Research Paper

Value

20%

Due Date

Monday 11:59 p.m. of Week 10. See Timeline in the Outline for exact date.

Submission

Please submit your assessment to the Dropbox / Assignment tool in the top navigation bar. There is a Practice Submission folder if you wish to check that you know how to use the Dropbox / Assignment tool.Please always keep a copy of your Research Paper.

Please save your file as (.doc) or (.docx) document. Microsoft Word will do this as will free word processing programs likeOpenOfficeopens in new windowandGoogle Docsopens in new window.

How to name your Assessment file

Start a new file in your word processor and save it as the name of the assessment plus your last name and then first name e.g. ResearchPaperLastNameFirstName.doc. Using this system Jane Doe's assessment would be saved as:
ResearchPaperDoeJane.doc.

Purpose of Assessment

The purpose of assigning a research paper is to enable you to examine in-depth an area of particular interest, which is included in your Phase 1 studies.

Description of Assessment

There are several ways of approaching this assessment.

1. You may research a topic with the use of textbooks and relevant articles or through interviews with physicians, nurses, orthoptists, etc. and apply the researched material to an area within your own experience (e.g. researching the causes and management of diabetic retinopathy and then applying this research to one or more case studies of patients you have cared for with diabetic retinopathy).


2. Or you may write a paper, which is a review of the written material on a subject, either by presenting a summary of various sources read, or comparing and contrasting the viewpoints expressed in different sources.

Please note that when case studies are included, personal facts about the patient must be altered and a pseudonym used in order to protect patient confidentiality.

Suggested Topics

Below you will find a list of suggested topics for your project, but you may choose any topic which interests you as long as it applies to material covered in Phase 1 and has relevance for your professional practice. If you are in doubt about the acceptability of a topic or if you need some suggestions, please feel free to contact the course instructor (See About Your Instructor under Getting Started).

• Optics and Refraction


• History Taking and the role of the Ophthalmic Assistant.


• Visual Assessment


• The Effects of Systemic Disease on the Visual System


• The Use, Care and Maintenance of Ophthalmic Equipment


• Ocular Pharmacology


• Ocular Microbiology


• The Red Eye


• Contact Lenses


• Cataract and Cataract Surgery


• Glaucoma and Visual Field Assessment


• Injuries and Ocular Emergencies

All project papers must be STRICTLY in your own words. Reference to, or copying from the printed lectures is plagiarism. Remember, the instructor already knows what is in the course. YourOWN ORIGINAL MATERIALis required.

It is essential that you contribute some original thought to the paper, even if only in the form of a commentary on what you have read. However, it is very difficult to write a paper without reference to relevant resource material.Where any reference material is incorporated into the paper, the source must be acknowledged by in-text citations and a reference list.

The reference list is simply a list of all sources used – textbooks, articles, journals and interviews with professionals (given their consent to include their name in your paper).

In-text citations are specific acknowledgements of any material derived from a source other than your own mind. Direct quotations must be cited, but so must paraphrasing of the work of someone else. For example, if you read a text by Dr. Stephen Drance on visual fields, and summarize one of his chapters in one paragraph, you must use an in-text citation. If you quote directly from a text, you enclose the direct quotation in quotation marks and use an in-text citation. If you quote directly from an interview or paraphrase an interview, your in-text citation is: “Dr. John Doe, Interview given to the author of this paper on January 20, 2014 at the Calgary General Hospital, Calgary, Alberta.”

Now, how do we differentiate between what comes from your own mind and what is source material? Our basic question is, “Is this material part of the body of generally known facts or data?” Of course, we know you are connected with ophthalmology in some way, and we will grant you some specific knowledge not common to the general public. We will not ask for your source if you tell us that “normal vision is 20/20, 6/6 or 0.0 logMAR.” Nor will we quibble if you say that for most people, soft contact lenses are initially more comfortable to wear than hard contact lenses. If, however, you start quoting statistics and tables, or indicate that one surgical procedure produces better results than another, we will expect you to provide your source.

What all this means is that a good paper will usually have a fair number of in-text citations. Never imply that something is yours which is not; and never steal someone else’s work by writing his words without enclosing them in quotation marks and using an in-text citation.

On the other hand, we will not look favourably on a paper that is simply a word for word transcription of an article you have read – that does not demonstrate research ability or thought.Please always keep a copy of your Research Paper.

How to create an in-text citation and a reference list will be covered in a variety of activities in several weekly Sessions. You are encouraged to do these activities and review the videos so that you will know what information you will need to collect as you do your research and then will be able to create the appropriate citations and reference list.

Formatting Requirements

It is expected that you will proofread your paper carefully as it will be downgraded for spelling, typing and grammatical errors.

Use of relevant / appropriate diagrams, images, illustrations or figures is strongly encouraged.

In summary, a well-written paper should have a title page, a reference list and in-text citations. A table of contents is desirable but not necessary. We will downgrade severely any paper which fails to give proper credit to sources (remember a case sheet can be a source), and if we do have sufficient reason to believe that the paper did not arise solely from the writer’s own mind, that paper will receive an automatic failure grade. The written paper should be a learning experience for the student and, if well done, it will also be a learning experience for your instructor. So, select a topic which interests you, and make it interest us!

Your paper, should be eight to twelvepagesin length (approximately 1,500 words) and be double spaced. Please use a font size no smaller than 10.