Community Survey Paper Instructions
The paper will emphasize the overall systemic approach to care giving for our men and women who have served our country through the various branches in our military. You will articulate and evaluate your local community’s (city, county) approach to meeting the needs discovered from this survey. A report primarily on how the Veteran Affairs Agency provides services without addressing how faith-based programs or non-VA benefited programs service our veterans will likely result in a very poor grade. This project is a survey of how the local community, as a whole, meets its needs for the military veteran.
This is a survey of professional data, which will take weeks to gather and report on; thus, it will be virtually impossible to complete over a weekend. Do not underestimate this assignment. Please start early in the term as you research your local area and then move out into surrounding communities and county agencies to find out what services are provided for our underserved veterans.
Your survey will consist of:
- What are the needs represented in your community? Based upon your readings what are areas of need that our military experience?
- What Biblical mandates do we have to provide services to our veterans? This may be a short half of a page section in your survey.
- What agencies/organizations meet some of these needs in your community? This will require you to make a few phone calls and maybe even talk with a few military veterans. As you can see, this is the heart of this assignment, so do your homework as a good caregiver for our veterans.
- What are the VA based services provided?
- What are some faith based programs to veterans?
- Are there any non-VA funded programs that work with veterans? An example of this kind of program may be the veteran mentoring program found through the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation program.
- Are there gaps found within your community where needs are not being met? This section addresses unmet needs. It is often an argument from our veterans that they have fallen through the cracks in our system and in our society. Although this paper is directed toward local resources, some of these needs may be met by agencies that you find in other parts of your state or in other cities. When this is the case, mention them, while at the same time pointing out the hardship it may present for veterans that cannot get to these facilities or services. Find the cracks.
- From your investigation, what suggestions would you make for needed programs or services? This is the last section in the body of the paper. In this section, you may use first person if you desire.
- An appendix page listing all resources used. This final section of your assignment will serve as an excellent tool for immediate use if you work in an agency or ministry that works with veterans. You will need to list the exact internet or other location and a brief comment that informs you of it’s content (this section does not count in the page count for this paper).
Overall instructions for this writing assignment are:
- Length of paper: 7–9 pages—Points off if the paper is below 7 pages or exceeds 9 pages (including title page, abstract, and reference page).
- Include at least 10 current references. You may use your texts from class but also the various other sites, readings, etc., that you have access to. Some of your references may be those found in your local and surrounding community.
- Follow current APA style. Review the APA Grading Rubric for guidance regarding grading factors, and, for additional aid, research the Purdue Online Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/.
- Paper will be graded on thoroughness, content, and integration of biblical perspective.
- Avoid Plagiarism—Using or passing off someone else’s work as your own is a serious academic offense. Papers are submitted through SafeAssign to check for the proper treatment of sources. You may submit a draft version to the “Research Paper [DRAFT]” SafeAssignment link to first check your score, then edit and revise, and lastly submit it to the “Research Paper” SafeAssignment link.
- Plagiarizing your paper will result minimally in failure of the assignment. Plagiarizing can also result in automatic failure of the course and academic discipline. Make sure that all work is your own or is cited appropriately.
Submit this assignment through SafeAssign by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of Module/Week 5.
