For the term paper, you will do a scientific literature search following the procedure described in the information in this module titled “How to Do a Literature Search Using the Web of Science”. The goal of your search is to find all of the scientific literature on a medical, health-related, or medical sociological topic of your own choosing. The subject matter of your topic is up to you, so if you like you can choose something that interests you personally or that could help you in your studies or your career.
Your term paper will consist of two parts. First you will have a description of the method you used to search the literature, described similarly to the “How to Search the Scientific Literature Using the Web of Science” piece (but without the screen shots). Then after that you will list the scientific articles you found, using any standard method of citation that includes author, title, journal, volume, year, and pages. As long as you cite the articles like that you are fine, it doesn’t have to be any specific citation style like MLA or whatever. I also don’t grade based on the length of your paper (there is no minimum length your paper has to be). Instead your grade will be based on whether you had a good search procedure, whether you found all the relevant literature and whether your topic is appropriately narrow as described in the materials in this module and the Grading Rubric for the Term Paper in this module. The learning goal of this assignment is to gain the skills necessary to be able to find all the scientific literature on a topic in case you need to do that in your profession or your own life.
Any format for the paper is fine but when you list the articles you found the easiest way for me is if you say “Here is my starting article” and then list the citation for that article, and then after that you say “here are the articles I found from the ‘times cited’ of my starting article” and then “here are the articles I found from the ‘cited references’ of my starting article. You don’t have to use that exact wording of course but that is the best way to list your articles to make the papers easier to grade.
To submit the paper, type it as a Word document and then submit it by clicking on the “Submit” button in the upper right. As always in this course, it is advisable to work on the paper and get it submitted well in advance of the due date to allow for computer or Canvas problems or issues that might come up in your life.
One more thing; if you feel you need help as you do the assignment, please feel free to contact me. I want the assignment to be a good learning experience so I am always willing to help.
