Instructions
Written Project (Term Paper)
This paper will be about 6 pages long, typed, doubled-spaced and in 12 font (about 1800 words). For this paper, you need to imagine that you are writing a science news or feature article for publication in the science section of the newspaper. If you want to see a model, find the New York Times or the Boston Globe on any Tuesday and look at the science section. The written project is due at the beginning of class on the due date and MUST be uploaded to Blackboard as an MS Word document or in rich text format (.rtf); no late work after the grace period is accepted for any reason. If you desire to use the grace period, you must be approved to do so before the original due date. These extensions are only granted in extreme circumstances.
Note:The one big difference between your paper and a real article in the newspaper is that newspaper articles do not use bibliographic citation. You do, please, including in text citations. Please see the grading rubric for additional paper requirements.
Steps
Step 1: Convince your “editor”
If you were going to write an article for the newspaper, you would need to convince your editor that this was an article that he/she might want to publish. Make your paper one that an editor would make space for in the publication!
Step 2: Write an interesting and readable six-page paper
The paper needs to have the following components (organization is up to you).
- A good “lead”: You need to draw your readers into the article. Why should they read about this topic? There are lots of other articles in the paper.
- Background: There is no guarantee that your readers (i.e., your Instructor) will know anything about this topic. Be sure to educate the reader
- News: What is the news here? What specific nugget of information makes this worth space in the paper? Note: That might come from some article other than the article that got you started.
- Bibliography: The listing of the works that you used.
General Requirements
Sources:
- You will be assigned a paper topic.
Note: You must write on your assigned topic; there are no exceptions to this policy.
- You must use at least four sources that are published in the scholarly literature or in book form (College level textbooks are fine for one of the two sources. No, you can’t use your textbook.)
Make sure you use 1 source from Database in Waketech Library, such as JSTOR or ProQuest Central.
https://www.waketech.edu/student-services/libraries
- If you are in doubt about the scholarly nature of a source, ask me or ask the librarians (good reason to go to a library workshop).
- A random webpage found by ‘Googling’ cannot be counted toward the two scholarly resources; but it might be useful. You can use such sources. You can cite them (give the URL). You just can’t rely on them exclusively.
- Electronic versions of scholarly publications are just fine.
- When in doubt, ask.
Writing
- Always, always make sure you are using your own words. Direct quotation can be used but only very sparingly. It is rarely needed in this sort of writing. Direct quotes should be “in quotes” of course and a proper citation should be given. What I really want to avoid are papers where you read a paragraph and then write a paragraph that is a close paraphrase of your source. Changing “I discovered” to “She discovered” is not “using your own words”. Read your sources. Take notes on your sources. Think about the material. Then write something of your own. If your paper is a pastiche of near quotes, I am going to give you a really bad grade. You have been warned.
- A full text copy of the article must be turned in with your paper, with the information that you used highlighted.
- Citation: I am not particularly concerned about the form of citation that you use. I suggest using APA or MLA style. If you want to use another style please clear it with me first.
The critical requirement is that I should be able to find the source of any facts and ideas that you gleaned in your reading. Again, when in doubt, ask.
- Follow MLA 8th Edition Formatting.
- Your papers will be checked for plagiarism
Grading
30 points: The paper is of the correct length and format (i.e., APA, MLA, or other approved style) and contains all of the required elements.
10 points: There are sufficient references of the required type and each is cited correctly.
20 points: The paper covers the topic thoroughly enough that an uninformed reader will come to understand the subject.
20 points: The paper draws the reader’s attention in (makes them want to read this article as opposed to another one).f you were going to write an article for the newspaper, you would need to convince your editor that this was an article that he/she might want to publish. In this case, I am your editor.
Grammar, Syntax, Organizations Scoring Guidelines:
20 points: The paper proceeds smoothly and logically from point to point, and is easy to read. The individual sentences are unified, coherent, and logical. Word choice is accurate and concrete. There are few or no mechanical errors (grammar, spelling, punctuation) and none of them cause a misreading of the passage.
18 points: Information is clearly organized and easy to follow. Individual sentences are coherent and unified. Sentences are clear but may occasionally be awkward. There are few mechanical errors and none of them cause a misreading of the passage.
16 points: Information is clearly organized and easy to follow. Individual sentences are coherent and unified. Sentences are clear but may occasionally be awkward. There are several grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that sometimes cause misreading of the passage.
