Food Banks
According to Food Banks Canada, approximately 13 percent of Canadians live in a state of food insecurity which means they do not have regular access to adequate amounts of food (in particular safe, good-quality, healthy foods). In Canada, the primary cause of hunger is poverty and low income – over 4 million Canadians have incomes that are too low to allow them to regularly eat a healthy and balanced diet. In Canada, food banks have become an important way to help people access food. Each month, over 850,000 people turn to food banks for help more than one-third of which are children and youth. A broad range of people access foodbanks such as: families with children, employed people whose precarious employment and low wages are not sufficient to meet basic living needs, people on social assistance, and those living on a fixed income (e.g., seniors and people with disabilities). The demand for foodbanks continues to rise and increasing numbers of people are finding themselves unable to manage on the incomes that they have. Are foodbanks helpful in meeting the current and rising demand for food inequality?
Critical Literature Review
HYPERLINK “http://publications.aston.ac.uk/3431/1/Jesson_and_lacey2006.pdf” Jesson & Lacey – How to do (or not to do) a literature review
Literature reviews are useful tools as either part of a larger report or a stand alone document. The intent of a literature review is to provide information from past and current publications about a particular topic to inform the reader on the current state of knowledge and in some cases to inform a course of action based on the best evidence available. Your task as writer of the literature review is to provide a critical assessment of the literature in the relation to one of the proposed topics and the models we have been learning in class.
Students are expected to write a critical literature review which goes beyond a typical literature review. Jesson and Lacey (2006) describe a critical literature review as one that provides a narrative of current information but goes further as the writer adds an original and analytical assessment of the literature reviewed. This means students are not to only describe the articles selected but critically engage with the articles and the scenario chosen to advance an understanding of the issue at hand. Once students have examined the literature against the scenario chosen they will conclude with a section on how they would apply their learnings to ‘help’ the person(s) in the scenario.
Students will write a 7-8 page literature review using at minimum 8 sources, 6 of which are from academic journals. Students should be aware of the connection between the strength of their papers and the strength of their sources chosen. Weak sources typically make for a weaker paper while strong sources support a stronger analysis so choose wisely! Students are strongly encouraged to review the Jesson and Lacey (2006) article as well as review other literature reviews and use their TA’s for guidance in structuring and developing their papers.
Papers should at minimum include:
An introduction to identify the purpose of the review as well as some rationale around the decision making for the articles included.
A main body which is a review and critical analysis of what the literature says, how it relates to your scenario and most importantly how the literature advances the understanding of the scenario.
A concluding section with insights gained from the literature review and possible ways to apply this information to provide help.
Students are to write the literature review using APA format. Papers are worth 25% of the final grade and are due on Nov 1st at 5:00pm on avenue to learn in the submission folder ‘literature review’. A late penalty of 2% per day will be applied to late submissions.
Other Useful Resources:
HYPERLINK “http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/images/stories/Documents/literature-review.pdf” U of T – Taylor and Proctor – Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting
HYPERLINK “http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/student-pdfs/” U of T Writing Advice
HYPERLINK “https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/” OWL Purdue APA
