Epidemiology Paper Assignment Instructions HLTH 4460 – Introduction to Epidemiology     Objectives: Develop critical evaluation and synthesis of the literature skills for epidemiology studies.   Topic: A contemporary epidemiologic issue of your interest.   Paper: Each paper must have a title, name, appropriate literature citations, and the following sections: I. Summary of the journal article or study you have chosen (one page) II. Critique of the article or study (one page) III. Conclusions/future directions (one-half page)   Format: 1. Your paper should be 2.5 pages, and should be in essay—not, bulleted format. 2. Use APA format (points will be deducted for not being APA) 3. You will be graded on content, depth, and application of information learned in class.    Assignment: Follow these steps below to complete your Epi Paper.   Step 1: Topic Selection and Article Finding Identify and decide your health topic of interest and find a peer-reviewed primary source article that is one of two epidemiology study designs, a case-control or cohort study. Feel free to contact me, as I am happy to help you in identifying topics if you need any help from me. We will have a repository of studies uploaded into the course that you may choose from if you’d like as well.    Step 2: Read and Write Summary Read your article several times making note of the big idea and the highlights. Then write your one-page summary of the article. This part is very easy to plagiarize, so be sure to use your own words to write your summary. Your paper will be run through turn-it in.    Step 3: Critical Evaluation Discuss the terms of design (cohort? Case-control?) and the impact of design on the findings. For example, are there any methodological differences in identifying study population, collecting data, and assessing exposures that may explain the findings? Also consider the following questions - Are there biases that could explain (or invalidate) the findings of the study? What biases may have been introduced into the study that could explain differences? What gaps still remain?   Step 4: Conclusion/Future Directions Based on this paper and your knowledge of the topic, what study design approaches do you recommend as the next step in research to examine the relationship between exposure and health outcome of your interest?