SOC 304 Week 5 Assignment

  

Week 5 – Final Paper 
Final Research Paper
Focus of the Final Research Paper
International Perspectives on an Aging Population

Throughout the course of the textbook and resource reading and weekly tasks, the over-arching theme of an aging population has been expressed. The final research paper asks you to focus on this important theme and also consider how it impacts advanced societies practically and from a social policy perspective.

 
How to Begin:

First, read the United Nations, 2015 World Population Aging Report (Links to an external site.) [Pages 1-8 summarize the contents of the overall report and pages 99-101 provide the conclusions; after reading the full report, refer to these to help guide you in the aspects of population aging that you want to focus upon for your paper.]

 
Task:

After reading the report, your textbook, and research resources from the Ashford Library, present the following:
· Explain what population aging is and why it is occurring in the industrialized Western world. Be sure to include theories of population aging such as demographic transition and specific reasons why the overall populations in advanced societies like Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are aging. The UN report highlights these as ‘demographic drivers’.
· In the UN report, it highlighted key challenges of an aging population. Explain and support with scholarly resources the three challenges as they pertain to:
o Ageing, poverty and economic growth;
o Ensuring social protections of older persons;
o Promoting health and well -being in old age.
· The UN report concluded that proactive planning was important and that there were key policy actions that countries should take to alleviate the challenges of an aging population.
o Present why it is important for Governments to proactively plan for an aging population through the implementation of social policies.
o Focusing on the United States, present and expand upon the key actions and the types of social policy and specific programs that could support the report’s findings regarding:
§ sustainable pension systems;
§ adaptable health care systems;
§ alleviating age discrimination.

Writing the Final Research Paper

The Final Paper
· Must be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (excluding title and reference pages), and formatted according to APA style (Links to an external site.).
· Must include a title page (Links to an external site.) with the following: 
o Title of paper
o Student’s name
o Course name and number
o Instructor’s name
o Date submitted
· Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
· Must be presented in the traditional research paper format of:
o Title Page
o Introduction (Links to an external site.) and Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.) 
o Body of Paper (covering provided assignment prompts)
o Conclusion (Links to an external site.)
o Reference List
· Must use the textbook and at least six scholarly sources that were preferably written within the last five years. The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table                      offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment. For help searching the library’s scholarly resources check out this Database Search Tips tutorial video (Links to an external site.).

Be sure to integrate your research (Links to an external site.) rather than simply inserting it.  
· Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Cite your sources in text and on a separate reference page. For more information please review the In-Text Citation Guide (Links to an external site.) and the APA References List.  (Links to an external site.) 
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.