How to Write a Research Paper on US Healthcare System Transformations

Task:

You are required at the end of the semester to submit a Final Project in the form of a Research Paper. This assignment affords you the opportunity to dig deeply into a particular topic of relevance to our course, to analyze the issues, and to communicate your analysis in writing. This assignment counts for 50% of the overall grade for this course, so you should be prepared to invest a significant effort in researching and writing it. It is intended to be an individual project, but your mentor will consider team projects, if the scope of effort is essentially doubled and it appears there is an even balancing of the effort for two team members.

You will complete the project in four steps:

1.Choose a topic and conduct preliminary research on the topic. You will inform your mentor about your choice at the end of Module 1.

2.Write a brief paper proposal. This is not graded, but your instructor will provide feedback. This proposal is due at the end of Module 2.

3.Submit an outline of the main areas you intend to address in your paper so that your mentor can provide some final advice about your direction.  This outline is due at the end o f Module 4.

4.Complete your paper and submit the final version by the last day of class.

The goal of this four-step process is not to make unnecessary work for you but rather to provide sufficient work-in-progress feedback that will help you produce your best work.

Here are the details:

The broad topic for the research paper is the following: Are contemporary transformations (globalization, etc.) fundamentally challenging the U.S. healthcare system?

You will have to narrow this topic. Choose one particular aspect of this topic to focus on, such as:

the economy (in general, or specific aspects such as trade, finance, investment)
the environment (in general, or specific problems such as global warming, acid rain, marine pollution)
communications technology (e.g., satellites, Internet, mobile phones)
culture (e.g., “Americanization”)
international law (e.g., human rights law, law of intervention)
regional/international institutions (e.g., UN, WTO, IMF, World Bank, EU)
security issues (e.g., transnational terrorism, weapons of mass destruction)
demographics—the disappearing middle class, the aging of Americans, the frequently reported abuses in skilled nursing care facilities.

These are just a few examples. Feel free to define a topic appropriate to yourself, in conjunction with your instructor. Once you have chosen a topic, notify your mentor by the end of Module 1. After receiving feedback from your mentor you should spend a few hours conducting preliminary research so that you will be ready to move to Step 2.

You must write a brief proposal for your research paper (less than two pages) in which you do the following:

1.Identify the specific aspect of transformation that your paper will address.

2.State whether you think this specific aspect of transformation represents a fundamental challenge to the health care system in the United States. Present a hypothesis, or provisional answer.

3.Identify the sources of information that you will examine to evaluate the validity of your hypothesis. Note: For your final draft, you must cite at least ten sources; Web pages (blogs and Web sites) sources can comprise no more than half of your references. Evaluate the credibility of your sources. Wikis can give you good leads but should never be cited as an authority.

4.Identify alternative arguments and state what kind of evidence would prove or disprove your hypothesis and why you believe the risks associated with your recommendations can be managed.

Don’t worry if your proposal is a bit rough. Just address these tasks as best you can.

You are required to submit this proposal to your mentor for comment no later than the end of Module 2.

Based on the feedback you receive on the paper proposal you submit in Module 2, you should proceed to researching your topic and producing an outline of the major areas/topics you intend to address in your paper.

A good paper is one that is built around a clear structure, so you should OUTLINE the main points of your paper before you start writing. It’s easier to overhaul your outline than it is to overhaul a fully written paper, so spend some time thinking about the structure of your paper before you begin writing.

In terms of organization, your paper should have a clear introduction (conforming to the specific guidelines below), a body (in which you flesh out your argument with evidence, and consider alternative arguments), and a conclusion (in which you summarize your argument and findings and “open” the paper to consideration of broader themes).

As you do your research, bear in mind that your final paper should include the following elements:

A clear argument
Appropriate and sufficient evidence to support your argument
Serious consideration of risks, alternative arguments or explanations.

You are required to submit your outline to your mentor by the end of Module 4.

Based on the comments your mentor provides on the outline you submit in Module 4, you should revise accordingly and produce the full version of your research paper using the MLA Style. You must comply with formatting, correct in-text citations, and a works cited page.

Your research paper should contain an abstract that introduces the topic, states the main argument of the paper, sets forth the plan by which the paper unfolds, and states the paper’s conclusion. In brief.

You will be submitting your research paper electronically either in a Word document or a PDF file. Your work will be graded and returned to you with feedback comments based on the grading rubric.

The final version of your work is due by the last day of the semester.

There is no specified length for graduate research papers, but you should be selecting a topic with a manageable scope that will yield somewhere between 20 and 30 pages. Please ask yourself what a mentor would think if you submitted a paper that was exactly 20 pages long, representing a minimum effort.

Your final research paper grade will also reflect the quality and timeliness of your first draft and proposal.