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 the 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.

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
  1. Common Signs and Symptoms (10)
     1. List the most common symptoms
     2. What does a person experience or feel who has this disease?
     3. 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
  2. How this relates to what you learned about the organ system (10)
  3. Causes (10)
  4. Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention (10)
  5. Prognosis (and Complications, if applicable) (10)
     1. Can people die from this disease?
     2. If so, do they usually die, sometimes die, or only rarely die?
     3. Can the treatments completely get rid of the disease?
     4. Or do they only manage the symptoms?
     5. 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.  What’s the take-home message you want to give your readers? 
• References (10 pts, 2/citation + 4 for format)
  • Minimum of 3 primary research citations.