Introduction to Health Science Professions
Semester Project Explanation
Throughout your future careers of healthcare professionals you will come across many different types of diseases. For your semester project, you are going to pick one disease to learn about, write a research paper and present on to your classmates. This project is graded on an A-F, summative scale and is worth 20% of your final grade. You will be given multiple opportunities to work on it in class, take advantage of those!
Due Dates:
Research Paper: Wednesday, January 22th – by midnight
Slideshow/Presentation: Friday, January 24th – by 8am
Part 1: Pick a Disease
As a class, we will sign up for your picks for your project
A disease may only be used once, no repeats!
Part 2: Research Paper (50 points)
Using the following information, write a research paper about your disease, submitted through Google Classroom, in YOUR OWN WORDS. It is possible to re-word a list of symptoms!
Minimum of 3 pages in length, double spaced & maximum of 5 pages in length
Need to add page numbers to the bottom right corner
Each paragraph needs to be at least 5 complete sentences (worth 6 points – all or nothing)
APA citation is required and expected; all papers will be checked for plagiarism (no need for title page) → use the APA Citation handout on Google Classroom for help.
Use the rubric to guide you!!!
Introductory Paragraph (4 points total)
Introduce the disease you are researching
State why you chose this particular disease
Include basic information about the disease
Name, Rare or common?, Age range of those who usually get it
Give a brief history of the disease; If known, where did it originate from?
What risk factors can lead to the disease?
Common Signs & Symptoms (4 points total)
List the signs and symptoms
What does a person experience or feel who has the disease?
How does a person get the disease?
Diagnosis (4 points total)
How is it diagnosed?
What tests do they need to run?
Are there any telltale signs of the disease?
Treatment (4 points total)
What treatments are used? Can they completely get rid of the disease?
List 3 medical and 3 non-medical treatments for the disease
Can it be cured?
Prevention (4 points total)
What can be done to prevent, if any?
What preventions can be done?
Complications (4 points total)
What types of complications can occur?
Does it get worse if not treated? If so, what happens?
Are there any illnesses or diseases that are common with this disease?
How might the disease get worse?
Prognosis (4 points total)
Can people die from the disease? If do, do they usually die, sometimes die or only rarely live?
What are the short-term effects of the disease? Long-term?
Are there any problems that occur from this disease that never go away?
Do people usually recover from the disease?
Conclusion (4 points total)
Reiterate what you learned during the first parts of your essay.
How will you reduce your risk for the disease?
Tell me any new or surprising information you learned
Turning In On Time (8 points total)
Due by midnight on Wed, January 22nd via Google Classroom assignment.
Citations (4 points total)
Include 4 different sources in APA format
Part 3 – Slideshow/Presentations (50 points)
The final part of this project is to teach us about the disease you chose in a 3-5 min presentation with a minimum of 7 slides, maximum of 12 slides
Must include APA in-text citations on all slides
Images, short videos, media, etc. are encouraged
Need to NOT have to read word for word on your slides; it is important to have eye contact with your audience
The requirements are as follows:
Title slide (4 points total)
Disease name
Your name
Intro slide (4 points total)
Summary of the basic information of the disease
Common signs and symptoms (4 points total)
List with citation(s)
Diagnosis (4 points total)
How is it diagnosed?
What tests do they need to run?
Treatment/Prevention (4 points total)
What treatments are used? Can they completely get rid of the disease?
What preventions can be done?
Prognosis (4 points total)
Can people die from the disease? If do, do they usually die, sometimes die or only rarely live?
What are the short-term effects of the disease? Long-term?
Conclusion (4 points total)
Tell us any new or surprising information you learned
Prepared? (4 points total)
Presentation in on time
Ready when called
Well Rehearsed (6 points total)
Material presented in a smooth, organized way
Crafted to fit in time allotted
Comfortable with vocabulary
Does not need to read word for word
Professional (6 points total)
Attire (no jeans!)
Appropriate language
Eye contact
Voice (confident, clear, easy to hear)
Professional Slides (6 points total)
Legible (large font, clear color)
Key points
Free of grammatical errors
Graphically appealing
