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HMEC 2000 Course Guide: Assignment #1

Facilitating and Guiding Students' Learning ...

Introduction

souroce: In this course, you will be exploring how researchers and experts define and use the concept, “the determinants of health,” and how the concept may be significant as a future professional or expert in the fields of Human Ecology.  In Paper #1, you will be asked to develop and construct your definition of the concept by incorporating and drawing on the definitions provided/used by others.

Here are some selected references to the concept, "the determinants of health."  The concept is being used or addressed by various agencies and at different levels of research organizations.

 

Assignment #1 Sheet

Time Management

An important ingredient for working successfully with your research paper is time management.  You often have other assignments to work on, some tests to prepare for, other responsibilities such as your jobs, household duties, and your social life.  

Unfortunately, time is limited, 24 hours a day and it is same for everyone.  It is very important to manage your time required for the complex tasks of completing Assignment #1.  It can make a big difference in completing your assignment regardless of your initial research or writing skills. 

Here is a standard timeline for Assigment #1:


TASKS DUE DATE
Background readings/informal preparations   The first three weeks

Brainstorm your definition

(Twitter exercise)

 Jan 23 - 27
Capture your initial definition in a paragraph Jan 30 - Feb 6

Define your focus and strategies

  • Locate other sources
  • Compare and contrast information
  • Develope the outline and thesis statement
 Jan 30 - Feb 13
Prepare and send your thesis statement and outline
 Feb 14 - 17 (depending on your assigned Team in Angel)


Make an appointment with Writing Tutor (optional)


Finalize and submit                             March 2

Post the introductory paragraph of your

paper; review the introductions of the peers

in your Angel group and comment on two.

       March 5


Tweet Away - January 23 - 27

Before we explore into the literature, let’s first brainstorm 1) what “health” means to you or what one needs to do to be “healthy”; and 2) what conditions or factors have to be in place to make a person “healthy.”  You are encouraged at this stage mainly to tap into your own thinking of “health” based on your personal experiences and knowledge. 

Activity:
During this week, from January 23 to 27,  each student will explore and brainstorm the questions listed above using Twitter.   In other words, you will tweet any ideas or thoughts that you came up with within 140 characters.  Please just use text and no attachment.  Students are encouraged to discuss the topic with their family members, roommates, or friends.

Instructions:
Tweet at least two times responding to each question listed above starting January 23 ending January 27.   However, you can tweet as many as you like as you will brainstorm around the questions and you can respond to other tweets by replying to them if so inclined.  Include a hashtag, “#hmec2000” (without quotations) in each tweet.  It doesn’t matter where you place “#hmec2000″ at the beginning, ending or in the middle in your tweet.  It’s very important that you don’t typo the hashtag.  If you do, your tweet won’t be processed for our view.

The Purpose of the Exercise:
As I explained in the class, this exercise will give you an opportunity to broadly brainstorm the notion of "health" based on your experiences and personal knowledge.  The intention of this exercise is to begin flexing your reflective power that would be your source for screneening, selecting, and analyzing research materials later on.  

If you are interested in getting more details about Twitter hashtags, read - Hashtags on Twitter: How do you follow them?

How to Tweet with Twitter :

Here is the  Course Mobile Site.

Do you have any questions? Send a message to Asako.

Posting I

Instructions:

Write down in a paragraph your understanding of the determinants of healt and post it in Angel. (Angel Folder for this activitiy will be enabled on January 30.  Due: February 6).

You might want to read the section below, "Understanding What You Are Developing & Constructing" for Assignment #1.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Asako instructed to focus on an area or aspect of the determinants of health in order to develop your paragraph for the Posting I exercise during the January 30th class.  If you notice, this is different from what is indicated in the Assignment #1 Sheet.  Asako corrects the instruction she gave in the class.  Please instead refer to the instruction indicated in the Assignment #1 Sheet:  Develop an paragraph indicating your understanding of the determinants of health based on class lectures/discussions and readings. 

You can develop a search strategy using keywords representing your area or aspect of the determinants of health and adding additional keyword, "quantitative," "qualitative," "mixed method," which Asako demonstrated in the class.  This is a very useful method to retrieve specific studies in the literature for your browsing.  Please refer to the "Locating Relevant Sources" tab for more information.

=> Go to Angel

This link only works when you are accessing the Guide outside of Angel.  If you are already in Angel, go to Communicate => Post I.  

Note that Post I Folder will be enabled for you to post from January 30 - 8:59 a.m., February 6.

Understanding What You Are Developing & Constructing

You have captured in a paragraph your initial thinking on “the determinants of health”.  You are also gaining some more information about the concept from class lectures and course readings.

Before you jump into locating relevant sources that are needed in developing your Assignment  #1, let’s review the basic structure of the paper.

  1. Title (follow APA style) – Refer to Title page in the Purdue OWL link.
  2. Introduction:  Every paper needs an introduction.  The introduction provides an overview of the paper, including your thesis statement.  
  3. The body:  In this section you will provide the main points of your paper. You will compare and contrast the different definitions of “the determinants of health.”  Your analysis here should help your readers connect to your definition.  Be sure to integrate the sources you use as the body is not just a listing of sources or a set of quotations from other sources but shows how you have connected with the ideas in those sources.  Note also that you must document any ideas you get from your sources.
  4. Conclusion:  Summarize the main points of your paper.  
  5. The reference list (APA style).  Refer to the Purdue OWL link or a quick sheet made available from the Dafoe Library.

Submitting Your Thesis Statement: The Online Tutor (Feb 14-17)

One way to develop as a writer is to show a draft of your work to a writing tutor through the Learning Assistance Centre. Submit your thesis statement and a draft outline to the online writing tutor by the deadline date indicated to your Team in Angel. A tutor will send you feedback on your thesis statement and outline within 48 hours.

Instructions:

  1. Based on the Team assigned to you from the previous exercise in Angel, the due date is scheduled as follows:

February 14 - Team 1 & Team 2

February 15 - Team 3 & Team 4

February 16 - Team 5 & Team 6

February 17 - Team 7 & Team 8

  1. Send us an email (learning_assistance@umanitoba.ca) from your UM account with your thesis statement and outline as an attachment.
  2. In your email, include the subject line "HMEC 2000."
  3. In your email, let us know what your concerns are related to your thesis statement and outline.

How to Receive 3 Marks from the Activity:

When you submit your thesis statement together with a brief outline of your paper to the Online Tutor, you will receive feedback in an email within 48 hours.  You will also receive a document confirming that you used the Online Writing Tutor.  Print out this document and staple it to the back of your research paper when you submit your paper for grading. 


Sources:

(Source: Purdue OWL Online Lab)

Posting II


Finished!

Congratulations on the completion of Assignment #1!

Before moving on to Assignment #2, you are asked to post one more activity related to Assignment #1:

1) Post the Introduction section of your paper #1 in Angel.

2) Review all the posts made by your peers in the Angel group.

3) Select two introductions that you think are particularly effective in terms of the strategies used.  Post your comment to the two posts you selected by replying to each post. 

Acceptable post: I find this introduction effective because it …. and it ….

Poor post: This introduction is well-written / clear.

Note: Posts that are written like the “poor post” above will not be given a mark.


=> Go to Angel 

This link only works when you are accessing the Guide outside of Angel.  If you are already in Angel, go to Communicate => Post II.

Note that Post II Folder will be enabled for you to post from March 2 -  8:59 a.m., March 5.