Quick answer: To write the Social Justice and the City mid-term well, treat it as two linked arguments. In the first half, define home through three social science aspects you can defend with sources. In the second, diagnose one or two Irish housing problems with dated evidence, and use your definition of home to show why they matter. Stay within 1,500 words and give each half at least 600.
You have the lecture slides, a pile of readings on home, housing histories and the political economy of housing, and a brief that asks for theory in one half and evidence in the other. The usual sticking point is not a lack of material. It is deciding what to leave out. A common pattern is to write 900 words on the housing crisis in general and then discover they have only 600 left for everything else.
This guide explains what markers look for and where marks leak away. It uses the published mid-term question as its reference point. A worked model-answer extract is available for reference only and must not be submitted as your own work.
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What is the mid-term actually asking for?
Two things, and the second depends on the first. Section one asks you to build your own theory of home, naming three main aspects of it, drawing on social science concepts from the early lectures. Section two asks you to analyse the main problem or problems in the current Irish housing system, again with concepts and evidence. Together they carry half of the module grade, and the brief expects each part to run to at least 600 words within an overall limit of 1,500, excluding references.
There is a third, quieter instruction. Your theory of home is meant to become the foundation of the final assignment, a proposal for a new housing model. So a marker reads Section one as an early statement of your values. If your three aspects of home never reappear in Section two, the two halves read as separate essays.
How should you define home without writing a dictionary entry?
Pick three aspects, argue for them, and attach each to a source. A workable set might be security, identity and control, and the material and social base of family life. Each has a scholarly home:
- Security: Dupuis and Thorns (1998) connect home to ontological security, the stability that lets people plan their lives.
- Identity and control: Mallett (2004) reviews how home is understood as place, space, feelings, practices and a state of being.
- Material and social base: Somerville (1992) uses homelessness to show that home combines several meanings, such as shelter, hearth, privacy and roots.
You do not have to use these three. You do have to explain why you chose yours, and that is where many drafts go thin. “Home is important because it provides safety” is a claim without a concept. “Home provides ontological security, which Dupuis and Thorns (1998) tie to tenure” is an argument.
A small warning. Home is not automatically a positive. Mallett’s review is useful partly because it shows how contested the idea is. A line acknowledging that home can also be a site of conflict or constraint shows critical thinking and costs you twenty words.
How do you pick a problem in the Irish housing system?
The brief invites a focus on one or a few issues, or on a particular group. Take the invitation literally. Affordability, supply, inequality, homelessness and overcrowding are all connected, but you cannot do justice to all of them in 600 words.
| Approach | What it looks like | Risk | Better move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey everything | One paragraph each on supply, rents, homelessness and ownership | Descriptive, no argument | Choose one issue and trace its causes |
| Single issue, no cohort | Affordability in general terms | Reads as a news summary | Add a group, such as lone parents or young renters |
| Issue plus cohort plus concept | Rental insecurity for families, read through ontological security | Needs careful word control | Open with the claim, then evidence |
The third row is the one that earns marks, because it lets you reuse Section one. Take a family in emergency accommodation. They may have shelter but lack privacy and roots, and security of tenure is absent. Your three aspects of home do the analytical work.
What evidence will a marker trust?
Official and peer-reviewed sources, dated precisely. For structural explanation, Aalbers (2016) on the financialisation of housing and Byrne (2020) on generation rent in Ireland, the UK and Spain give you concepts that go beyond description. Michael Byrne’s work is worth reading closely if it appears on your reading list.
For policy, Housing for All estimated an average need of 33,000 new homes a year from 2021 to 2030. It has since been archived and superseded, which is exactly the kind of detail that shows you checked. The Housing Commission report of 2024 is another official source.
For current figures, use the Department’s monthly homelessness reports, and always say which month. The April 2026 week reported 17,548 people in emergency accommodation, including 5,604 children, according to the Irish Times coverage of that release. Check the latest release before you submit, since the number moves.
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Where do students lose marks on this mid-term?
- Spending the first 300 words restating the brief or the history of the crisis. Start with your argument.
- Naming three aspects of home but never defining them with a source.
