The document outlines the requirements for a policy interview paper in the course CDFS 411, including the identification of a relevant policy issue, an interview with a key community stakeholder, and thorough research on related social policies. The paper, worth a maximum of 100 points, is to be 6-8 pages long and includes specific sections such as an introduction, discussion, social policy connections, reflection, and references. Students are expected to follow APA format for citations and submissions must comply with specified formatting guidelines.

1. Assignment Sheet
CDFS 411
Policy Interview Paper
You will identify a current policy issue relevant to you,
interview a key community
stakeholder that can speak to the issue, and write a final policy
interview paper that describes
current social policies related to the issue, incorporates
background research, and provides
recommendations for future policy and practice. The paper is
worth a maximum of 100 points
and should be limited to 6-8 double-spaced, typewritten pages
excluding the title page and
references. All papers are to be turned in via BeachBoard using
the Dropbox feature. The
course calendar lists related due dates.
Writing the Paper
Content and Organization
Address each of the points in the following outline. This
outline should be used to
organize your paper. Explanations given below will be
discussed further in class, and your essay
should be based on both.

2. I. Title Page (Title, Your Name, Course, and Semester)
You do not need a running head or abstract.
II. Introduction (Purpose, Organization)
The Purpose of your paper is to gain an in-depth understanding
of an important issue
facing children and families today, and to understand how
social policies in the United
States are related to the community programs and services
designed to address this need.
You must explain what social policy is and why it is important
to children and
families. Make sure you include citations. When writing about
the Organization of your
paper, state the sequence in which topics will be presented in
the discussion, reflection
and conclusions sections of your paper.
III. Discussion
A. (Your Topic if Interest)
Your focus in this section will be on describing a social policy
issue of importance to
you (e.g., The importance of after-school programs, Increasing
access to high-quality
early care and education for low-income families). Why does
this issue matter? How

3. does it impact children and/or families? What are best practices
or programs that have
shown to have positive effects? Are there key components to
ensure high quality
services? You must cite a minimum of three outside sources in
this section (e.g.,
books, peer-reviewed journal articles).
B. An Interview with (Title of Community Stakeholder
Interviewed)
Assignment Sheet
CDFS 411
Provide a description of the community program you chose for
your interview. What
is it called? Where is it located? What types of services do they
provide?
Provide a description of the community stakeholder you
interviewed. What is their
title/role? What do they do? Provide context for the interview.
When and where did it
take place? How long did it last? What was it like?
Talk about the most meaningful highlights from your interview.
You do not have to
recap the entire interview, rather explain the most relevant and
interesting things you
learned. What did you learn about the program/topic of interest?
What did you learn

4. about the children and/or families who participate in the
program? What did you learn
about how the program is funded?
C. Social Policy Connections
Based on what you learned from your interview and your own
research, how does
social policy relate to your topic of interest? Specifically, what
government actions
help to fund the program/services you learned about? For
example, is there a law
or universal program to address the need? Is it a funding
priority for a particular
branch of the government (e.g., Administration for Children and
Families, Office of
Child Care, Office of Family Assistance)? Does the money
come from the federal
government, the state, or local community?
Based on what you have learned, what recommendations do you
have for future
policy efforts? What recommendations do you have for
practice? How can we better
meet the needs of children and families?
IV. Reflection and Conclusions
What was the experience of conducting the policy interview
like? What was easy about
it, and what was challenging? What was the most meaningful
thing you learned about

5. your topic of interest? What did you learn about social policy?
What did you learn about
yourself through this experience?
V. References
Provide a list of the published sources you used when writing
your paper. You should cite
these sources in the text of the paper and should provide a
listing of them at the end of the
paper. You will be required to use APA format for in-text
citations and the reference
page.
Manuscript Requirements
Papers should be turned in as a Microsoft Word document. The
title of the
document should include your name and the assignment. For
example:
FIRSTLAST_PolicyPaper.
Assignment Sheet
CDFS 411
Papers should be type written/word processed and double
spaced on standard 8 ½ by 11
inch paper and should be approximately 6-8 pages in length
excluding title page and references.

6. Use 1” margins. Use centered main headings and side headings
to mark the sections of your
paper.
Although this paper is about social policy rather than on
written composition, class
members are expected to demonstrate college-level mastery of
standard written English (and of
standard rules for typing/word processing). Avoid common
errors such as incorrect punctuation,
misspelled words, grammatical mistakes, etc.
Please note that reference citations are required when
paraphrasing or quoting
from a source other than your own ideas. Also, note that all
sources cited in the text of the
paper must be cited in a references section that is to appear at
the end of your paper. The web
site https://csulb.libguides.com/style/APA contains examples
and resources for learning and
using APA guidelines.
Evaluation
Papers will be evaluated in terms of content, originality,
insight, format, and writing
skills. Please see the grading rubric for more details.
https://csulb.libguides.com/style/APA