The term paper requires you to identify a population health issue and the group/s affected by it. The
primary goal of this assignment is to review and synthesize the research literature on social determinants
of a particular issue of public health concern. You may select any health problem or condition that
interests you as long as you focus on the social determinants of that problem or condition. A one-page
proposal is required before the full paper. Please make sure to consult with the instructor and hThe term paper requires you to identify a population health issue and the group/s affected by it. The
primary goal of this assignment is to review and synthesize the research literature on social determinants
of a particular issue of public health concern. You may select any health problem or condition that
interests you as long as you focus on the social determinants of that problem or condition. A one-page
proposal is required before the full paper. Please make sure to consult with the instructor and have an
approval before proceeding with the idea for the term paper.
The following general guidelines will help you organize your writing efforts:
Introduction: In your introduction, you should clearly state the purpose of the paper or research question
that you are trying to answer and provide a justification of why it is an important problem. It is critical to
include some statistics at global, national, regional, and/or local levels, when possible, such as the
prevalence or incidence of the health problem. Similarly, describing its distribution according to
demographic factors can be helpful, depending on the focus of your research. You should explain the
background and public health significance of the problem identified. Following the introduction, you
should define the terms you will be researching, i.e. define the health problem/condition and how it is
measured in the literature, social determinants of interest; and describe the population group(s) affected.
(20 points)
Methods: In your method section, briefly describe your search strategy, i.e. terms used for the search,
search engines used (PubMed, PubMed Central, Medline, PsycInfo, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, etc.),
the criteria used for selecting articles, the number of articles used, types of research design identified,
preliminary assessment of the literature, and any necessary steps to revise/refine the current search
strategy and/or population in order to limit the scope of the project. (15 points)
Results: In this section, critically appraise and synthesize the studies that link social determinants of
health with the issue identified. The paper should present a thorough, detailed literature review
incorporating current discussion in the literature regarding your topic. Pay attention to any conceptual
framework/s that the scholars have used to help identify or explicate social determinant(s) of the health
problem. Based on your literature review, you can assess the conceptual framework/s guiding the study
of determinants of the health issue in terms of theory and/or their levels of integration. (25 points)
Discussion: You are encouraged to present a cohesive argument (not merely a presentation of facts) based
on your findings. Be sure that your discussion does not merely reflect results but rather articulates and
defends your overall argument. You can also discuss limitations of the current research, ideas for the
future direction of the research, and why it is of public health significance. Also, feel free to share any
personal reflections pertinent to the health issue you are exploring. Your paper can also include any
interventions that have been implemented to address this issue and suggest possible future steps. If no
interventions have been implemented, speculate on actions that could be taken. (20 points)
Writing Style: Your paper will be evaluated based on the relevance of literature selected, quality of
literature review, presentation of results, the maturity of critical analysis, and effectiveness of
organization, writing style, and complete and proper references. Papers should be thoroughly copy-edited.
You are expected to pay attention to the writing style, which among other things includes clarity,
appropriate language, absence of jargon, grammar, and spelling. Grammatical errors, typos, poor
organization, and other mistakes indicating a lack of attention to detail will result in a deduction of points.
(20 points)
Some additional pointers:
Term paper should be at least 15 pages (double space) not including coversheet and references.
The coversheet should have the title of your paper, your name, course number and name, and
semester on coversheet.ave an
approval before proceeding with the idea for the term paper.
The following general guidelines will help you organize your writing efforts:
Introduction: In your introduction, you should clearly state the purpose of the paper or research question
that you are trying to answer and provide a justification of why it is an important problem. It is critical to
include some statistics at global, national, regional, and/or local levels, when possible, such as the
prevalence or incidence of the health problem. Similarly, describing its distribution according to
demographic factors can be helpful, depending on the focus of your research. You should explain the
background and public health significance of the problem identified. Following the introduction, you
should define the terms you will be researching, i.e. define the health problem/condition and how it is
measured in the literature, social determinants of interest; and describe the population group(s) affected.
(20 points)
Methods: In your method section, briefly describe your search strategy, i.e. terms used for the search,
search engines used (PubMed, PubMed Central, Medline, PsycInfo, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, etc.),
the criteria used for selecting articles, the number of articles used, types of research design identified,
preliminary assessment of the literature, and any necessary steps to revise/refine the current search
strategy and/or population in order to limit the scope of the project. (15 points)
Results: In this section, critically appraise and synthesize the studies that link social determinants of
health with the issue identified. The paper should present a thorough, detailed literature review
incorporating current discussion in the literature regarding your topic. Pay attention to any conceptual
framework/s that the scholars have used to help identify or explicate social determinant(s) of the health
problem. Based on your literature review, you can assess the conceptual framework/s guiding the study
of determinants of the health issue in terms of theory and/or their levels of integration. (25 points)
Discussion: You are encouraged to present a cohesive argument (not merely a presentation of facts) based on your findings. Be sure that your discussion does not merely reflect results but rather articulates and
defends your overall argument. You can also discuss limitations of the current research, ideas for the
future direction of the research, and why it is of public health significance. Also, feel free to share any
personal reflections pertinent to the health issue you are exploring. Your paper can also include any
interventions that have been implemented to address this issue and suggest possible future steps. If no
interventions have been implemented, speculate on actions that could be taken.on your findings. Be sure that your discussion does not merely reflect results but rather articulates and
defends your overall argument. You can also discuss limitations of the current research, ideas for the
future direction of the research, and why it is of public health significance. Also, feel free to share any
personal reflections pertinent to the health issue you are exploring. Your paper can also include any
interventions that have been implemented to address this issue and suggest possible future steps. If no
interventions have been implemented, speculate on actions that could be taken.