14 points: Supporting details are generally good and relevant but thinner than in a “16” answer. Information is clearly organized and easy to follow. Individual sentences are coherent and unified. Sentences are clear but may occasionally be awkward. There are several grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that sometimes cause misreading of the passage.
12 points: The paper has repetitious or unnecessary supporting information and the central idea is too general or shallow. The flow of ideas is unclear and transitions are strained. The style is vague and unclear with ambiguous words or phrases. There are several grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that sometimes cause misreading of the passage.
10 points: The paper has repetitious or unnecessary supporting information and the central idea is too general or shallow. Supporting details are generally good and relevant but thinner than in a “12” answer. The flow of ideas is unclear and transitions are strained. The style is vague and unclear with ambiguous words or phrases. There are several grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that sometimes cause misreading of the passage.
8 points: The central idea of the paper is unclear. The flow of ideas is unclear and transitions are strained. The style is vague and unclear with ambiguous words or phrases. There are several grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that sometimes cause misreading of the passage.
6 points: The central idea of the paper is unclear. Supporting details are thinner or less relevant to the central idea than in an “8” paper. The flow of ideas is unclear and transitions are strained. The style is vague and unclear with ambiguous words or phrases. There are several grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that sometimes cause misreading of the passage.
4 points: The paper does not have an identifiable central idea. The flow of ideas is unclear and transitions are strained. The style is vague and unclear with ambiguous words or phrases. There are several grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that sometimes cause misreading of the passage.
2 points: The paper is unintelligible or grammar and syntax are so poor as to make it unreadable.
0 points: The paper is not turned in.
Sample Term Paper
Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Stress
The public knows little about Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Irritable Bowel Syndrome can be identified as a gastrointestinal disorder associated with symptom complexes that affect the gastrointestinal tract. With its prevalence in the world, this condition is on the verge of being considered a global issue. According to Song et al. (p. 1398), the condition has a prevalence of 1% to 20% worldwide. Song and colleagues further observe that it has a prevalence of 5% to 10% in North America, 6.6% in North Korea among the adults and affects around one in five people in the United Kingdom. The prevalence in adults is similar with that of children while females’ prevalence has been established as twice that of men.
Despite these worrying statistics, people tend to ignore the dangers of this condition. Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects the quality of life of people since it interrupts their daily activities such as seeking medical attention instead of being at work. Out of the victims of this condition, over 75% do not seek care due to lack of knowledge about it (Sayuk &Gyawali, p.817). There is, therefore, the need for the public to be informed about this health condition as it affects the society.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome, together with other psychosomatic disorders that affect the walls of the stomach, large intestines or the skin became popular after the World War II (Gaber, p. 1). Over the years, it has spread due to the ineffectiveness relating to treating it. The complex interactions that it causes between the immune, nervous and hormonal systems have also contributed to the difficulty in eliminating the disease. Research indicates that there are various symptoms and signs of this health condition that can be effective in guiding a person to identify whether he or she suffers from the condition. They include abnormal physical examination, severe loss of body weight reaching up to 3 kg in 6 months after contracting it (Gaber, p.46). Nocturnal abdominal pain, bloody mucus in stools, joint pain, change in bowel habit, abdominal distension for over three months and fever are other symptoms related to the condition.
Sasaki (p. 67) notes that coming from a family with a history of organic colon diseases can make a person vulnerable to suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Although the disease affects people of any age group, its victims begin experiencing its symptoms in early adulthood or late adolescence. However, despite showing these signs and symptoms, a person has to undergo health tests to confirm whether he or she is affected by the condition. The main tests include C-reactive protein, Full blood count, blood biochemistry, urinary analysis and fecal occult blood commonly known as an immunochemical method.
The pain experienced by a person due to Irritable Bowel Syndrome is as a result of muscle spasms in the bowel. It is important to observe that the specific cause of this health condition has not been established. It is of unknown etiology clinically. However, relating to its symptoms, it has been linked with psychological reasons that are also as a result of the brain-gut interaction. In particular, psychological stress has been identified as a major contributor to the development of this condition to a person (Qin et al., par. 1). Stress is a physiological response that is adaptive to a psychological (perceived) or physical (real) threat to a person. It is the result of an imbalance between a person’s demand in his/her perceptive environment and his/her adaptive ability.
