Letter Essay Assignment

Letter Essay Assignment

Assignment(worth 10 points)
The top 4 modifiable risk factors that result in much of our country’s illness, suffering, and death are
• Lack of physical activity
• Poor nutrition
• Tobacco Use
• Excessive Alcohol Intake
Writing Prompts
For your assignment, you are to research one of these risk factors and write a letter to someone you
know who practices this behavior and explain why they should modify it.
You are required to:
1) Provide factual/statistical evidence to support why this behavior is hurting their health
2) Explain what the consequences of continuing this behavior might be and how it would benefit them if
they stopped.
3) Provide research-based advice on how to stop this behavior
Technical Requirements
• Your essay should be a minimum of 3 pages and not 1 sentence less. This does not include the
works cited page.
• 12-point font (Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial)
• Double spaced
• Written and saved in Word format (.doc, .docx)
• 1-inch margins
• Written in paragraph format and cited in APA format (with in-text citations!)
• 1 works cited page (APA format) with a minimum of 2 professional sources. If you do not include
a works cite page, you will receive a zero on grounds of plagiarism.
What Is Considered a Professional Source?
1. Websites that end in .gov or .org
2. Textbooks, books, science/health journals, encyclopedias (you may use UH’s online library to find
these)
3. Websites pre-approved by Professor Rafique
Do Not Ramble
Your paper should be research based. Do not ramble or BS! This is still a research assignment. Keep
personal introductions to 1 paragraph long (4-5 sentences).
Rough Rubric (graded out of 10 points)
Provided accurate facts/statistical evidence for
why behavior is hurting their health and
addressed all writing prompts.
4 pts.
Correctly used APA format and followed technical
requirements
3 pts.
Spelling and grammar 3 pts.
I will be grading for accuracy of facts, grammar and spelling, and the overall quality/professionalism of
your writing.
3 points are automatically deducted for each page length you fall short of the minimum length.
I reserve the right to deduct points drastically if your paper shows significantly poor spelling/grammar,
inaccurate facts, or minimal addressing of writing prompts, looks like you BS’d the whole thing etc.…
Abusing the technical requirements in anyway (e.g. typing in Arial Black, leaving lines of empty space
within your work) will also result in drastic point deductions.
Remember, your paper should look professional. It should not look like my syllabus, my study guides, or
this instructions with bullet lists, numbered lists, different colors, random bolded words, or highlighted
sentences!
Can I Keep My Recipient Anonymous?
You do not have to include the person’s name. Instead, write “Dear Anonymous.” If you are lucky
enough not to know anyone that practices any of these behaviors, pretend that you know someone that
does and write a letter to them.
What Do People Usually Lose Points On?
Students tend to get lazy as far as thorough research goes. For example, if you choose alcohol as your
topic and fail to mention liver cirrhosis as a risk of alcoholism, I will know you barely researched your
topic since liver cirrhosis is a hallmark condition of alcohol abuse.
People also tend to get lazy on writing prompt 3 and provide non-researched advice. Make sure you are
actually reading articles and not just giving your reader generic advice off the topic of your head.
What Does Professor Rafique like to See in Essays?
I like to see facts and statistics from your lecture notes, textbook chapters, and reviews. For example, if
you are writing about lack of physical activity—address the topics you read about in chapter 3! If you
choose to write about nutrition, go over the things you learned in your chapter 5 lecture notes! I want to
see you apply your knowledge in this essay.
Your Heading Must be Formatted as Follows:
Name
HLT 1353: Section #
Title
That’s it. No cover page. No headings that take up lines and lines of writing space. No hardentering between paragraphs. I will deduct points if your heading eats up too much space.
APA Format
I like to require APA format in order to familiarize you with this style of citing work. If you need help,
visit Purdue Owl’s website on APA format or visit the writing center on campus. It is a simple format.
Download the latest version of Word from AccessUH and you will not even need to research this style
much—simply use the “references” tab to enter your sources and auto-generate in-text citations as well
as your works cited page.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/genera
l_format.html
It’s 11:00PM and something messed up with my essay…
Without fail, students will always wait until the last minute to submit essays, something will go wrong
with their computers, and they will email me their essays. If you do this, I will take points off as it is time
consuming for me to have to fish-out emailed essays and grade them outside of my grading portal.
How do I submit my work?
You must upload your file as a Word file (.doc or .docx) and copy/paste it in the submission box. You
must copy/paste your work so I have evidence you completed it on time in the event your file is corrupt.