Term Research Project

Overview of Term Research Project:

  1. Choose a diet plan and review requirement of the diet as promoted by the designers of the diet and collect anecdotal evidence from people who have tried the diet.  Write a summary of how the diet plan works.  This will be the introduction to your term paper.
  2. Consider the energy balance of the diet, the level of macro and micro nutrients provided by the diet, and review any scientific studies completed on the diet.  The studies you consider must utilize the scientific method and be from a well respected source.
  3. Discuss the research papers.

Please check the Course Schedule in the left hand side bar for all due dates.

 Purpose:

Your term research project assignment is to write an original research paper on a diet plan that people follow in an attempt to lose weight and achieve better health. The assignment is divided into into three parts. Each part is graded separately.

Part 1 – Diet Plan:

  1. Select an diet plan.
  2. Review materials released by the creator of the diet plan.  For example, if you choose weight watchers you might visit the weight watchers website.
  3. Review the “Dietary Guidelines” as promoted by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/) and “Healthy Weight” recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/index.html).
  4. Find someone who has tried the diet.  Interview them on their experiences with the diet.
  5. Write a summary including information on how to properly follow the diet.
    • Define the rules of the diet.
    • Compare the diet guideline to recommendations from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
    • Include quotes from people who have tried the diet as anecdotalevidence of the effectiveness of the diet plan.
    • Properly cite your sources in APA or MLA style.  Use in text citation.
  6. Post to your Term Paper Part 1 GO Drop Box.

Part 2 – Research Scientific Studies on the Effectiveness of the Diet:

  1. Find a scientific study completed on the diet you are studying.
    • You need the original study (not a summary of the study).  Visit the college library website and utilize the databases to find a peer-reviewed study.
    • The study MUST follow the scientific method.  (See Scientific Method in the left hand side bar to review the steps.)
  2. Identify the hypothesis, methods, results, and conclusions of the study.
  3. Write a paper including the following:
    • A summary of the study identifying the hypothesis, methods, results and conclusions of the study.
    • A determination of whether or not you would recommend the diet based on the study you reviewed.
    • Properly cite your sources in APA or MLA style.  Use in text citation.
  4. Post to your Term Paper Part 2 GO Drop Box

Part 3 – Discussion of all papers:

  1. Paste Part 1 and Part 2 of your project into the Term Project Part 3 GO Discussion Forum.  You should create a new thread when doing this.
  2. Read all the papers posted.
  3. Reply to the papers you find most interesting and valuable. You are expected to provide constructive criticism and insightful teaching presence for these papers, and respond to most of the students who comment on your paper. (Submit these using the “reply” link, not the “Create Thread” button.)
    1. Replies should add new knowledge or insight to the diet discussed in the paper you are replying to.  Minimum requirement 100 words each.
    2. The title of your reply should be a complete sentence that summarize the main point of your message.
    3. A minimum of twelve posts are required.

 

SC117 Term Research Project by Jessica Kelly is licensed under CC-BY