LOYC 240/POLI208©

Assignment Research Paper

Due Date
Check the course agenda for the submission due date.

General Instructions
The main objective of this assignment is to document and explain efforts to address a given
sustainability issue through governance arrangements. This requires that students write a detailed
research paper overviewing the main efforts to arrive at governance arrangements to manage the
issue. Although students are given as much flexibility as possible in choosing the issue they want
to write about, a few general rules apply to this choice. The issue must be:

• A sustainability problem linked to human activity.

• A recent issue (your focus should be on developments in the past 20 years)
• The topic of societal or political discussion, past or present, regarding possible
governance arrangements to manage or temper it and improve sustainability.

In terms of content, the paper should present a critical overview of key efforts attempted to improve
sustainability with regard to the chosen issue. The arrangements covered can include government
policies, international treaties, or private initiatives. The scale of the arrangements can be local,
national, regional, or global. Since the main objective of this paper is to give the reader a sense of
what is being done to deal with the issue, the overview should present a minimal variety in the
arrangements covered.

Note that too many arrangements may exist to realistically cover in a paper of this length. If that
is the case, make sure to choose a reasonable number of examples so that you can provide enough
detail, as well as ones that are particularly illustrative of either the governance challenges
associated with the issue, effectiveness problems, etc.

A concluding discussion at the end should give your take on where we are on the governance of
this issue: have we been effective so far at tackling the problem?

The paper requires a critical overview: this means that in addition to factually describing the
arrangements and political battles surrounding their design and implementation, you should leave
room to highlight what you think the reader should take away from the description, for instance,
the key challenges left to resolve, effectiveness problems, or a comparative assessment when more
than one jurisdiction has an arrangement in place, for instance.

Specific Instructions

In addition to the above, the research paper must also meet the following criteria:

1. Have a title page with the student’s full name and ID number.

© May not be copied or duplicated

without the permission of the owner. 1
 2. Have a word count of 2,300-2,500 words that includes footnotes and bibliography (papers
that exceed the word count will be penalized).
3. Have a minimum of seven (7) sources. Four (4) of these must be peer-reviewed journal
articles, and the rest should be books, book chapters, institutional websites or other credible
sources. Students who do not know how to identify/locate peer-reviewed journal articles
or do not know what constitutes credible sources, must contact a Concordia Librarian for
guidance.
https://www.concordia.ca/library/guides/exercise-science/peer-
review.html#:~:text=Each%20paper%20submitted%20to%20a,be%20printed%20in%20t
he%20journal
4. Except for fundamental sources (e.g., Brundtland Report (1987)), all other sources should
be ten (10) years or less. Papers that contain dated sources will be penalized.
5. The paper must have a recognized professional citation style such as APA, MLA or
Chicago. (Students needing help with citation styles, must contact a Concordia Librarian
for guidance https://library.concordia.ca/help/citing/index.php )
6. Artificial Intelligence (AI) software is strictly prohibited. Papers suspected of AI will
be reported to Concordia University https://www.concordia.ca/conduct/academic-
integrity/process.html
7. Regardless of citation style, or direct quotations, paper must be in-text citations with page
numbers (e.g., Panagiotarakou, 2019, p. 7) for all sources. In cases where a source lacks
page numbers, students should instead provide a paragraph number (e.g., Panagiotarakou,
2020, para. 3). Students who need further guidance on this point should consult a
Concordia Librarian https://library.concordia.ca/help/ ). Moreover, citations must be
provided for every 2-3 sentences. Papers that lack detailed citations will be penalized.
8. Paper must have a 12-point, Times New Roman Font and be double-spaced.
9. Paper must be in Word format (no PDFs, etc.). Corrupt files or incorrect versions will be
treated as late papers.
10. The paper must have a clear structure consisting of a Title, Introduction (Thesis
Statement and Methodology), Main Body, Conclusion and Bibliography (see link for
guidance: https://library.concordia.ca/help/writing/research-paper.php )
11. Paper must be free of logical fallacies and grammatical errors. To that end, students are
encouraged to work closely with Concordia’s Writing Center for their drafts.
https://www.concordia.ca/students/success/learning-support/writing-assistance.html
12. Last but not least, students should seek to mimic the structure and substance of peer-
reviewed journal articles. After all, this research paper - and the countless other research
papers that undergraduate students write - aims at preparing students for higher studies and
an eventual publication record.

In case of any doubts or difficulties, students should contact their Teaching Assistant (TA).

© May not be copied or duplicated

without the permission of the owner. 2