Description: Students will select an individual who contributed to social work/welfare and
complete an intellectual biography of that individuals contributions to social work/welfare.
Paper should not exceed ten (10) pages. A list of acceptable figures is posted below. Paper must have 3 peer-reviewed academic sources. The paper will include the
following:
1. General Biographical information (Place and date of birth and death; area of
residence; educational history [pre-school to post-secondary]; familial history
[social class of origin, ethnicity, marital status, reproductive history], etc.).
2. Causal entry to Social Welfare (Abolitionist, Suffragist, Civil Rights, etc.).
3. Intellectual, service and social justice work of the person.
4. To what intellectual school or cultural movement did the individual belong?
5. Discussion of the parallels between the individuals personal life and work.
6. Discussion of the significance of the persons life and work.
7. What contemporary policies and/or advancements can be attributed to the
persons work?
8. What work or issue would the person be engaged in/with today?
9. What impressed you most about this person? What, if anything, disturb you about
this person?
10. What else would you like to know about this persons life, work, or beliefs that
you could not discover?
APA Citation is necessary. Please have someone review your paper for grammatical errors and
misspellings before turning it in.
The list below is some examples of individuals you might be interested in using for your
paper.
You do not have to use someone from this list but this is a good place to start if you don’t
have someone in mind.
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/people/?pgno=1#azindex-1
