Assignment 2: The Outline

Objective: Organize your thoughts and the main points of your research for your final presentation

Assignment Instructions: To help you complete Assignment 3: The Presentation, you will first submit an outline to organize your thoughts and main points. Your outline should be formatted a specific way and must contain the following elements as described below.

To prepare for this assignment, I recommend that you do the following:

• Read these directions carefully.
• Review the sample outline provided to you below.
• Read the grading criteria. The grading criteria is a detailed evaluation that I will use to assess your performance. It also will help you understand what is expected of you as you prepare your assignment.
• Message me with any questions!

Be sure to add your name and course number to your outline.

The outline format: Your outline must be formatted as described and exemplified in the example attached. Please note that this format will be assessed in your grade:

• Use an alphanumeric sequence
• Sections should be indented and aligned
• Follow the suggested order of the required elements
• Use brief but detailed and descriptive phrases.

The required elements: Your outline should contain the following elements in the following order (keep in mind that your presentation, Assignment #3, should be 10-15 slides, so you need to be concise and clear with your information – some information researched will be written on your slides but most will be narrated in the audio portion of your presentation):

I.  Introduction Section – this section must contain the following:

A.  Topic selection and reason for selecting

B.  Thoroughly define the disease/condition

C.  History of the disease/condition

II.  Content Sections – this section must contain the following four main topics (the subtopics are recommendations to use if appropriate to your disease/condition):

A. Statistics/Epidemiology: 

 1.  Statistical prevalence (e.g. overall, gender, age)

 2.  Types of distributions (e.g. frequencies, patterns)

                  3.  Types of determinants (e.g. causes, risk factors)

B. Financial Costs:

1.  Costs to the individual/family

2.  Possible costs to society

3.  Loss of productivity

C.  Anatomy & Physiology/Etiology:

1.  The normal and abnormal structure & function behind the disease/condition

2.  Cause(s) of the disease/condition

D.  Diagnosis/Treatments/Prognosis:

1.  How this disease/condition is diagnosed (e.g. history, exam, diagnostic imaging, labs)

2.  How the condition/disease is treated (e.g. traditional medical treatments, alternative methods of treatment)

3.  The prediction of this disease/condition’s outcome (i.e., prognosis)

III. Conclusion Section – this section must contain four to six sentences that sum up the main topics of the outline.

IV.  Reference Section – This is not just the reference page; rather, referencing should occur throughout the outline as it will in your presentation.  Therefore, your outline should include both a separate reference page containing a minimum of five sources listed in proper APA reference list format AND internal citations throughout the outline where appropriate.  Please be sure to see the resources below for assistance regarding in-text citations and reference list formatting, and/or ask me if you have any additional questions.

Please make note of the following tips and tricks:

• We understand that this is a rough draft and, as your research and writing continue over the next few weeks, details may be added or changed.  Although you do not have to resubmit it to me, I recommend that you update this outline to help you best complete Assignments 3.
• Write your outline so that it has detailed bullets that you can easily then flesh out into sentences for the narration of your presentation (Assignment 3).
• After your outline is complete, I recommend that you next draft your introductory and conclusion sections for your outline.  This will ensure that all the main points of the outline are incorporated in these two framing sections of your final presentation. 
• Please note that less than 10% of your outline or presentation (Assignment 3) should contain direct quotes.
• All internal citation references should be listed on the reference page, and vice versa.

Additional Resources:

• Sample outline (Keep in mind that this is a sample outline for biology, NOT anatomy and physiology; use the instructions above regarding the required content specific to this BIOL181 course.)
• Use MS Word’s Outline Function.  Use a MAC?  Here is a video link (captioning included on the link) that you may find useful that reviews formatting in MS Word. (Setting up APA headers in Word).
• Also, please see the resources below at The Owl at Purdue site for more information on how to develop an outline: 

  Types of Outlines and Samples
  Four Main Components for Effective Outlines
  Why and How to Create a Useful Outline

• For more information on how to format in-text citations and references lists, the links below: 

  In-Text Citations: The Basics

Evaluation:  Please review the

Outline Grading Criteria

that describes how your outline will be graded.

Submission Instructions:

You must submit your Outline as a “Microsoft Word” document (rather than a Word Pad, Works, etc. document) AND title your file name as FirstnameLastname_BIOL181_Assg2 . Otherwise, you will not receive credit for your assignment.