Instructor:
Melissa Mills
BIOLOGY
OF WOMEN
Outside
Writing Assignment
100
points possible
Option #1
Current Articles/Personal Experience Paper
Summarize and evaluate four current articles
(written within the last three years).
In place of one of the articles you may choose to write about a
personal experience and evaluate
only three articles.
Your choices for current articles may come from:
a) professional journals
b) popular magazines
c) newspapers
d)
medical pamphlets
e)
internet articles
Your article paper will consist of two parts:
1) Summary - Summarize the main
points of the article. What is the
author trying to say?
2) Evaluation - Do you agree or
disagree with the author? Is there
anything in the article that does not correlate with information learned in
class? You must relate the article to class.
Make sure that you thoroughly evaluate the article. This section is as important as the
summary!
Your choice for a personal experience paper may be one
of the following topics or another topic of your choice:
a) first menstruation
b) sex education
c) a medical experience you had and how it
was treated
d) what you would want your daughter/son to
know about...
Discuss your thoughts during the experience, your thoughts
about it now, how your experience is/was treated by your health care provider,
or how your experiences may typify treatment of "women's problems" in
general if that applies.
Each summary/evaluation or personal experience paper
should be at least 2 pages in length (at least 8 pages total), typed,
double-spaced. Make sure you give a bibliography
listing for each article used.
Always identify direct quotations and paraphrasing. Turn in a copy of each article.
Outside Writing Assignment
Option
#2
For this assignment, you will interview a woman or man
about two women’s health care issues of your choice. Some topics you may decide on include PMS,
menopause, contraception, abortion, childbirth options, infertility, specific
menstrual disorders, or other topics of your choice. The person that you interview should differ
from you as much as possible in areas such as gender, age, ethnic and racial
background, religion, and social status.
Organize a series of progressive questions before you
actually hold the interview. The interview
itself should take between 45 and 60 minutes.
Your findings from the interview should be analyzed and
compared to your own opinions about the topics discussed. You will then write a paper comparing
and contrasting your thoughts and opinions on the issues with those of
the person you interviewed.
Where
do you agree? Why?
Where
do you disagree? Why?
Do you feel that areas where you
agree or disagree are influenced by your "differences?" Why or Why not?
Your paper should be at least 8 pages in length, typed, double-spaced.
Outside Writing Assignment
Option
#3
Read a book about women and women’s health issues. After you have completed the book, write a
critique of the book including the following items:
1. A
complete bibliography listing and a brief summary of the book. How would you summarize the book on a book
jacket? DO NOT USE THE AUTHOR'S WORDS!
2. An
explanation of why you feel that the author wrote this book. What was the motivation for the author? Does this affect how you view the book? Be
sure to fully develop this section.
3. Your
personal opinion of the book. Do you
agree with the author? About what? Do you disagree with the author? About what?
What was your favorite part of the book and why? What was your least favorite part of the book
and why? Be sure to fully develop this section.
Here is a list of a few of the books that students have
read in the past:
Outrageous Practices, by Leslie Laurence and Beth Weinhouse
Unequal Treatment,
by Eileen Nechas and Denise Foley
Women and Doctors,
by John M. Smith
Silent Passage,
by Gail Sheehy
The Female Heart,
by Marianne Legato and Carol Colman
Women's Ways of Knowing, by Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger & Tartule
Crossing the Moon: A Journey Through Infertility, by Paulette Bates Alden
Desert Flower,
by Cathleen Miller and Waris Dirie
Check with me for book approval if you choose
a book other than these.
This paper should be at least 6 pages in length,
typed, double-spaced. Turn in a copy
of the book jacket, front and back.
Outside Writing Assignment
Option
#4
For this assignment, you will be doing an internet
search for resources available for women's health issues. This technology is expanding dramatically,
and an end to this expansion is not in site.
How can this technology help us?
How do we access it? Is it always
helpful? Is it always correct? You will be locating four web sites and
developing a critique of each site. You
may choose one topic to explore at four sites or choose four different topics.
Critique:
Answer the following information about the four web
sites that you chose.
1. Topic/Title
of web site
2. Web site
address
3. Who has
created this web site?
4 Who is the intended audience for this web
site?
5. Give a
brief summary of the site.
6. Evaluate
the web site.
a. Is this a valid site? Why or why not?
b. What
is the purpose of this web site? Does the site accomplish its purpose? How or how not?
c. Were
you able to get information from the site that is valuable to you? Why or why not?
d. Would
you recommend this site to anyone else?
If yes, who? If no, why not?
Each web site critique should be at least 2 pages in length (at least 8 pages total), typed,
double-spaced. Turn in a copy of the
first screen page of each site.
For all papers, use standard formatting in terms of
margins, font, etc. Points will be
deducted if standard formatting is not followed and if more than 4 single-spaced
lines are used at the beginning of the paper to identify yourself and title
your work.
Example:
Perfect Student
BIOL 1108
Interview on
Family History of PMS