in the reference list (between six to 12 references).

Essay question- Work holds significant meaning in people’s lives. Discuss?

Use your essay question or statement as the title. In the first part of your assignment, the introduction, you introduce the topic to the reader with a broad opening statement and establish some background. You also identify the relevant ideas that you will present in the body of the essay. An example from a journal article illustrates a possibility of how to end an introduction and signpost what will follow: “Our paper begins with a review of the living wage concept and definition. We then present an outline of our review methodology. The findings section focuses on presenting the topics and disciplines covered in living wage research over the past 20 years and the contexts in which this research has occurred. We identify three clear contributions of a psychological lens to living wage studies, through adding a personcentric perspective, a more inclusive definition, and clearer operationalization through improved measurement. We outline how these can be further leveraged in future studies.” (Searle & McWha-Hermann, 2020, p. 2)

For the body of the assignment you select the most relevant and appropriate material related to your essay question. The key point here is to be selective (due to the word limit) and tease out from a larger body of literature the most relevant ideas / arguments and explore these further. We expect you to draw on some relevant scholarly literature (books, journal articles) to support key assertions in your essay. You can also include different points of view where appropriate.

 Finally, in the conclusion you should briefly recap what you have covered and highlight the most important points before writing a concluding statement.