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Student Term Papers – AH366 (Grad Students Only)

Approach: Look over the syllabus and read the newspapers to identify a topic that is particularly interesting to you. Sometimes this can be based on person experience (jobs or hobbies) or from the experience of a friend of family member. Sometimes it's worth selecting two or three possible projects, collecting some information, then selecting among them. Try and keep the paper narrow in focus. For example, does MBTE (a "oxy-fuel" gas additive) cause cancer. Don't write a paper on the environmental effects of acid rain on the fauna of northern New Guinea. The paper should focus on the human health effects that result from exposure to an environmental agent. There are a couple of example term papers posted on the AH226/366 webpage.

Literature Search and Outline: Perform a literature search using the internet or library resources, and collect a few review-type articles to help guide your thinking. It's best if your literature search yields 100-200 "hits." Don't use search strategies like "breast cancer and chemicals." You'll spend your life sorting through thousands of hits. Once you've done a bit of reading, draft an outline and discuss your paper topic (in person or via email) with Dr. Silbart. If you skip this step, you may suffer dearly. Start early! Many times the library resources we have on campus are insufficient and interlibrary loans will be needed. These can sometimes take weeks to obtain and if you wait until two weeks prior to the paper's due date, you will not have the materials you need to write the paper.

Use of the Internet: The internet represents a fantastic tool for information gathering, however it is no substitute for library research. Most sources on the internet are not peer reviewed - meaning that all sorts of misinformation may be freely displayed. It is not illegal to post misleading, biased or incorrect information - so be very conscious of the source of information. Federal sites such as epa.gov are excellent, others are not. Please incorporate internet references into your paper (with the correct URL) for background information and graphics. Your paper should also contain at least 7 citations to published scientific articles, with no more than 3 review papers (15 and 3 for graduate students).

Organization: Organize your paper into the following sections. Don't deviate too much without talking to Dr. Silbart in advance.

  1. Title Page: Give a short but descriptive title on the title page. Also include your name, the course number and the instructor's name.
  2. Introduction (1-2 pages): Discuss the background to the paper in general terms. For example, if your paper was on asbestos induced mesotheliomas (cancer), you would start your paper discussing what asbestos is, how it is used, how much asbestos has been used historically and how it has been disposed of.
  3. Exposure pathways (2-3 pages): Discuss how humans are exposed to the agent of choice. This should follow logically from your historical use and disposal discussion. If the agent is widely disseminated in the environment, multiple exposure pathways may exist.
  4. Health effects (4-6 pages): This section should focus on human health effects and risks associated with exposure to the environmental agent. For many agents, most of the available information will come from animal studies, with limited human epidemiological data. In other cases, a large amount of data will be available from studies of human exposure and health effects.
  5. Conclusions (1-2): Based upon the reading and thinking you have done, draw an informed opinion and conclusion regarding the environmental agent. For example, "based upon the risks of cancer represented by asbestos tiles used in many schools, the current approach of mandatory removal is well justified." Explain which literature citations influenced your conclusions and state why (e.g. this was a well-designed study with a large number of participants. The conclusions may be based on statements regarding the current regulations in place for a given chemical. For example, "the current benzene standard should be relaxed based upon more recent data showing that rats are significantly more susceptible to toxicity than humans.

Literature Cited: Cite all literature used for the paper using the following format [1]. Place a number in the text corresponding to the citation, then list the citation at the end of the paper (see below).

1. Andrew C. Beach H. and R.C. Gupta. "Human biomonitoring and the 32P postlabeling assay." Carcinogenesis. Vol. 13, no. 7 pgs. 1054, 1057, 1059.

Pre-grade: If you submit a draft of your paper at least one week prior to the due date, I will look it over and provide comments on how the paper could be improved and a preliminary grade. If you do not revise the paper, simply re-submit it and the original grade will be entered. If the paper is revised, please submit both the original and the revised form.

Submission: Please turn in a paper copy and an electronic version of your paper. Make sure to keep a copy for your records (in the unlikely event that your paper gets "lost."). The electronic version can be submitted electronically as an email attachment (MS Word format). Also make sure to turn in your reference materials with the paper. They will only be returned upon request (otherwise, they will be discarded or kept in large piles in my office).

Late Submissions: The penalty for late submission of term papers is 5 points per day. Weekends only count as one day. If you start early, this won't be a problem.

Plagiarism: Don't do it. By this point in your academic training, you should know how to properly cite the work that you have used in preparing your paper. I have a pretty good eye for plagiarism and "store-bought" papers. I'd prefer to keep the Dean of Students out or our lives. If you have any questions regarding "what is plagiarism," please consult the UCONN Code of Student Conduct or consult with Dr. Silbart.

 

 

© 2007 Center for Environmental Health