Purpose:
An additional form of assessment in anatomy and physiology is by written assignment (an essay). This allows you the opportunity to research the published literature about a topic and to write about it logically, clearly, and succinctly while learning to cite the scientific literature that is referred to. The essay topics given below are intended to be descriptive rather than prescriptive. That is, you are given the freedom to take the essay topic in almost any direction. The topic chosen for your writing assignment should be a disease or abnormality that affects the system/body parts that your group is presenting on.
Guidelines:
Your paper should be written in the third person taking the individual out of the writing and avoiding pronouns such as I, we, my, our (first person) and you, yours, your, us, we (second person). You should deal with facts and not opinions, thus providing citations within your paper and on your reference page. Focus on the subject itself and not on your feelings about the subject. The use of the third person retains a formal tone in your writing. The use of first and second person can make a document seem more casual. The paper should be complete and the main body should be 1000-1500 words in length (excluding cover page, abstract, references, etc.). Utilize APA Style format and references. See the Owl at Purdue site for help with APA formatting principles.
Topics:
Please select a topic from this list:
Health Condition Paper Topic List Click for more options Health Condition Paper Topic List – Alternative Formats – Word Document (27.1 KB )
Be sure to have the topic you select be approved by your professor before beginning your work. Approval is needed so that each student selects a unique topic.
Avoid Plagiarism:
Your writing assignment will be inspected for originality so please avoid plagiarism in order to earn a non-zero grade. Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s words or ideas as your own. But did you know that there are many different types of plagiarism? Here is a list of some types:
Copying and direct plagiarism: when you take someone’s words and present them as your own with no changes or citation.
Patchwork plagiarism: using phrases or sentences from another author’s works and including them in your writing without quote marks or citations.
Paraphrasing: rewording, rearranging, and re-writing in your own words another’s author’s work while maintaining the same line of argument or idea without a citation or attribution.
Self-plagiarism: reusing your own work from a previous class or assignment.
Other Guidelines:
Be sure to use transition words between each paragraph. Each paragraph should be at least five sentences in length. In most cases, the paragraphs will be longer. Try to use at least two sources in each paragraph.
Grading
Format of your Paper (10pts):
Abstract (10 pts):
Word limit: 100 words.
Short summary of the main ideas of the entire paper.
Introduction (10 pts):
Word limit: 150 – 300 words.
Describe why you are interested in the particular health topic that you are focusing on in your paper. Give a short background on your health topic, being sure to identify: what organ system(s) is involved; a general cause for the health condition (or the purpose for the technology); what you see as the importance of learning about this topic; the prognosis for someone with this condition (or the opportunity for using this technology).
Detailed Information (50 pts – see breakdown below):
Word limit: 200 – 300 words
Common Signs and Symptoms (10)
List the most common symptoms
What does a person experience or feel who has this disease?
Here would be a good place to include information you learn from interviewing someone who has had this disease or who knows someone who has had the disease
How this relates to what you learned about the organ system (10)
Causes (10)
Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention (10)
Prognosis (and Complications, if applicable) (10)
Can people die from this disease?
If so, do they usually die, sometimes die, or only rarely die?
Can the treatments completely get rid of the disease?
Or do they only manage the symptoms?
Are there any problems that occur from this disease that never go away? For example, are people sometimes crippled or brain-damaged, or is their immune system weakened?
Discussion (10 pts):
Word limit: 200 – 300 words
Share your opinions on what you learned about this condition. Whats the take-home message you want to give your readers?
References (10 pts, 2/citation + 4 for format)
Minimum of 3 primary research citations.
