Core Assessment Assignment - Overview Here are the key things to keep in mind regarding your Core Assessment Assignment: The Core Assessment assignment for this class will be a major essay that integrates, analyzes, applies, and critiques several sociological concepts and research findings from this course.  You may use your textbooks for this assignment You must incorporate the findings from at least five (5) outside sources of original academic research in this essay.   Wikipedia is not an academic source.  If you have questions, please ask me.   You should also consider incorporating relevant and reputable statistical and other social scientific data collected by researchers, governments, and other agencies and organizations. A wealth of such archived data is publicly accessible through the Internet, and their use can help you better understand your issue and develop a stronger analysis and critique. Again, if in doubt, ask your instructor for approval of your data source. If you do not properly cite those external sources that contributed to your work, then you are guilty of plagiarism. This will not be tolerated and may result in immediate and serious academic penalties. You are required to use the APA (American Psychological Association) guidelines for ALL formatting, citations, and references. For information on the APA style, format, style, and references: University of Purdue Online Writing Lab The main text of your essay (the body) will be no shorter than 10 pages but no longer than 15. Begin work on your essay early and leave plenty of time for revision to assure the best possible grade. Also, your paper MUST BE DOUBLE-SPACED!  Include thoughtful, meaningful examples to support your work and demonstrate your understanding.  This also shows me that you can apply the concept you are learning.   MAKE SURE you format your paper so it is easy to read. There are three (3) "sections" to the assignment, so break you work into readable "chunks" based upon the "sections" identified below.   This entails using subheadings.  Those are to be centered.  You may add other subheadings as well.  Core Assessment Details Section I - Social Inequality in Your Life In this section, I would like you to cover your social location and the issues that describe you.  From there, I would like you to expand and discuss areas such as social class, gender, ethnicity, race, and  educational level, etc.  This could be about both the past and present.  What was your upbringing like?  How have these areas affected your life in terms of inequality?  This area may be a great place for you to discuss your life chances. Section II - Interview Select a person who differs from you on several of the dimensions that you wrote about in the above section.  Describe their life much like you have your own.  Then compare and contrast your social locations and life chances.  Final Analysis-Conclusion In this section, you should write your thoughts on what the future holds for both you and the person you interviewed.  What have you based your opinions on?  What could cause a change in these results? What could even out those life chances?  How likely are they to happen?  If others knew what you now know how could this affect change?  As a social worker how does learning about inequalities that others face affect you work?  Why is it important to know how inequality has affected you?