Stress evokes a “flight” or “fight” response preparing a person to defend internal environment’s stability to ensure his/her survival. Stress triggers a negative response in the body to restore its homeostatic state before it was exposed to a stressful condition. One of the negative responses involves a change in the colonic motilities. This change is due to the brain-gut interaction. The intestines and the stomach are lined with millions of nerve cells. These nerve cells control and regulate the digestive system. They also help in passing messages from the brain to the gut or from the gut to the brain. Stress alters the connection between the brain and the gut. This affects the contractions and movement of the gastrointestinal tract (Barbara et al., p. 694).
Stress also stimulates hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that consequently triggers the release of cortisol, corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which either directly or indirectly affects the gut function (Qin et al., par. 7). It influences the growth and composition of microbiota as the body reacts to cope with the stressful condition: this further affects how the gut operates. An acute stressor, therefore, leads to extreme alteration of the guts that eventually develops into Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
In reference to the fact that the specific cause of this health condition has not been established, there has been no cure to eradicate this disease. The traditional therapies for relieving the condition have not been effective. Medicine targeting to treat the condition has directly also failed in treating the condition because it involves complex interaction between immune, nervous and hormonal systems. However, treatment focusing on the psychological causes has been identified to manage the discomfort and symptoms related to the condition.
According to Laird et al. (p.142), effective explanation and therapeutic relation can play a crucial role in suppressing the effects of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This approach of curbing the disease involves a physician offering a patient with the right advice regarding his or her condition. It focuses on eradicating the stressful condition contributing to the patient experiencing Irritable Bowel Syndrome’s symptons. Once there is the confirmation that the patient is suffering from the condition, he/she is assigned to a physician. The patient is supposed to explain his feelings about a stressful condition to the physician. A physician, who is knowledgeable regarding various stressful condition, will thus offer the patient suggestions on how to overcome the feelings.
The relationship between the patient and the physician is one of the determinants of the effectiveness of this approach to cure the health condition. The patient has to trust the doctor and avoid concealing any information about his condition, which may affect the treatment process. It is also crucial to note that the patient may have to attend various therapeutic sessions with a physician before restoring his or her wellbeing.
Lifestyle modification is also another way of alleviating the effects of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. According to Cannon et al. (par.30), patients who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome have been noted to have an impaired lifestyle. Habitual bad conditioning in a person leads to him or her developing abdominal pain or abnormal bowel movement. To eliminate such aspects, a patient has to adjust his/her lifestyle accordingly to avoid engaging in the negative habits. Cognitive behavior therapy has been identified as an effective approach to manage the behavior of a patient (Cannon et al., par. 32). The approach involves changing the way of thinking of a person and thus makes him or her drop bad habits that worsen his or her condition.
Self-monitoring of the patient is another approach that can be effective in adjusting a patient’s lifestyle (Lacy, Chey, & Lembo, par. 19). It is linked to the cognitive behavior therapy. The patient has to adapt a behavior that is appropriate based on the symptoms that one expresses. Keeping a diary to note the symptom relating to the stressful condition a person is in can be important in determining how one can adjust.
Another approach aimed at suppressing the effects of Irritable Bowel Syndrome relates to dietary modification (Quigley et al., p.19). Due to the discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract, eating certain types of food may worsen the condition. This relates to the earlier observation that stress alters how the gut functions. Light food, for instance,may accelerate diarrhea in a patient. Therefore, a patient has to identify food type that may relieve the condition. On the other hand, constipation demands that the patient avoids a type of food that consumes a lot of energy during digestion.
Overall, consuming types of food rich in soluble fiber has been noted to alleviate the symptoms of a patient with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Simrén, p.11). Insoluble fiber has the advantageous characteristic of improving bowel movement. Normal bowel movement eliminates both constipation and diarrhea. However, a patient has to control the amount of fiber that one consumes. Fiber often leads to increased production of gas in the gastrointestinal tract and this may result in abdominal fullness thus experiencing abdominal pain.
Drug treatment has also been identified as a suitable approach to suppress the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Drugs for treating the condition may be aimed at pharmacological therapy relating to somatic symptoms (Ford et al., p.13). The drugs should be specifically assigned for a certain symptom. The dosage should also correspond to the symptom. For instance, the dose of tricyclic antidepressants for treating abdominal pain should be lower than when treating depression. This is because the drug has an analgesic effect on visceral sensation and thus, in higher doses, it may cause complication in the gastrointestinal tract (Sasakip. 68). Antidiarrheal drugs are effective for patients with diarrhea predominated Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Sasaki p. 69). Calcium polycarbophil, on the other hand, can suppress both constipation and diarrhea.
