Why is there a divergence in medical education between allopathic and osteopathic medicine?
• You should be asking a very specific research question related to one of the health care service delivery systems we discuss in the course. Your project will
endeavor to answer. (Example: Why is there a divergence in medical education between allopathic and osteopathic medicine? Or: What are primary care physicians doing to
actively address the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in the US?) These are just examples. You should develop your own question.
• You need to develop a fully articulated outline describing your project, turn it in to Dr. Conrad for comment (ungraded). It will then act as a template for your
project.
• You should take full advantage of research resources such as library publications, internet sources, and databases of literature.
• Please do not use sources more than five (5) years old and stick to books or journals that are either peer reviewed or technical with editorial oversight.
• Your final paper for the project should be approximately 15 pages long, exclusive of the bibliography, exhibits or appendices. It should be fully cited (rule of
thumb: when you use more than 7 words of someone else’s writing in the same context, you must cite it, otherwise it is plagiarism.) Please use a standard footnoting
style and be consistent throughout the paper.
• All papers should be typed, double-spaced, in no smaller than a 12 point font win one inch margins. Please number all pages. Any graphs or tables should be included
in the text of the paper at the appropriate places.
• Check all grammar and spelling before submitting the paper. A spell/grammar checker in a word processing program should catch any problems. You must correct all
problems. Be especially watchful of using passive voice. This is not a good practice in writing and should be avoided. Please refer to the Strunk and White book for
clarification of passive voice and how to avoid it.
Two books to assist in conceptualizing and formatting your paper:
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Kate L. Turabian, Revised by John Grossman, University of Chicago Press, February 1996 or newer.
(older, inexpensive copies should be available on Ebay or other resellers sources, or in a library.)
Elements of Style, Stunk and White, Longman; 4th edition (August 2, 1999) or newer.
Both are extremely helpful in giving direction of how to conceptualize and write a term paper. In addition, the “Turabian” gives methods of citation, using methods in
the text, footnotes, or endnotes. Both books have been around for quite some time and may be available in the library.
OUTLINE FOR THE PROJECT
(Note: although I am giving you a basic outline for the project, that you should follow for the structure of the final paper, you must write the final paper using
paragraphs and full sentences. No papers using bullet points and incomplete sentences will be acceptable and will go back to the student, ungraded. If you are confused
about what a research paper should look like in a graduate class, please go to the Center for Learning Resources, on the UNH campus, to receive tutoring in this
practice.)
I. Introduction
a. State why the question you have chosen is important
b. State why the reader should be interested in your question and topic.
c. Finish the section by stating what you intend to find and what the goal of answering your research question should be.
II. Literature Review
a. You should read as many articles as possible, from scholarly journals exclusively, that are no longer than five years old, and write a few pages discussing what the
authors say and how their viewpoints may vary.
i. If you cite something from the article that is seven words or more of someone else’s writing, even if it isn’t a direct quote, you must give a citation. This can be
either in a footnote, endnote, or in the text. Styles of citations are presented in the Turabian book and in several online sites.
ii. You must be consistent in your citation style.
b. Books are also good sources of information, but should not be older than five years, and should be cited in the same way as scholarly articles.
c. DO NOT use popular publications or websites that are not submitted for peer review scrutiny. They are not trustworthy. A reference librarian in the library can help
you with this matter, if you are unclear.
III. Analysis and Consideration
a. You should consider the literature and the various points of view and discuss them in this section.
b. You should factor in any factual knowledge you may also have, such as disease rates, population numbers, expenditure amounts, etc. (again if you present such
information, you must give a citation of a source.)
c. Discuss what you think the correct point of view may be and why, based on the material you have already presented.
IV. Conclusion
a. Given your review, consideration, and analysis of the material you have researched, what is your conclusion and therefore the answer to your original research
question? Present that in this section with evidence from your research as to why you have made this conclusion.
b. Based on what you have found out, what new avenues of research should follow? Discuss where future researchers should place their efforts in this area, in our
opinion.