- Giving statistics with no date or no source. An undated figure cannot be checked.
- Writing 900 words for one section and 400 for the other, which breaks the minimum length.
- Describing the problem without saying who bears it. Social justice means asking who gains, who loses and why.
- Treating the final assignment as irrelevant. The first half is supposed to feed it.
Number four causes more avoidable penalties than any conceptual error. Count as you write, not at the end.
What is a mark-maximising checklist?
- Three aspects of home, each with a named concept and a source.
- One or two issues, or one cohort, in Section two.
- Every statistic dated, sourced and checked against the latest release.
- A clear link back from Section two to the aspects of home in Section one.
- A sentence on who is affected unequally, and why.
- Each section at least 600 words, total no more than 1,500 excluding references.
- A reference list in the style your module requires, matching every in-text citation.
- A closing line that points toward the housing model you will propose.
How do you plan 1,500 words?
A rough split helps. Allow about 100 words to open Section one with a claim, 450 for the three aspects, 80 to bridge. In Section two allow about 100 for the issue and cohort, 350 for causes and evidence, 100 for the link back to home, and the remainder for a conclusion. Adjust to taste, but write the plan before the prose.
The question of referencing deserves a sentence. The enquiry mentioned a legal style, but a social science module normally uses author-date referencing, so confirm in your handbook which style applies. The sample uses Harvard.
FAQs
How many words should each section be?
At least 600 words each, within a total of 1,500 excluding references. In practice that leaves very little room for padding. Aim for roughly 700 and 700, then trim, so that neither half falls below the minimum when you cut.
Do I need to use the lecturer’s own research?
You are not required to, but citing a published source your lecturer wrote is fine if it is relevant. Byrne (2020) on generation rent is a natural fit for the affordability and renting lectures. Cite it because it supports your argument, not to please a marker.
Which Irish statistics are safe to use?
Official releases from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Central Statistics Office and similar bodies, with the month or year stated. Avoid unsourced numbers from social media or opinion pieces. If you cannot find the source, leave the figure out.
Can I write about a group rather than the whole system?
Yes. The brief explicitly allows a focus on a cohort such as migrants, lone parents or people with disabilities. A focused analysis usually scores better than a broad one, provided you still link it to a wider structural cause.
How do I link the mid-term to the final assignment?
End Section one with a sentence stating what a good home requires, then end Section two by saying what the system fails to provide. That gap is the problem your final housing model must solve.
Can I use a sample to help me?
A model answer is useful for seeing structure and referencing, and it must not be handed in as your own work. Read the sample extract linked near the top for method, then write your own argument from your own readings.
If you want a second pair of eyes on your plan or structure, you can submit your assignment details here, or look at other solved UCD questions for comparison. Our support provides model answers and guidance, and you remain responsible for following your university’s academic integrity rules.
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About the expert
The closest available profile for this article is Laura Kelly, who holds a Master’s in History from Trinity College Dublin, with subject areas including modern and Irish history.
References
- Aalbers, M.B. (2016) The financialization of housing: a political economy approach. London: Routledge.
- Byrne, M. (2020) ‘Generation rent and the financialization of housing: a comparative exploration of the growth of the private rental sector in Ireland, the UK and Spain’, Housing Studies, 35(4), pp. 743–765. doi:10.1080/02673037.2019.1632813.
- Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (2021) Housing for All – a new housing plan for Ireland (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (2026) Homelessness report April 2026 (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Dupuis, A. and Thorns, D.C. (1998) ‘Home, home ownership and the search for ontological security’, The Sociological Review, 46(1), pp. 24–47. doi:10.1111/1467-954X.00088.
- Housing Commission (2024) Report of the Housing Commission (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Irish Times (2026) ‘School holidays “highly challenging” for thousands of homeless children as rates rise again’, 29 May (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Mallett, S. (2004) ‘Understanding home: a critical review of the literature’, The Sociological Review, 52(1), pp. 62–89. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2004.00442.x.
- Somerville, P. (1992) ‘Homelessness and the meaning of home: rooflessness or rootlessness?’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 16(4), pp. 529–539. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.1992.tb00194.x.
