Country Comparison Essay: Health

Country Comparison Paper

Description of the Signature Assignment

The purpose of the assignment to critically analyze information form academic sources; to practice reading profession writing; to recognize valid research and understand the results; to use good writing techniques to support a ideas; to use multiple perspectives to look at a single issue of analyze the health of various countries and methods to improve health of their people; and to practice reflection and self-assessment on how research on a topic influences personal opinion.

Directions for Students

Follow the instructions below and develop a paper that analyzes the health of various countries and methods to improve the health of their people from multidisciplinary perspectives.

a. Each student will compare four countries. Each student will search The World Bank or similar website (e.g., International Monetary Fund or IMF) and select one low-income country (e.g., Afghanistan, Zimbabwe), one lower-middle income country (e.g., India, El Salvador), one middle income country (e.g., Mexico, Romania), and one high-income country, whether or not a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (e.g., Canada, Japan). You may obtain this information at:

http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications/country-and-lending-groups

b. Each student will then search in the websites for the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the CIA or the websites of similar reputable organizations and identify at least five of the following indicators for each country: life expectancy or healthy life-expectancy; literacy rate; total fertility rate; infant mortality rate or under-five child mortality rate; immunization rates; adult mortality rate; rate of skilled attendants at births; and maternal mortality rate. Create a table with the indicators as the rows, and the countries as the columns (or vice versa).

c. Using the data sources above and academic literature, research the economic, cultural, historical, geographic, sociologic, etc., factors that affect the health of each country.

d. Based on the differences found and any other information researched, analyze the disparities and explore possible reasons for these variations. Discuss what the global response, if any, should be to address these disparities and why. The response should be broader than providing better health care. Many sectors and disciplines may be involved. Contributions from at least three disciplines must be included.

Disciplines/Perspectives That May Be Included

Psychology	Biology/Physiology	Engineering
Sociology	Law/Political Science	Religious Studies
History	Education	Cultural and Ethnic Studies
Public Policy	Medicine/Health Sciences	Gender and Women Studies
Journalism & Communication	Economics

Content of your Paper

Please use subject headings when you change topics. When writing, make sure to clearly demonstrate which disciplines’ perspective you are analyzing. You should have a minimum of one source for each discipline.

Suggested Outline of paper

A. Title page

B. Introduction

a. Introduce topic

b. Introduce the chosen countries

c. Thesis statement in italics

C. Analysis of health indicator disparities

D. Analysis of factors contributing to the health challenges of the countries

E. Analysis of the potential global responses to address the health disparities and country efforts to address their health challenges

F. Self-reflection

a. Reflection on how self-perspective of the topic is changed after researching the topic

b. Reflection on self as a learner; skills acquired from the assignment, insights into the research, and writing process

c. Evaluate own learning from perspective of envisioning future improved self

G. Conclusion

H. References in correct APA, 6th edition style

Formatting & Requirements for Paper

1. Length: Paper length is 1500 words minimum (excluding title page, references, and any graphics/tables or charts). Length should be determined by coverage of topics, some authors will need more than the minimum word count to appropriately cover all of the assignment requirements.

2. Resources: This is a research based assignment, sources must be scholarly, use of web sites is expected but they must be reliable and use references (i.e. they cite where the information came from). Minimum of 5 academic sources , one of which must be a peer reviewed journal article . Wikipedia is not an academic source, you also may not use ProCon.

3. Thesis: There should be a thesis (in italics ) that clearly states your opinion, not a topic/introductory sentence.

4. Formatting:

· Typed, double spaced, Times Roman font, 1 inch margins, font size 12.

· Title page: including name, class section number, name of the assignment and your specific title for the assignment.

· The entire assignment should be strictly double-spaced, with no additional space before or after each line (check you paragraph settings).

· Papers must have running headers with your name (not the title of the paper) and page numbers, on every page. This is in the header not the body of the document.

· Citations must be in APA citation format for both in text citations and reference list. Cite all sources you use. When referring to a source cited in an article do not cite the original article if you did not read it, use “as cited in”.

5. The assignment must use college-level writing including spelling, verb usage and tense, grammar, vocabulary, sentence formation and paragraph development. Use of direct quotes should be limited (not more than 10% of paper), paraphrasing is preferred for most situations.

6. Papers should be submitted to Turnitin via BeachBoard. It is your responsibility to be sure it is a file type that it can read, papers submitted in the incorrect format will be considered late. It will not tell you if it cannot read it. Double check that you paper has been submitted by checking your Turnitin Report (not Receipt). Preferred submission is MSWord.

7. Use the rubric to check your work for omissions. Please make sure it is the correct rubric for the paper topic you choose.

8. Plagiarism will not be tolerated, if in doubt cite. Direct quotations (meaning the authors words) require quotation marks as well as citations. Not understanding the need to use quotation marks is not a defense if you do not understand proper citation of quotes please see the instructor during office hours.