One thing that past students have told me that they struggle with is incorporating references into their work. Finding really good articles that are easy to read and understand, relevant to your topic, and say something new and interesting can be difficult. So…of course, that’s exactly what we are going to practice for this extra credit assignment!

A typical journal article might have 20+ references…a typical literature review article might have two or three times that. However, when you read a journal article, you shouldn’t feel assaulted with reference after reference. It should flow smoothly, and each reference should have a place and a purpose. Some common mistakes made by new writers are 1) the practice of using one different reference for each sentence (this makes the paragraph read more like integrated bullet points than a cohesive paragraph), or using waaaay too much information from a single reference (in this case, what I usually see is a paragraph, then a reference at the end, then the next paragraph, then the next reference at the end, etc.) . That’s not really the purpose of using references- we want to use them to reinforce a broader point that WE as the writer are making. Thus, you may use one or two or three references for a single sentence that makes a single point (take a look at any decent journal article introduction to see how this is done). Also, it’s important that we only reference the part of the article that’s really relevant- we don’t need to include extraneous details from the reference we are using.

For this extra credit (worth 15 points), all I want you to do is write a single paragraph (5-7 sentences max). What’s the catch? You must use ten (10) TEN references for this single paragraph. What are the other criteria?

• The paragraph must discuss a specific aspect of healthcare (for example: health information technology, dialysis, post-traumatic stress disorder, gestational diabetes, meniscus injuries, etc.).
• NO direct quoting! Every sentence in this must be in your own words.
• The ten references must be incorporated smoothly and must make sense as a whole. Don’t just throw a bunch of random facts about a topic together and call it a paragraph!
• The references MUST come only from peer-reviewed journal articles or reputable agencies (NIH, CDC, American Heart Association, etc.).
• The paper must be APA format (including cover page). All references must be cited in APA format (both in-text and on a references page).

This extra credit is all or nothing! There will be no partial credit- so please make sure you adhere to the guidelinesexactly