Case study assessments

A case study requires you to analyse and write about a person, a scenario or an organisation. You might be given information about the case in the assessment description, or you may be required to invent or find your own case. The purpose of a case study is to apply the concepts and theories you have learnt about in class to the particular case.

Content
The main part of the case study assignment involves applying the concepts and theories you have learnt about to the case study. You should also incorporate information from your course materials and other sources when writing your case study assignment to support your ideas. A case study might also require you to provide examples of what you would say to a client or another person in the case, and what they might say.

Structure
Some case study assignments are in short answer style, so it is a good idea to include the numbered questions in your assignment so it is clear exactly which question you are responding to. Other case study assignments need to be structured with an introduction, a series of body paragraphs and a conclusion. When presenting case studies in this way, you can use headings which can often be ‘created’ from information in the task description.

Style
Case studies require you to write in the third person (people’s names, he/she/they, ‘the case manager’, ‘the client’ etc) when discussing the theories or research of authors, or the client, the professional or the organisation in the case. A case study might require you to use first person (‘I’, ‘my’ etc) to provide your own reflections about the case, its personal impact on you, or how you would apply theories and skills to the case.

Tip

Make sure you have a good balance between describing your case study and analysing it. Many students fall into the trap of being too descriptive when writing about their case. Some ways to include analysis are: