What is a Case Study assignment?
A case study is a story about a client and their situation. For example, below is an
assignment from the module: Counselling Theories:
General assignment
instructions
Client’s history
Client’s current
situation
After the ‘case’ or ‘story’, the assignment will have questions for you to answer that link the
content of your module to the client’s situation, for example:
Link theory to the
client’s situation
What is the purpose of this type of assignment?
In a case study assignment, you don’t just give facts or explain ideas. The aim of this type of
assignment is to apply the theories you are learning to the person in the story. You are
putting yourself in the role of counsellor or case manager, and thinking about things like –
why is this person behaving in this way? Does a particular theory help to explain this
behaviour? What would I do to help this person as a counsellor or case manager? So this
type of thinking prepares you for work in the real world.
How do I know what to write in a case study assignment?
Your assignment needs to answer the questions that are given after the case information
(the client’s story). You do not need to write about the client outside of answering these
questions.
There is something special about writing a case study. You need to use the theory of
counselling (or case management) that you are learning about, and apply it to the person in
the case. You are not just explaining the theory; you are using the theory to explain what
the client is doing. You may also need to suggest how and why you would use a counselling
or case management skill to help the client.
How will my assignment be assessed?
All assignments, including case studies, have a set of marking criteria. This is a list of the
things a student must do in order to pass the assignment. You will find the marking criteria
in the same document as your assignment information. Here are the marking criteria for
the case study example shown above:
Marking Criteria