Informative Report: Obesity in School-Aged Children

Your goal in the Informative Report is to do just that: report information about your research topic to your reader in order to inform them about the most significant aspects of and arguments made about the topic.

Your goal is not to persuade your reader to adopt a certain side; in fact, your paper should not make any argument at all.  Instead, work on tracking down the best, more reliable information you can find about the topic you have chosen.

Cite at least twogood, scholarly outside sources. The source may be an article found through EBSCOHost or another database.  It may be a book source you find through the library or through an ebook source such as Google Books. It may be argumentative or informative. However, it must be: 1) Scholarly, by experts in the field, 2) about your same topic, and 3) different from the articles you used for your Summary / Critique.

Cite at least tworeliable, but not necessarily scholarly, sources. These sources may be a news article by a reliable news outlet, a documentary, YouTube video or TED talk, article aimed at laypeople rather than experts, a website aimed at experts in a certain field, or a book source.  These sources are there to give you—and your readers—good, general background information about your topic.   

Explore the topic from various angles. One of your goals is to explore the topic from all sides, including those with which you do not agree.  Look for sources that give you the information to present a full picture of the various sides of your specific topic.

Citeall information correctly in MLA format.

Fill 3½-4 pages of text.  

Be in 12 point Times New Roman font.

Note: You are only required to cite 4 sources for this paper, but your paper’s quality will be improved if you make an effort to cite more.

1. Your essay will begin with an introduction in which you give a general overview of your topic.

2. Your introduction will end in a thesis statement that briefly sums up the different ways in which your topic is discussed in the sources you consulted.

3. Your thesis will lead to body paragraphs that each explore one aspect of your topic.

4. Your paper will end with a conclusion that reiterates the most significant aspects of the topic.

5. For further guidelines, consult the sample outline on the back of this sheet.

Topic: obesity in school-aged children

Thesis: The issue of obesity, particularly obesity in school-aged children, is a complex one, and many experts have differing views on its causes and solutions.

Childhood obesity is on the rise in the United States. (paragraph goes on to summarizes ways in which this is the case)

Childhood obesity affects children’s performance at school. (paragraph goes on to detail specific ways)

Children may be obese because of improper nutrition from the food they receive both at home and at school. (paragraph goes on to discuss why people hold this view)

Childhood obesity may be partially caused by lack of activity in school; many public schools have eliminated physical education and recess because of pressure to do well on standardized tests.

Childhood obesity can affect children’s health, both in the present and long-term, in a variety of different ways. (paragraph goes on to detail these ways)

Some would say that childhood obesity is not as much of an issue because more children are involved in active sports. (paragraph presents these experts’ views)

Conclusion:

Restates these and sums up the information included in the essay.