Assignment: Public Health Decoding Quiz

Study Guide for the Article Critique

Reminders:

· Before opening the critique questions

· As indicated by your teacher, use the guidelines in Chapter 14 of the text as well as information that has been discussed throughout the course to analyze the article.

· The checklist on pg. 365 of the text may help guide you for the critique.

o Exhibit 14-1 Outline for Critiquing Epidemiologic Studies

· Once you have read the article and are able to articulate answers in your mind for the questions provided on pg. 365 then you may open up

· You will randomly receive 15 questions about the article to answer. These are short-answered questions and are presented in a “test” format.

o Please make sure your responses meet academic writing standards.

o Responses do not need citations or references

o Each question is worth 5 points

o Partial credit is possible

· You are being given 2 hours to complete the questions and submit them to Blackboard. Please note that once you have opened the critique, the 2-hour time window starts and does not stop. Please be mindful of this and ensure that you are prepared and have time available to complete the critique before opening it.

· Questions that are answered after the 2-hour time window will not be graded.

· It is a relatively short research article to read so please do not feel overwhelmed

Questions may include the following:

· Ethical concerns

· Effect modifiers

· Strength of association

· Information bias

· Inclusion criteria

· Exclusion criteria

· Data collection methods

· Statistical test used

· Selection bias

· Statistical significance

· Future implications

· Social change implications

· Research question being asked

· Outcome of interest

· Study limitations

· Study designs

· Representation of the population

Tips for Success:

· It is important to note that research articles are comprised of the following sections:

o Title

o Abstract

o Introduction

o Materials and Methods

o Results

o Conclusions/Discussion

o Bibliography

· Typically, each section you are able to find particular information pertaining to the research question, study design, population, etc.:

o Abstract:

§ Here you would find a short summary of the entire paper. It should include goals and objectives, results, and conclusions. This is usually the last part of the paper to be written.

o Introduction:

§ It provides background on the topic, review of the literature, focus and purpose of the paper, overview of what is contained in the paper, outcome of interest, and the research question being asked.

o Methods:

§ This section describes what the researcher did and how the researcher did it. Within the methods you will be able to determine the population, where they gathered the participants of the study, data collection methods: interview, questionnaire, focus group, etc., statistical tests used, and study design used.

§ In this section you may also be able to gauge selection bias, information bias, inclusion/exclusion criteria, ethical concerns, and the effect modifier.

o Results:

§ This section simply provides the results from the statistical analysis (not an interpretation of the results). This may be displayed through graphs or tables. It will indicate whether the results are considered statistically significant or not.

o Discussion/Conclusion:

§ The discussion goes over what the results mean and why the results may have ended up as they have. The researcher is able to discuss take home messages, interesting observations, future implications, social change implications, what worked, and what did not work.

In this portion, the reader may be able to gauge bias or ethical concerns that the researcher may have noted

Assignment: Public Health Decoding Quiz

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.

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.