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You will use this paper to answer a question related to a single aspect of physical aging (e.g., sarcopenia,
presbyopia) or single disease related to aging (e.g., cardiovascular disease, COPD). Your paper is an attempt to
write a well-organized answer to whatever question you decide on, while using facts from different sources as a
support for your answer. Your paper should not just be a description of the process/disease you choose,
although an adequate description will be necessary. You will need to develop and answer a question that
involves the disease (e.g., are there new revolutionary treatments for this, and are they more effective? How
does this disease affect the economy? How does this disease affect the person’s mental health?) You will need
to integrate (synthesize) information, which can be challenging.
In this project, you will review and integrate information from at least 7 scientific journal articles, such as
Journal of Gerontology, Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine,
Neurology, etc. The textbook does not count toward the 7, but it may be used. Websites and government reports
do not count toward the 7, but may be used, as long as they are reputable; don’t use something from a health
blog (e.g., naturalnews.com, healthfreedom.news) because blogs like these are inaccurate and misleading often
for the purpose of generating ad revenue or selling pricey supplements. All sources must be meaningfully
incorporated into the paper. Your goal will be to summarize, evaluate, and integrate information about your
topic.
The paper should be a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 9 pages of text, double-spaced, with one-inch margins,
Times New Roman font size 12. Please keep in mind that title page, titles, headings, reference section, etc. are
not considered text and do not count toward your page count.
few other points
1. Use headings and sub-headings. They help orient the reader in the paper.
2. Keep things together that belong together. That is, keep the paper organized. Be sure that everything under
one heading in your outline is about the same general topic.
3. Last but not least, avoid quotations! Many points will be taken off for excessive use of quotes. You may use
a maximum of 2 quotes, and each may be no longer than two lines.
1. Tell the reader what you are going to say. Start by saying something about the topic and why it is
important. State what the purpose of your paper is. Say something like “The purpose is to discuss xy.
Specifically, I will discuss a, b, and c.” There could also be either two subtopics (a and b) or even four or more
subtopics, although too many subtopics often means an unwieldy paper.
2. Say it (main body of the paper). This should include the points from the statement of purpose. If you say
you will talk about a, b, and c, then there should also be headings for a, b, and c. Integrate your sources to
talk about your topic and sub-topics in a clear, detailed way.
3. Tell the reader what you’ve said (statement of summary and conclusion). This is where you elaborate
and show the reader how it all comes together. This is also called synthesis. This is a very important section.
Suggest avenues for future research.
