Evaluation
• 1 Paper
Students will construct an APA style paper (for explanation of APA and help see the footnote) on the topic of Major Depressive Disorder. No other topics will be accepted and will automatically result in a “0” grade.
Students should begin their research with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that is available in the reference section of the AVC library as well as in your Canvas course. I’ve included the entire DSM as a pdf in the files tab in your Canvas course so you can have easy access to it. You will find the topic Major Depressive Disorder under the section titled Depressive Disorders in the DSM. To be clear, you’ll only write about Major Depressive Disorder and not about Depressive Disorders in general.
Students must include the following 5 sections (clearly indicated) in their paper: 1) Diagnostic Features including Symptoms, 2) Prevalence, 3) Course, 4) Familial Pattern, and 5) Treatments. The research paper must be typed in APA format (including citations, font, and margin requirements) and submitted online by the due date above (no emailed papers will be accepted). Remember that this is a completely online course, thus any technological issues the student experiences at the last minute resulting in the paper being submitted late will not be accepted. Papers submitted 1 minute after the due date will not be accepted under any circumstances. The paper must be submitted online via CANVAS as a Word document (.doc or .docx). Google Docs and Apple Pages will not be accepted.
The length of the research portion of the paper is 7 pages. The title page, abstract page, and reference page do not count toward the total number of pages. Thus, each student will submit at least 10 total pages. The paper should cite and reference at least 8 sources of information. This is a research paper so do not include your opinion or try to make a persuasive argument; rather your paper should reflect what experts in the field say about the topic of Major Depressive Disorder. All references must be peer reviewed scientific journals or books – no other references will be accepted. For example, webmd.com is not an acceptable reference source. Research or reference librarians are the individuals best suited to assist accessing these journals. I highly recommend EBSCO or GOOGLE SCHOLAR (not just Google) for your research because most of what you find there is a peer reviewed scientific journal. It can be easily accessed from the comfort of your home.
In addition to the above, at the end of the 10 page research paper, please complete a 2 page personal evaluation/reflection paper based on the researched material. Essentially, this is where you share your ideas in an informal way (e.g., citations not needed), about the researched material. It is important to note that your research paper does not contain your ideas or opinions, but rather your summarizing the research literature and reporting on this. I am however very interested in your ideas, opinions, and thinking, so please include this in the reflection paper only. The reflection paper does not have to be in APA format but it does need to contain critical thinking about the researched material. Thus, when combined with the 10 page research paper, there will be a total of 12 pages (10 for the research paper and 2 for the reflection paper) that are submitted online. The paper is worth 200 points.
