The Research Paper
For our final project before doing revisions for the portfolio, you will be writing a short researched paper. It will be written on a topic of your choosing, as long as the topic is somehow related to health issues. This provides a wide range of topics with a common theme, allowing each student freedom and providing one shared thread.
Your research paper will demonstrate your ability to choose a workable topic, to define a view on the topic, to locate and gather pertinent information from the library, to make effective use of that information, and to show your understanding of proper formatting. The paper will be from 5-7 pages (1250-1750 words) and will use ten reliable sources from online resources, print periodicals, and books. It will follow the guidelines for preparing a research paper established by the MLA.
The topic: For the research paper, you will be writing about an issue on health. The topic you choose should be something that you’re interested in, but it must be tied, however loosely, to health issues. So, choosing the topic is to be done carefully, but there are many things that will work. Remember that in any course, there will rarely be an assignment given that allows you complete freedom to choose topics. You’ll need to choose within a subject area. Our subject area is health.
There are many obvious topics here, but the trick will be to write about something that you’re interested in. I don't care to read many papers on the same topic or on nearly the same topic. I don't want to read that many papers on obvious topics in health, and nobody else would either. I would like to read papers that delve into something that you're interested in. If it’s sports, then perhaps college athletics, training, sports nutrition, or steroids and sports might make good topics. If you’re interested in history, then some kind of combination of history and health will work. There’s always a way to make the connection. You may need to do some research to discover what topics might work, though. As you begin, then, work to try to narrow your topic at first, rather than to find immediately things that will support your paper.
The approach: The best way I've found to begin and to focus a paper like this is by trying to formulate a research question. It usually takes some research to get this question focused. For example, you might find yourself thinking about what meals were like in schools years ago. That may get focused from there to a certain time period, say the 1990's, or perhaps it might focus on some specific nutritional need. By doing some research, you might discover that some people think that it's a bad idea to have fast food options in school cafeterias. You look into it and see there are quite a few McDonalds, Pizza Huts, and Subways in big schools nationwide. What's the problem? Your question might become, "What are the advantages and disadvantages of having fast foods in schools?" (Even figuring out how to ask that question is a key step.) Even this specific topic could yield other areas of interest: How have school meals changed over the years? What brought about schools offering breakfasts? Not all of these topics would necessarily work, but they may begin the process of defining the topic. Note: The research question you try to formulate should not be one which can be answered with a yes or no. "Did school meals used to be different?" or "Is having fast food available in schools a good idea?" is not the way to ask the question. It's often simple to rewrite the question to avoid this.
Your paper will be expected to describe what the issue is, to provide the different viewpoints and explain what their views are, using examples and illustrations from the materials you find. If there are more than two sides to the issue (as there often are) then your paper should try to describe those. The paper will also need to provide background on the issue, providing context for it. For example, suppose you are writing about a dispute about whether vitamins actually improve people's health. That paper might describe the way in which one group is a watchdog for consumers and say vitamins are a waste of money. On the other hand, you'd also want to describe what the companies themselves claim and what their supporters say. Your paper might also give a brief history of the disputes about dietary supplements. In other words, the paper needs to provide context for the issue.
Finally, your paper should define your own stand on the issue, having identified the various views of others. Having looked at a range of materials, you’ll have earned the right to make a judgment. That judgment should be based on the materials that you found. In other words, the answer to your research question should be found in the sources, not arrived at by some other means.
The final version of the paper will be due December 3. From then on, we'll be revising.