Term paper Guidelines

Topic

Your term paper should address an aspect of Medical Microbiology that is of current medical and societal interest. Including current news stories that relate to your chosen topic would strengthen your paper. Research appropriate statistical data (e.g. via MMWR). Your paper should explore various perspectives (pros, cons, ethical issues, etc) and detail the impact this issue has on our society. It is imperative that your paper makes use of current scientific research findings as published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. I recommend using a minimum of 5 recent research/review articles. Once you have selected some ideas for your paper’s topic, talk to me for approval.

Sample Topics

Specific diseases (see list of options)

Multiple-Drug Resistance
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Nosocomial infections

Format

Your paper should be word-processed and double-spaced. Please choose a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Your paper should be free of spelling and grammatical mistakes – be sure to spell-check and proofread your paper carefully! Your paper should be organized into 5 sections:

• Title Page (includes Title, Author’s name, Course, Professor’s name, and date)
• Introduction: This part of your paper introduces the main theme of your paper and presents an outline of the paper’s main points.
Generate interest in your topic/paper by referencing current news events, describing personal experiences, presenting case studies, and/or citing important statistical data (e.g. MMWR, WHO).
• Body: You may wish to divide the body into separate paragraphs/sections for each aspect you address. This section draws on your background reading and cites the references you use. Cite your sources using the …..(author, year) format. (Example: "Even an aggressive regimen of antiretroviral drugs over a 30-month period did not eliminate the latent HIV viruses integrated in t-cells of the patients (Finzi et al., 1997)".)
Suggested sections include pathogen description, transmission, pathogenesis, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and current research.
• Conclusions: This section of the paper draws conclusions that are supported by your paper, and should not merely restate content you already presented. This section should be one paragraph in length.
• References: (on a new page) List your references by author's last name in alphabetical order. The citation format is: Author(s), Title of paper. Name of journal, Volume: pages, year of publication. (Other formats may be acceptable as well; talk to me if you are unsure about a particular format). Example: Finzi, D., M. Hermankova, T. Pierson et al., Identification of a reservoir for HIV-1 in patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy. Science 278: 1295 – 1300, 1997.

Requirements

• Submit term paper topic by second week of semester
• Complete and turn in the term paper resource sheet (week 4)
• Read and acknowledge the course Plagiarism policy prior to submission of paper
• Meet with the instructor (April)
• Submit the following (due date May 1)
  • Printed copy of the paper (3000 word minimum)
  • electronic copy of the paper, WORD or RTF format, via email
  • Printed copy of your scientific research articles (complete)
• Paper should be free of grammatical and spelling mistakes; please proof-read!

Restrictions

• You may not choose the same topic as someone else in class
• You may not re-use a paper handed in for credit in another class