WED 151 Overview of Alternative Therapies
Article Review Assignment
Purpose: Provides an opportunity to critically evaluate written material about complementary and/or alternative therapies. Student will assess a scholarly article on an alternative therapy as well as an article obtained through internet sources on the same topic.
Instructions:
1. Use the table of contents of the assigned text to select a therapy that interests you. A topic you would like to learn about that you do not know already or that will be covered during our class sessions (see syllabus). You will use internet sources of your choosing to find a informational article on your chosen topic. Several sites were provided in the first class assignment on the alternative fix handout. You can also use any other internet source you desire. Print the article and bring it to the library on the scheduled day.
2. At the library, the librarian will introduce the students to finding articles on alternative therapies. Databases and web search tools will be discussed and the student will have the opportunity to locate both scholarly articles and article found on the internet sources to use to complete this assignment.
3. At this time, material placed on the internet is not regulated. Anyone can say anything and make any claim. Information may not be reliable. Information may be personal opinion or motivated by a desire to sell products. Health care professionals must assess the reliability of any information taken from the internet. More than 98 million Americans go online to do health-related searches, according to one study. Used correctly the web can make a better-informed patient or client and health care professional. The following guidelines were suggested by Leshin (1998) to assist in evaluating sites.
a. Identify the source: Universities and government agencies tend to be reliable sources of information. Research and professional organizations, if not organized for the purpose of selling specific products, may also be reliable. For example, the American Heart Association and the American Association of Medical Assistants or the Massage Therapy Foundation (www.massagetherapyfoundation.org.) which is funded by the American Massage therapy Association, Integrative Medicine: A Clinicians Journal (www.imjournal.com) or Alternative Therapies (www.alternative-therapies.com) or Advances in Mind-Body Medicine (www.advancesjournal.com) to cite a few examples.
b. Determine the author: Is the writer an expert in the field with appropriate education and credentials? Is the purpose of the material to share information and/or report research findings? Or is the writer attempting to “sell” or persuade the readers on ideas or products?
c. Check for accuracy: Are there references provided like a scholarly article provides? Is the reference reliable?
d. Verify important data: Cross-check statistics and other numerical data or even content with another source.
e. Look for signs of quality: Are the ideas well-supported? How is the spelling, vocabulary and grammar?
f. Check for currency: Is the information recent and up to date?
4. Make one copy of the two articles you use, attach copies to the paper.
5. The review is to be word-processed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, size 12, not less than three pages and no more than five pages in length. The cover page is not included in the three to five pages. Complete sentences, correct spelling, grammar and citations are required.
6. A cover page is required. The cover page will include:
· Articles Title and Author
· Name of Journals or Sources
· Date of publication and page numbers
· Your name, name of class (Susan Smith, WED 151, Fall 2011)
7. Content of Review will include:
- Short but complete summary of the articles. (Should be no more than one half to three-quarters of page in length)
- Discussion items a-f shown in item 3 above for both the scholarly article and the internet article. (This should be the majority of the paper).
8. Provide a summary of your findings in comparing the scholarly article and the internet article. (This should be a solid paragraph or two).
9. Describe “How the articles and the evaluation process were useful to you personally"? (This should be a solid paragraph, remember this is your closing and should impress the reader with your findings).
10. This assignment is worth 100 points. Distribution of points as follows:
- 25: Did you follow all the steps above?
- 25: Were you thorough in your summary?
- 25: Is your review of the content (item 8) thorough?
- 25: Summary of your findings in comparing both articles and a description of personal usefulness (what made it worth reading?)