Assignment
You will be writing a 1,000 word Reaction Paper in this course using the instructions and links found below. You will be completing the following tasks and gathering the following information for your paper:
1. Watch the epigenetics videos.
Begin your paper by defining epigenetics in your own words and discussing your reaction to the videos.
1. Interview your family members and complete the Family History-Dr. Oz. Find out which disease(s) you are most at risk for.
2. Research and locate one article on epigenetics and whatever disease you are most at risk for (select a study on research conducted on humans) from a reputable academic source:
Reputable Sources:
• journal articles
• government publications based on research
Do not use:
• magazines of any sort, whether they are on paper or online
• Websites of any type, including epigenetics websites
• Wikipedia
How to Perform Your Research
• Use the College Library in person or online (log in with your new MDC ID number (the one that is all numbers). Your password is the last four digits of that same MDC ID unless you have changed it.
Read the epigenetics article you find. Continue your paper with a discussion of the epigenetics article. Be sure to paraphrase (put things in your own words) and be sure to cite the author(s) of the article you find using APA style (see the section below on using APA style). Aim for about a page for this part of your paper.
1. Discuss the concept of epigenesis in light of your family history and the article you read. Aim for one page for this section of your paper.
2. Complete the Living to 100 Questionnaires. Integrate your findings on the questionnaire into your discussion. Aim for another page.
3. Discuss how you can improve your health and longevity in light of your findings in this questionnaire, your understanding of epigenetics, and your knowledge of your family history. This should be your final page.
You can go over or under a page for any of the sections of the paper as long as your total paper is 1,000 words not counting the references.
General Rules for an "A" Paper (check your paper against this list)
- 1,000 words
- Original work; plagiarism score of less than 10% (90% original work)
- Double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins
- Covers all 6 tasks
- Spellchecked
- College-level grammar
- Cite your article APA style (author & year within body of paper; full reference at end)
- No abstract, no cover
- Place your name and reference number on the first page. Use page numbers.
APA Style and References
One thing you will need to do in college is learn how to find and use references. References support your ideas. College-level work must be supported by research. You are expected to do that for this paper. You will research, locate, and use one reputable source from the literature on the topic of epigenetics/epigenesis. The "literature" is composed of studies that have been conducted in a scholarly way to support ideas. Scholarly sources can be found in journals or in some Web sites, especially those that come from .edu domains (.edu is short for "educational" Web sites) or .gov domains (.gov are government sites). The College Libraries have dozens of good journals you can use. You will be using the College Library for this paper. You may do the research in person or use the Web to access our library. See your librarian for more information on finding credible sources.
In APA style, you cite a source in two places: within the body of the paper where you use the idea or words of the author of the paper; and again in the Reference List at the end of the paper. For example, you might say, "According to Researcher A (2011)...epigenetics is..." What you must do is supply the researcher's name within a sentence or at the end of a sentence in parenthesis (Smith, 2011). Then you give the full information for locating the study in the Reference List. That's what Reference Lists are for: they allow the person reading your paper to look up your source if they want to. So remember, citing references APA style, requires two things: 1) that you cite the reference within the body of the paper, and 2) that you list the full reference at the end in the Reference List.
APA Tutorial
There are multiple tutorials and other training sources on APA style at the APA Web site. You do NOT have to buy the APA Manual to do this paper.