The other types of drugs are regarded as psychopharmacological drugs. These drugs help in suppressing emotionally related symptoms (Sayuk & Gyawali, p.820). Drugs such as anxiolytics are used to ameliorate anxiety, nervous tension or fear. Similar to those targeted for pharmacological therapy, psychopharmacological drugs should also be taken in the right dosage and for the specific symptom to avoid complications.
Another approach to suppress the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome involves stress management (Sasaki, p. 69). It is arguably one of the most effective ways to curb the condition. This is due to the fact that stress has been directly linked to the health defect. A patient has to recognize the source of a stressor to identify the right method to mitigate it. Self-monitoring such as by keeping diaries may be effective in this case. Once the patient has identified the stressor, he/she has to identify the right approach to get through a stressful situation.
Stress management techniques include effective time-management such that there is time set aside for relaxation (Bogaerts & Oudenhove, p.140). Relaxation helps a person in developing self-control of symptoms. Observing physical fitness through regular exercises, aerobic dance and engaging in sporting activities are also imperative in making a person resilient to stressful conditions. In case of a patient who is in a stressful situation, social support from friends, colleagues, neighbors and friends among others have also been identified as an effective approach to stress management (Sasaki p. 69). The patient also has to avoid situations that may lure him to be stressed such as taking alcohol and other substances.
In conclusion, it is essential to observe that Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a health condition that requires special attention. The high number of people suffering from the condition globally is an aspect that cannot be ignored. There is the need to inform people about the condition due to the observation that many patients do not seek treatment: this may affect the progress of the society both economically and socially. Since stressful conditions are the major causes of the condition, people need to develop ways of managing stress and observe other approaches to mitigate the condition to have a healthy lifestyle. Considering there is insufficient knowledge about the condition such as the controversy surrounding its cause, extensive research would play an indispensable role in the attempt to eradicate the condition.
Works Cited
Barbara, Giovanni, et al. “Activated mast cells in proximity to colonic nerves correlate with abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome.” Gastroenterology 126.3 (2004): 693-702.
Bogaerts, Katleen, and Lukas Van Oudenhove. “Psychological treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.” (2013).
Cannon, Richard O., et al. “Imipramine in patients with chest pain despite normal coronary angiograms.” New England Journal of Medicine 330.20 (1994): 1411-1417.
Ford, Alexander C., et al. “American College of Gastroenterology monograph on the management of irritable bowel syndrome and chronic idiopathic constipation.” The American journal of gastroenterology 109 (2014): S2-S26.
Gaber, Osama Hasan. “The Relationship Between Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress among a Sample of Irritable Bowel Patients-Predictive Study.” Journal of Sociological Research 7.1 (2016): 44-64.
Lacy, Brian E., William D. Chey, and Anthony J. Lembo. “New and emerging treatment options for irritable bowel syndrome.” Gastroenterology &hepatology 11.4 Suppl 2 (2015): 1.
Laird, Kelsey T., et al. “Comparative efficacy of psychological therapies for improving mental health and daily functioning in irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Clinical psychology review 51 (2017): 142-152.
Qin, Hong-Yan, et al. “Impact of psychological stress on irritable bowel syndrome.” World journal of gastroenterology: WJG 20.39 (2014): 14126.
Quigley, Eamonn, et al. “Irritable bowel syndrome: a global perspective.” WGO Practice Guideline (2009).
Sasaki, Daisuke. “Irritable bowel syndrome and stress.” JAPAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL 46.2 (2003): 66-69.
Sayuk, Gregory S., and C. Prakash Gyawali. “Irritable bowel syndrome: modern concepts and management options.” The American journal of medicine 128.8 (2015): 817-827.
Simrén, Magnus. “Diet as a therapy for irritable bowel syndrome: progress at last.” Gastroenterology 146.1 (2014): 10-12.
Song, Sang-Wook, et al. “Relationship between irritable bowel syndrome, worry and stress in adolescent girls.” Journal of Korean medical science 27.11 (2012): 1398-1404.
