Nutrition Paper Discussion

Question Description
Selection of Project Topic
INTRODUCTION
This unit begins a series of assignments designed to help you complete your final paper due in Unit 9 and your final PowerPoint presentation due in Unit 10. In each of the project assignments, you will develop a component that will contribute to your final paper, an introduction to a research topic in the area of adult development.

This first assignment sets the stage for your specialized focus on your chosen topic while allowing you to peruse research that might be useful in your proposal of a research topic. In addition, it allows you to consider some of the developmental challenges of adulthood and aging while accessing contemporary information that may lead you to greater understanding in this field.Nutrition Paper Discussion

To see how this assignment fits into your course project, refer to the course project description.

OVERVIEW
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on a general subject area of adult development in which you have an interest, then identify a specific focus or subtopic within it on which to direct your research. Think of it like a funnel into which a vast amount of information is poured. For example, if the general topic is Alzheimer’s disease, to focus on a specific area of Alzheimer’s for your final paper, you might consider a cure for Alzheimer’s, the caregiver role for an Alzheimer’s patient, brain changes and nutrition, age-related concerns in an Alzheimer’s community, environmental impact on Alzheimer’s, or gender differences in relation to Alzheimer’s. There are many different subtopics for Alzheimer’s that you can review, and you can see how the general topic is just the beginning for your work.

Your job in this assignment is to narrow your focus from a general subject to a specific topic and to provide your rationale for choosing this topic:

What is it that you hope to gain from proposing such research?
Are you proposing to add to existing research, consider a new topic in research, or alter an existing study that might include new factors?Nutrition Paper Discussion
What do we not yet know about this topic? Have you found any apparent gaps in knowledge: important questions that research has not yet addressed?
We typically choose topics that have a personal impact on us. Consider how your experience has helped you to develop an interest in this topic and how gaps in the research have led you to unanswered questions.

SAFEASSIGN
SafeAssign (linked in Resources) is a requirement for submitting assignments. When you have an assignment, you must submit it to SafeAssign as a draft. Click the SafeAssign report and review the information. Ask yourself a few questions:

Have I cited the quotes properly in the paper? This means that you have an author, year, and page number for anything in quotation marks.
Have I used my own words or have I taken others’ words and not used quotation marks or otherwise identified that they are not mine? This means that anything that is taken from another course uses quotation marks and is not just copied to appear as your own words. This can be tricky!
Have I reused my own work? If you have, you must cite this information as well.
The SafeAssign report will highlight all of this information for you. Look at it, click on the highlighted areas that will show you how your work is taken from another site. At this point, you should make changes and then submit it to the assignments area of the courseroom. Thus, you will need to work a day or so ahead of the deadline to be sure to meet these requirements.

INSTRUCTIONS
Identify a topic area within adult development and behavior that you find interesting enough to research.
Consider various aspects of this topic and try to identify the aspect that interests you most right now.
Analyze the information that is currently available on your topic. Begin searching the Capella library for resources. Note the extent to which scholarly resources are already available on the aspects of the topic that interest you. Scan article abstracts to get a better idea of the current level of knowledge about your topic. Look for specific questions that you find important, especially those that the literature does not seem to have addressed. You can find these in the conclusions of research studies. Authors point out areas that have not been investigated and that are ripe for future research.
When you think you know what you want to investigate, create a draft of this assignment, including:
A clear definition of your topic, including the primary question or questions to which you are seeking answers.
A description of two realistic situations in which this question is likely to arise.
An explanation of why it is important to be able to answer this question.
Now reread your draft and make any changes or additions needed to address the following:
Review the scoring guide to make sure that you are addressing the criteria that will be applied to grade your paper.
Review the additional requirements for this assignment to ensure that you meet them as well.
Submit your draft to SafeAssign.
Review the SafeAssign results, being sure to address anything that is listed as originating from other sources. Make sure that you have cited these other sources correctly. (Remember: submitting your assignment to SafeAssign for a Capella course does not mean that your assignment is posted for your instructor to grade. The final step in submitting your assignment is to attach it within the assignment. Make sure you can see it attached as a Word document.)
Using the APA resources introduced in Unit 2, making certain that you have met the expectations for APA formatting.
Submit the revised version of this assignment to your instructor before midnight Central Time on Sunday.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Scholarly writing also includes communication that is academic and uses APA formatting. For this course, a defined set of APA expectations was created for you to use and is linked in Resources. For this assignment, the paper you submit should adhere to at least the following APA formatting conventions:

APA title page.
Two pages in length, double spaced, not including the title page.
Level one headings in APA format.
A section entitled Conclusion, which includes a summary of the topic focus you chose.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.Nutrition Paper Discussion

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.