2024 Research Course Overview

UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research​

DA Research Course, Aspiring Scholars Workshop

Course Description

This research course will introduce concepts and approaches of American Psychological Association (APA) style medical research writing to high school juniors participating in the UCSF Fresno Doctors Academy program. The purpose of the course (70-80 hours) is to:

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• Promote student’s knowledge of medical research literature and writing through critical analysis of health disparities, health politics, and global health studies.
• Deepen students’ knowledge in collegiate level work
• Promote students’ participation in research, activities, and assignments designed to introduce students to APA style writing
• Develop the understanding on how to review and evaluate peer-reviewed journal articles.
• Promote students’ skills to read, analyze, and write a final literature paper through written and oral modes of communication.

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Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the research course, students will be able to:

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1. Understand how to write in APA style

2. Deepening knowledge of Health Disparities, Health Politics and Global

Health

3. Obtain knowledge on proper medical research writing

4. Interpret peer-reviewed articles and extrapolate necessary information

5. Annotate, identify, and collect medical research articles

6. Develop research presentation skills

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What is American Psychological Association style and why use it?

• American Psychological Association (APA) style writing
• APA style writing was established in 1928 by social science professionals
• APA style provides guidelines for publication in social science journals (such as Phycology, Sociology, Education, and Nursing)
• Many authors use APA style writing because it helps them organize their argument and ideas
• This style of writing lends to consistency and makes texts more readable by those who access or publish them

Language in an APA paper should be:

• Clear: be specific in descriptions and explanations
• Concise: condense information when you can
• Plain: use simple, descriptive adjectives and minizmie figurative language

Components of an APA Paper

The final medical research paper will pertain to a topic related to your future medical career choice.

• The final APA research paper will consist of a Title Page, Introduction, Problem Statement, Literature Review, Conclusion/Reflection and Reference Page.

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• 6 page minimum
• These 6 pages do NOT include the Title Page, Reference Page, and images/graphs/tables (i.e. appendix page)

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• At least 3 peer-reviewed research articles for Reference Page

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• The research paper will need to be approved by the Research Instructor.

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5/18/2018

Page Requirements

Minimum Pages: 10

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Note: These 6 pages does NOT include the Title Page, Reference Page, and images/graphs/tables (i.e. appendix page).

Research Topic Examples

Topic of choice:

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1. Hepatitis B virus
2. COVID-19

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Research Question:

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1. How Does Lack of Early Hepatitis B Intervention Negatively Affect Asian American Immigrants Compared to U.S. Citizens?

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• How does the lack of access to prenatal care affect African American women and their babies who may be at higher risk of contracting COVID-19?

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Refer to “Topic Ideas for Your Research Paper”

Research Paper Assignment Breakdown

• The purpose of the assignment breakdowns are to ensure that students will be on a track to successfully understand and complete the research paper.

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• Provide you an overview of what the next 8-9 weeks will look like in terms of assignments due dates

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• Being on track on these assignments will ensure that students are on track for successful completion of their research paper.

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APA 7 - Making the Reference List

APA is a complex system of citation. When compiling the reference list, the strategy below might be useful:

1. Identify the type of source:

Is it a book? A journal article? A web page?

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2. Find a sample citation for this type of source

Check a textbook or the OWL APA Guide: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

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3. “Mirror” the APA sample paper (refer to class materials)

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4. Make sure that the entries are listed in alphabetical order and that the subsequent lines are indented

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APA Citations Examples (references)

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• Book citations in APA generally require author name, publication year, work title, publication city, and publisher.

General book format

Single Author

Two Authors

3 to more authors

Research Paper Breakdown

• Title page
• Research Question (Capitalized)
• Name / School
• Running Header and pg #
• Any information that is not general, should be cited in text and references page

• Problem Statement: 1 page (can use 1^st person
• What is the problem?
• Why is solving this problem important? (written differently than
• ‘why is research topic important’ from intro, but will probably be same idea)
• What are the consequences of not solving this problem?
• Where is it taking place?
• Who is affected?
• Research Question should be stated word for word in this section in question format

• Intro: 1 page (can use 1^st person)
• Why is the research topic important?
• Background relevant to topic
• Introduction to problem, but not stating research question
• Link problem to approach you’re taking on the problem

Research Paper Breakdown cont.

• Literature Review: 3 pages (1pg per study) (only 3^rd person)
• citations
• Study should include
• Data collection
• Populations researchers were working with
• Tests used
• Findings discovered by researcher regarding only that study
• Any statistics mentioned by researcher

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Research Paper Breakdown cont.

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• Conclusion and Reflection: 1 page
• Answer your specific research question
• Interpretation of your results from all 3 studies combined
• We do not want repeated information, but rather rewording/tying it all together/new broadened information
• Results compared to previous findings in literature
• Limitations to your research
• Further research that can be done
• How can your research benefit others?
• Reconnect their intro / background / problem statement
• How does your overall research project contribute to research on health disparities
• Biological/genetic vs social determinants of health
• Social norms related to your research topic
• What kind of improvements could benefit your research demographics

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• References
• 4 peer reviewed journal articles
• You can have more articles if you want!!! Just make sure to cite
• APA formatting: Journal Articles
• Last Name, A. A. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume (Issue), pages. https://Doi.org
• In text :
• Ex: (Hernandez, 2016)
• 3-6 authors – (Hernandez et al., 2016) every time

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Formatting Paper Reminders

• 1-inch margins
• Times New Roman, 12-point font
• Entire paper is double-spaced
• All titles in Bold centered
• Follow the “Ultimate APA Guide”

5/18/2018

Research Course Expectations

• The Research course is a (70-80 hour) collegiate level course designed for rising Seniors participating in the Doctors Academy program.
• Students should understand that the completion of this course (with a passing grade) is needed to continue to be part of the Doctors Academy program.
• Failure to complete the course or receive a non-passing grade could result in being excused from the program.

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*Please refer to syllabus for further details*

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How to read scientific papers

Tips for success:

• Breakdown the literature to get a better understanding
• Please read the following article for more details on how to read and understand a scientific paper: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-raff/how-to-read-and-understand-a-scientific-paper_b_5501628.html
• Ask for help if you are experiencing difficulties in understanding a paper.

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Evaluation

Link: https://tiny.ucsf.edu/DASpeaker2324

Aspiring Scholar Workshop (ASW)

Title: Research Course

Speaker:

Date:

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References

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

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American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5^th ed.). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association

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