Describe a particular disease process.

What are the symptoms (what the patient complains about)?

What are the signs (what will the physician or health specialist see)?

What are the relevant laboratory, x-ray, and imaging studies, and what will they show?

What is the etiology of the disease process –describe genetic, biochemical, histological, physiologic, etc. perspectives
as are appropriate.

If appropriate, explain how the disease is similar/different from closely related illnesses; for instance, how is Type I
diabetes different from Type II diabetes?

What complications can occur and why?

What are the major causes of morbidity/mortality and why?

What are available treatments – be specific. Don’t say that antibiotics are curative for a particular infectious disease. If
penicillin is appropriate therapy, indicate that. Explain how the therapy works – for instance, penicillin interferes with
bacterial cell wall formation. Are there significant complications or side-effects to the treatment?

What research is being done to prevent the disease, diagnose or treat it earlier, minimize complications, etc.?
I am picky about the presentation. Your paper must be typed and
stapled
–
you will lose 5% for not stapling; don’t fold the paper
on itself, use gum, paper clips, etc. Staple the darn paper!
(No, I don’t carry a stapler with me!) This review must be typed, and
letter quality print. Dot matrix-printed papers are not acceptable. Please separate lines by 2.0 (double space) space and single sided
printing. Use 1” margins all around, and 12 font. Use Times New Roman.
You will be submitting a paper copy as well as an
electronic copy (CD, email attachment).
The latter will be submitted to a
plagiarism
service. You may not use a paper that you
previously wrote for another class. The plagiarism service will tell what percentage of your paper is plagiarized or similar to other papers
already submitted. If the percentage of plagiarism/similarity is 20% or higher, your grade for the entire course will be a F.
You may not
use any direct or indirect quotes.
Direct quotes do not make a paper original. A research paper blends your own ideas and
information from expert sources. It is
NOT
a series of direct quotations strung together. A common mistake is when students use too
many direct quotes in their papers instead of formulating their own ideas about the paper’s topic and using quotes rather sparingly as
one way to substantiate their point of view on the topic.
The best way to avoid this mistake is to not use direct or indirect quotes
in this paper. Do not copy and paste anything into the body of this paper.

Citations
: Use
endnotes not footnotes
. Number references in the number that they appear in the text, and not alphabetically. Use the
AMA style

RUBRIC. Your grade will be based on:
a.
Readability (30% of the grade). When you are finished with your first draft, it may be helpful for you to consider the following
points:
1.
Word usage: are your terms used correctly, and defined? Are procedures explained? Don’t assume that the reader will
know about a particular procedure or drug;
assume that the reader is a college senior in biology or chemistry
.
However, this is a formal paper and you are not writing for the public.
2.
Sentence structure: did you avoid excessively long or complex sentences? Did you use complete sentences? You will
lose significant points for incomplete sentences and spelling errors. Do not rely solely on a computerized spell checker.
They cannot spell contextually and are not familiar with biological/medical/anatomical terms.
3.
I am a stickler about the English language, American style. What do I mean by American English? The British spell
esophagus as “oesophagus”, edema as “oedema”, and tumor as “tumour”. Use American spelling.
4.
Use
formal grammar and language
. A formal paper is
precise and concise
. Journal articles are formal; newspapers
and newsstand magazines do not use formal English.
Again, be precise and concise.
•
Do not use first and second voice – no “I”, “we”, “us”, “them”, “you”, etc.
•
Avoid colloquialisms. Work on grammar: instead of “like”, try “resembling” or “similar”. A thesaurus can be a
friend! Avoid contractions! Capitalize only proper nouns!! Remember genera names are capitalized, species
names are not.
•
Avoid contractions. This is a formal paper.
•
Do not editorialize. You are discussing a disease process, not how governments have or should respond to
it.
•
Avoid using quotations. Paraphrase.
•
In general, avoid anecdotal illustrations
•
Do not begin sentences with any of these words: Namely, Hence, But, However, Furthermore, Put simply,
Further, Additionally, Therefore, In part, Interestingly, Thus, To begin, more specifically, and consequently.
5.
This paper must be in AMA format. Review the AMA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
6.
Do not begin sentences with conjunctions. If you begin a sentence with a number, write it out,
“Twenty-seven percent of patients…” If you include a table, discuss it in the text. A table or list should not be part of the
text itself.
b.
Concept and coverage (40% of the grade). Has your paper given adequate and correct coverage of your topic? Did you
address all the questions posed above? Did you give an introduction to the material where necessary?

c.
Literature coverage (10% of the grade). How well did you research your subject? Feel free to use recent texts, but also
reference current professional journals and publications. Beware of using information from the internet. “Joe’s Lupus Site” is
not an acceptable reference. Wikipedia is not acceptable. Johns Hopkins’ School of Medicine site may not be useful if you are
obtaining information written for the general public. Often, charts, figures, etc., are deleted from journal articles published
online. A good published article has gone through a review board of professionals; internet articles can be written by anyone
with no colleague review. For the 4475 course, 5 peer-reviewed journal articles is required for the
course. Use endnotes not footnotes.
The following journals are not acceptable references:
Scientific American
Science News
Time Magazine
US News and World Report
Parenting
Omni
Discover
Natural History
National Geographic
Any other magazine that is available over the counter, from
Publishers Clearing House, etc.
Wikipedia is not acceptable!!
d.
Mechanics (20% of grade). Did you follow the correct format and instructions?