Instruction for assignment

Choose one example of a specific type of cancer to investigate. Examples include (but are not limited to) lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer. The choice can be even more specific such as 1) ductal breast cancer, inflammatory breast cancer, or hormone negative or triple negative breast cancer, or 2) sporadic (does not run in families) colorectal cancer, hereditary non-polyptosis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) aka Lynch syndrome, or Familial Adenomatous polyptosis (FAP) colorectal cancer. Do some research and answer the following questions.

1. Disease Statistics: How common is the disease? What is the crude (overall) rate? What is the rate by race, ethnicity, gender, and stage of disease? Have rates changed over the years? Are there specific populations at risk, and are there associated behaviors that could be changed (like smoking or obesity)?
2. Discuss the biology of the cancer. I am specifically looking for terms used in this class: immune system cells, specific mutations, common metastatic sites, specific oncogenes (such as the HER-2 gene in breast cancer), or tumor suppressor genes.
3. Discuss the treatments used and the mechanisms of each treatment. Treatments include but are not limited to radiation, chemotherapy, biological, gene therapy. Again, I am looking for terms used in this class; I also encourage you to learn some new terms regarding treatment mechanisms.
4. You will also be graded on adherence to citation rules, grammar and organization.
5. This assignment is worth 1600. I have to do a work-around due to Turnitin, but will update your grade later.

Write a single-spaced, 12-point font paper min 2 pages, max 3 pages (not inclusive of citations). You may not use quotes, put all information into your own words. American Medical Association (AMA) is the required citation style. At least 2 journal articles are required, at least 5 citations total. You will be evaluated on the quality of your sources

You must use at least two original research papers, review articles or meta analyses found on PubMed. You must include at least 5 sources, total, and they all must be reputable sources (not from a wiki, blog or website selling something).

Writing guidelines

Guidelines for Writing Your paper will be taken seriously. I will read it carefully and grade closely. Papers will be judged on both content and form. It will pay handsomely to do the best job you can. 1. Content: High marks go to papers deriving intelligent generalizations from accurate and appropriate facts. Note the combination. Description alone is dull and pointless. Generalizations without supporting evidence are worthless. 2. Organization: From the beginning, make sure your reader knows what you intend to do and how you intend to do it. The biggest help here is to think of a meaningful title and write a cogent introduction. Then lead the reader through your main points, making sure there are no breaks in your logic. Finally, your conclusion should be written to sum up your main points. 3. Documentation: When you borrow facts or ideas from someone else, you must acknowledge the borrowing. Failure to do so is plagiarism, an unforgivable academic sin. Papers must include intext citations AND a list of references which cites all your sources, and must include citations within the paper for each time you borrow ideas or facts. SEE the guidelines for citations and follow them exactly. You must use at least two original research papers, review articles or meta analyses found on PubMed. You must include at least 5 sources, total, and they all must be reputable sources (not from a wiki, blog or website selling something). When reading original research articles, focus on the introduction and the discussion, both in the abstract and in the main text. You don’t have to understand every word nor do you have to understand the methods. Use a dictionary or other resources to help you understand what is being said. 4. English: Careful attention to formal English will pay dividends. Careless or bad writing will be penalized. The best way to avoid careless writing is to have a friend or the writing center proofread your paper. • Style: If you have doubts about style, write plain straightforward English. If you still have questions, get a copy of Strunk and White’s marvelous little handbook, The Elements of Style, available in paperback at bookstores in town and on campus. It is an excellent investment for your writing now and later. Read it carefully and pay attention to it. I use this for every manuscript I have published. • Mechanics: Your writing should be grammatical and correctly punctuated. Use a dictionary to check doubtful spelling and a thesaurus to select the best word in case you have any doubts. NOTE: You can avoid a lot of trouble by making a careful outline. Revise the outline as needed, well before you begin writing. Then, when you do write, expect to make a first draft, a second draft and as many successive ones as you need, before you finally put together the polished finished paper. There is no such thing as a good first draft paper. The last grant I submitted had 32 versions. The university writing center is available to help and will be happy to give comments and advice as you are going along. I find it useful to take the “last” draft and let it sit for several days. Just before the final typing, I do a careful editing job. The little bit of time between these steps makes it easier to find errors and awkwardness in my prose

Citation rules

Number references consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Reference numbers in the text are full-sized Arabic numerals in parentheses within the sentence. For 3 or more consecutive references cited all at once, use, for example, (1-4). Format other references as (4, 5, 12), with spaces between the reference numbers.

When directly quoting material in the text, give the reference number followed by the page number(s) of the quotation, for example, (24, p. 65). Only short phrases (shorter than a sentence) are allowed for direct quotations. The point is for you to learn from the materials you are accessing and put the ideas in your own words. Examples of correct forms of references follow. Type references double-spaced. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus (published by the National Library of Medicine). For more than 3 authors, list the first 3 and add “et al.”

Examples of Reference Styles Standard journal article

Nakajima S, Saijo Y, Kato S, et al. Effects of prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins on mental and motor development in Japanese children at 6 months of age. Environ Health Perspect. 2006;114(5):773–778.