Commentary on the Contribution of a Selected Individual to Policy Development

Contribution to Policy Development

Select ONE individual from the list below and write a commentary of 1500 words (+/- 10%) that answers the following questions:

·The introduction to your commentary should provide a brief summary of your selected individual’s professional background and an explanation of her/his area(s) of expertise.

·What has been the contribution of your selected individual to the development of policy and/or our understanding of policy?

·What research methods has your individual used in her/his research and why have these methods been selected?

·The conclusion to your commentary should present an overall evaluation of her/his contribution to policy and/or our understanding of policy

Gary Craig

Barry Goldson

Carol Hedderman

Ruth Lister

Coretta Phillips

Tracy Shildrick

Peter Squires

Alan Walker

This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of the following module learning outcomes:

LO 1 Evaluate the contribution of research to the emergence of policy initiatives

LO 2 Demonstrate an understanding of some of the main methods employed by social science researchers

Task requirements

·You must demonstrate an understanding of the area(s) of research that your selected individual writes about and the methods that s/he uses

·Ensure that you use different types of sources written or co-written by your selected individual to help you with this assessment (e.g. a book chapter, journal article, research report).

·In addition to these scholarly sources, you may refer to other material that has been produced by your selected individual (e.g. if s/he has written a blog or newspaper article or made a YouTube video about his/her work)

·You must reference your material within your essay and include a reference list at the end.  The reference list is not included in the word count.

·Summarise in your own words (paraphrase) the material you use and reference appropriately.  You can quote from the work of your selected individual, but quotations should be a phrase or sentence and supported with a reference.  

·You may use sub-headings in your commentary and your assessment must have a proper Introduction and Conclusion.

·You should write in a scholarly style.  Avoid writing in the first or second person (“I”, “you” or “we”)

·Remember the focus of this assessment is your discussion of examples of research written or co-written by your selected individual, not their life-story.

Please reference your work according to the [name of style] style as defined in Cite Them Right Online  This information is also available in book form: Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential reference guide. 11th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Copies are available via the University library.

How your work will be assessed

Your work will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates your achievement of the stated learning outcomes for this assignment (see above) and against other key criteria as defined by your programme

·Addresses the question set

·Evidence of independent reading, including evidence that you have read work that has been written/co-written by your selected individual

·Evidence of understanding of relevant research and research methods

·Development of well-structured and clearly expressed discussion

·Accurate referencing, drawing on a range of appropriate sources

·Please also note that work that is submitted up to 10 working days beyond the submission date will be considered a late submission. Late submissions will be marked and the actual mark recorded, but will be capped at the pass mark (typically 40%), provided that the work is of a passing standard. Work submitted after this period will not be marked and will be treated as a non-submission.

Before you submit

·Please use the provided checklist below to make sure you are ‘fit to submit’ your work

·We recommend you use this checklist as soon as you get this assignment brief to help you plan your work