Volunteering as a social process: why do people volunteer to help others Custom Essay

Item title: Research Report
Due Date: Weighting: 40%
Length: 2000 words (quotes, citations, references and Reference List not
included; 10% over or under 2000 words not including quotes is allowable)
Description: This assignment is the culmination of the entire unit. It requires knowledge of how to
research, how to critically analyse texts, how to present clearly the material you have
gathered, and the use of careful references to show where the material has come from

Research Question:
Volunteering as a social process: why do people volunteer to help others? Take a case study approach to a specific example of volunteering, such as an organisation or group of community organisations or a specific practice (e.g. blood donation) to examine the academic research available on the key psychological and social motivations and themes underlying volunteering (including but not limited to altruism, solidarity, community and service).

A minimum of 8 appropriate references is required to achieve above a Pass level in this assignment. Of these eight sources, only one can be an internet source that is not a government or other authoritative source.

The report should include an overview of the field or topic and must show evidence of
independent research, chiefly, academic journal articles located via the databases and the
university Library catalogue. Peer-reviewed and authoritative sources should form the vast
majority of the sources utilised to answer the question.

This assignment explicitly does NOT require a thesis statement or hypothesis and that it MUST be
presented under the headings set out here.

The Report should be organised by and clearly show, all the prescribed headings provided:

COM15 Research Report format

Required heading Material to be included under heading

Contents page: Shows what is contained and where by page number

Executive summary A paragraph which indicates the topic area chosen and the area covered
by the Report; summarises the material to be found in each section of the
Report
No references

Research question Details the research question (note: NOT a hypothesis)
No more than two sentences
No references

Research (includingmethodology)

A statement of how the material has been obtained – what research was undertaken? How – what method was utilised? Which search terms were used in the Library catalogue and Google Scholar? Which databases were explored? Use third person not first person and do not mention the lack of
primary research (reminder: No primary research undertaken in this unit). No references required

Literature review
What are the major themes that appear in the literature? (Choose two or three key themes to keep the scope of the literature review manageable) Who are the key or leading authors and what are some of the key publications? Ensure you refer to the readings supplied in the Topic List folder as well as your own independent research. Extensive referencing – citations and brief quotations – required in this section

Findings

What did the research process show? What is the evidence? Where did the data come from?
How does the research undertaken provide an answer or deeper understanding of the research question? Some referencing required to attribute sources for findings

Discussion

How does the research material located answer the question? What does the data mean? Why is it important? What are the connections apparent between different research sources? Where could further research be undertaken and what would this achieve?

Conclusion
After all the research, what conclusions can be drawn about the topic? What is the most interesting or important thing to emerge from an examination of the research? What are the implications of the findings? What might the future hold for this issue?

Reference List

Presented in Harvard format as per Humanities Referencing Guide (see
Other Resources)