instructions
Short Paper on Disasters and Emergency Management:
Write a 3-5-page paper (excluding the title page and references) on a specific disaster. Examples include:
Earthquake
Tsunami
Tornado
Flood
Fire
Winter Storm
Heat-related Disaster
Volcanic Eruption
Avalanche
Disease epidemic or pandemic
Bioterrorism
Nuclear event
You must address in your paper the following:
1) What issues in this disaster would make triaging of victims a challenge?
2) What Public Health issues may ensue (e.g., infectious disease outbreaks) and what can we do to mitigate the events?
3) How can interagency cooperation and local collaboration be effectively utilized?
Your paper should adhere to APA expectations and must include a cover page, an introduction, the body, a well-defined conclusion, and a reference page. Your paper must include at least 5 scholarly references (no Wikipedia!). References should be scholarly peer reviewed journal articles, official reports or from other reading resources.
Assignments submitted late without advance notice AND instructor approval will receive a 5% per day late penalty and will not be accepted for grading five (5) days past the due date.
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The paper must be typed, double-spaced with 1-inch margins in 12-point Times New Roman font with all references cited. As always, Wikipedia, Wikianswers, and Answers.com are NOT academic/scholarly sources. Papers will be graded based on the following areas: Foundation and synthesis of knowledge, application of knowledge critical thinking, writing skills, use of computer technology and application, and organization of ideas and format. Refer to Library Online Resource Center for any research assistance. Refer to the Student Handbook for policies relevant to academic honesty and other procedures and policies related to this course.
A Grade Papers = ABOVE COURSE STANDARDS (ACS)
The principle characteristic of the ACS paper is rich content; teaching the reader sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph. In composition, it is marked by stylistic finesse: the title and opening paragraph are engaging; the transitions are artful; the phrasing is tight, fresh, and highly specific; the sentence structure is varied; the tone enhances the purposes of the paper. Finally, the ACS paper, because of its careful organization, development, and logic imparts a sense of completeness and unusual clarity. An ACS paper is highly instructive for other (and future) members of the course; as a result, it is publishable.
B Grade Papers = MET COURSE STANDARDS (MCS)
This paper is more than competent. In addition to being almost free of mechanical error, the MCS paper gives the reader substantial information of quantity, interest, and scholarly value. Its specific points are logically ordered, well developed, and unified around an organizing principle that is clear. The opening paragraph draws the reader in; the closing paragraph is both conclusive and thematically related to the opening. The transitions between paragraphs are for the most part smooth and the sentence structures pleasingly varied. The diction of the MCS paper is typically much more concise and precise than found in the BCS paper. Occasionally, it even shows distinctiveness and finesse. Overall, an MCS paper makes the reading experience pleasurable, one that offers substantial information with few distractions.
C Papers = BELOW COURSE STANDARDS (BCS)
The paper is generally competent. It meets the assignment, has few mechanical errors, and is reasonably well organized and developed. The actual information-content is either thin and commonplace or made to seem so. The ideas are vague generalities; they prompt the reader in some confusion to ask margin questions “In every case or why or how or how many…? How do we know this?” Stylistically, the BCS paper has shortcomings as well: the opening paragraph does little to draw in the reader; the final paragraph offers only a perfunctory wrap-up; the transitions between paragraphs are often bumpy; the sentences, while choppy, follow a predictable (and monotonous) subject-verb-object pattern; and the diction is occasionally marred by unconscious repetitions, redundancy, and imprecision. The BCS paper gets the job done but lacks imagination and intellectual rigor; rereading would be a chore.
D Papers = UNACCEPTABLE EFFORT (UE). Not Undergraduate (400 Course) Level Work.
The paper’s treatment and development of the subject, though promising, are yet only rudimentary. The organization is neither clear nor effective. Sentences are frequently awkward, ambiguous, and marred by serious mechanical error. Evidence of careful proofreading is scanty, if non-existent. The whole piece gives the impression of having been conceived and written in haste.
