The objective: The objective of this project is to write a position paper that analyzes an issue in exercise science.

The project is divided into 4 parts:

• Selection of a topic.
• Background research
• Critical evaluation of a primary literature article
• Position paper that uses the primary literature to evaluate the research question.

• Late project assignments will be penalized 1/2 grade per day. Assignments more than 2 weeks late will not be accepted. Requests for extensions need to be made at least 3 days before an assignment is due.
• I will read rough drafts of any assignment. To make this practical, you must hand in a rough draft at least one week before the due date. This allows me time to read your draft and you time to make any adjustments. Of course, I will answer questions about your assignment or take a quick look at it at any time.

• Do creatine supplements increase performance in female swimmers?
• What is the ideal sodium concentration in rehydration beverages?
• Does exercise increase life expectancy?

• Your question should focus on biology.  The primary focus of the question should not be sociological, philosophical, theological, psychological, etc. However, it is fine to select a question that primarily focuses on biology, but allows you to make connections to other disciplines.
• You will be allowed to slightly modify your topic as you move through the project.  For example, you may find some very interesting primary literature on a related topic and wish to explore that topic - this is fine.
• Your topic should be a subject that interests you - you will need to do much reading in the field to properly accomplish this project. Your topic should also be within an area where there is substantial current interest and research, this will insure that you can find current references to support your work. Topics where some controversy exists can make for interesting papers.

• a statement of your research question (one sentence)
• an explanation of your question (one paragraph) emphasizing its relevance and your own initial opinion about the question.

Details

• The paper should be no longer than 3 pages (font 10-12 point, line spacing 1.5-2.0, margins 1 inch) of text.
• In addition to 3 pages of text, you must include a list of references and you may include one page of figures, tables, graphs, or any other visual material.
• The reference list should include at least five references.
• two of your references must be primary literature articles from scientific journals - they may not be a letter, review article, or case study. If you have questions about a particular article, please ask me. Mark your primary literature articles with a (*).
• remaining references can be books, popular magazine articles, newspaper reports, etc.
• no more than one reference can be a web site. If you do use a web site, be sure to carefully document the author and when the pages were last updated. 
• Hand in Assignment 1 with Assignment 2.

Assignment 3 - Research paper analysis - 4/11/03

In this assignment, you will write a critical evaluation of a scientific research paper relevant to your question. Choose a primary research article that is central to your question (one of the two on your assignment 1 list, or another paper you have encountered). Your goal is to describe the paper fully, point out strengths and weaknesses, and indicate how it impacts the question you have selected for your project.

• The following is a list of recommended journals for your primary research article.
  • Americal Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
  • American Journal of Physiology (this is divided into several subsections, any subsection is OK).
  • Journal of Applied Physiology.
  • Journal of Clinical Investigation.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• All of the above journals are available free online at http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl (most have free issues from about 1996-2001). Most of the journals on this site have articles that would be acceptable. Please check with me if you are unsure.
• Some journals contain editorials or review articles that are not primary research articles.  Be sure your article is a primary research article.
• If you use an article from another source, please bring it to me for approval before proceeding with the assignment.

• Answer the following 8 questions about your paper. 
• Your paper should be no longer than 3 pages (font 10-12 point, line spacing 1.5-2.0, margins 1 inch) of text.
• In addition to 3 pages of text, you must include a list of references and you may include one page of figures, tables, graphs, or any other visual material.
• Hand in Assignments 1 and 2 with Assignment 3.
  
  These questions are intended to get you thinking about the paper and to provide directions that you might explore in your analysis. Try to be as critical as possible when answering these questions.

A. Introduction: Theory and hypothesis.

1. What is the general biological area that is being addressed in the paper?
2. Summarize the current accepted theory that covers the general biological question. Is there any disagreement among scientists
3. Describe the specific hypothesis(es) that is(are) being tested in the paper.

B. Methods.

4. Briefly describe the specific methods used in the paper and the overall experimental design.
5. How well suited is the methodology for testing the hypothesis?

D. Results and conclusions.

6. Choose the most important figure or table and concisely describe the experiment being performed and the result of the experiment.
7. Describe exactly how the results of the study lead to the reported conclusions. Does the data presented convincingly support the reported conclusions?
8. Describe the next experiment that you would perform if you were conducting this research.  This might be an experiment designed to verify the conclusions of the paper, or may represent the next experimental question that should be asked.

Assignment 4 - The position paper - 5/6/03

Write a position paper that addresses your research question. Assume you are writing for an intelligent non-specialist population (for example, your peers in this class), and try to give a focused and coherent argument for your position. Support your argument by referring to and describing experiments from the primary scientific literature. If experiments have been done that seem to contradict your position, you will want to point out possible weaknesses of those studies. The strongest papers will be those that clearly describe a position and then support that position effectively.

Details

• The paper should be no longer than 6 pages (font 10-12 point, line spacing 1.5-2.0, margins 1 inch) of text.
• In addition to 6 pages of text, you must include a list of references and you may include one page of figures, tables, graphs, or any other visual material.

Grading criteria for project assignment 4

Excellent papers will show the following characteristics:

• The paper has a central integrating theme or themes. The entire essay "hangs together" as a whole.
• The paper makes a convincing argument for an explicit and specific position on the topic.
• The paper demonstrates critical, creative, and/or insightful thought about the topic.
• The paper uses the relevant primary scientific literature effectively including:
• describes the general strategy of a primary scientific paper.
• describes how well the experiments performed test specific hypotheses.
• analyzes at least some of scientific data in a scientific paper in detail.
• The paper is generally well-written and well organized. It follows the format and page limits described in the project assignment.

Grade distribution:

Assignment 1 - 10%
Assignment 2 - 20%
Assignment 3 - 20%
Assignment 4 - 50%

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