Courses Wayne State University College of Lifelong Learning Interdisciplinary Studies Program Changing Life on Earth, GST 2020, 4 cr     Section 981 (face-to-face Wednesdays 6:00 - 8:30 PM in     222 Cohn on campus) and Section 990 (online) Health Concepts and Strategies, GST 2010, 3 cr     Section 981 (face-to-face, Wednesdays 8:40 - 10 PM in 222     Cohn on campus) and Section 990 (online) Health Concepts and Strategies for Elder Care, GST 1990    Section 981 (2 credits) and Section 982 (4 credits)	Instructor
	David R. Bowen 2311 A/AB Wayne State University Detroit, MI 48202 Schedule (link not working yet)	Daytime tel: (313) 577-1498 Evening tel: (248) 549-8518 At Ford: 313-390-2155 FAX: (313) 577-8585 Home Page:     http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen Email: d.r.bowen@wayne.edu

Health - GST 2010	Genetics theme GST2020 Evolution theme GST 2020	Back to course welcome page
		Policies, Assignments, Course Meetings	Online Tools	Information about the class and participants	Lectures and further information from other sources	General information

Last updated: 11/4/01
Assignment schedule updated for cancelled class

Syllabus for GST 2010
Health Concepts and Strategies

Topics

Health Concepts and Strategies, GST 2010, 3 credits, for Fall  2001 covers personal health. For example, personal health does not cover the health care system or health insurance systems or how doctors and nurses act towards patients. "Personal health" here means the health status of an individual person, and you in particular. The main topics are:

1. Week 1: Preparation
2. Weeks 2 and 3: Stress, psychological health and relationships
3. Week 4: Fertility
4. Week 5: Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
5. Weeks 6 through 8: Nutrition, exercise and weight
6. Weeks 9 through 11: Diseases, cancer and immunity
7. Week 12: Aging
8. Weeks 13 and 14: Medical care, safety and environment

Formats

1. Section 981 is a normal ("face-to-face") class meeting weekly on Wednesdays from 8:40 to 10:00 PM in room 222 Cohn Building on the southwest corner of Cass and Palmer. There are fourteen class meetings and a final exam.
2. Section 990 is an online class with two required face-to-face meetings on
   1. Wednesday September 5, 8:40 to 10:00 PM
   2. Wednesday December 12, 8:40 - 10:00 PM

   In place of class meetings, there will be extra work assigned for the online section.

No matter which section you have registered for, you can switch back and forth from week to week. If you are registered fopr the online section and you are having trouble with a section of the textbook, you might want to come to class for the discussion. If you are registered for the face-to-face section, you might want to try the online version to see what it is like. For each week that you switch out of the section you are registered for, you need to inform me that you are switching. There will be a form on the course web site for this purpose.

Additional information on course requirements, and changes to syllabus

There are usually changes to the course syllabus during the semester, and this course will not be any different. Here are some reasons for changes:

• Not all information that you will need to complete the course is in this syllabus. For example, essays are assigned, on topics to be distributed later. You cannot write the essay without knowing the topics.
• Although I try to be clear, some parts of the syllabus may be unclear. If you are confused by something, that is not my intention, so you should ask.
• Changes in the syllabus may be wanted or required (By mistake, I once scheduled an exam on Thanksgiving Day). If you have requirements in other courses that come at the same time, I will be willing to make changes in the schedule for this course, if you let me know.

Online students in particular should note the above paragraph.

Instructor: David R. Bowen

Office Hours:
* Wednesdays 3:30 to 5:30 PM in my office, 2311 A/AB (ISP building), on days when classes are in session
   Office phone: (313) 577-1498
But call or email anytime!

Office Location: 2311 A/AB Building
(ISP offices, 5700 Cass at the northeast corner of Palmer and Cass)
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202

Work Phone (ISP office): 313-577-1498
ISP FAX: 313-577-8585
Home Phone: 248-549-8518
At Ford: 313-390-2155
E-mail: d.r.bowen@wayne.edu

Textbook (will be at campus Barnes and Noble bookstore, or can be bought or ordered through other sources of your choice):

Core Concepts in Health, Ninth Edition, Brief, by Paul M. Insel and Walton T. Roth, pub McGraw-Hill, (should include CD-ROM)

Course Web Site

The course web site is at http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen/gewf01. This is on the public Internet, accessible with any web browser, such as Netscape Communicator, Internet Explorer or AOL. If you try to access it from work, and your employer has an Internet firewall, you will need to get a firewall account through your employer. The course web site will be updated continuously throughout the semester. All major course materials, aside from the textbook, will be available through the course web site.

For the online section, the course web site will be the central starting point for most course work. Even for face-to-face students, the course web site is the place to go if you loose a handout.

Grading

In this course, I am here giving you advance permission to turn in or to redo course work after it is due, in some cases up to one calendar year after the end of the course.

Assignments (updated for cancelled class)

Here are the chapter topics for the FULL edition:

• 15 Cardiovascular Health
• 16 Cancer
• 17 Immunity and Infection
• 19 Aging
• 20 Dying and Death
• 21 Health Care: Conventional and Coplementary Medicine
• 22 Self-Care: Skills for the Health Care Consumer
• 23 Personal Safety: Protecting Yourself from Violence and Unintentional Injuries and Violence

Essays

Topics for essays will be distributed in advance of the readings on which the essays are to be based. There will generally be five topics to choose from. Essays are to be 4 to 6 pages double spaced (5 to 7 hand-written), turned in either in hard copy or as attachments to email messages, and will be graded according to the following criteria:

1. Content. 40%. At the top of your essay, BEFORE the title, you should put your name, indicate which essay this is, and which one of the topics (just the topic number is OK) you are addressing. Does your essay answer the questions in the topic? Does your essay show evidence of having read the assignments and applied them to the topic? Have you formulated a consistent point of view towards the topic? It is fine to present several different points of view, but if you change your point of view while you are writing your essay, and you do not realize that this is happening, then your essay will not have a consistent point of view.
   
   Your essay should include detail as well as general points. That makes your point of view convincing. Detail can include:
   * Quotations. (However, an essay that is mainly quotations suggests that you have not thought enough about the topic to have your own point of view.)
   * Specific examples of the potential effects of your general points.
   * Your own opinions and experience, or the experience of other people, for example from current events.
   
   Detail will also make the connection between the general points in the topic and the reader. What are the consequences of your point of view? Why should anyone care? Examples and other detail will convince the reader of the importance of your topic, and will convince me that you understand your topic. If you have not shown me why your essay matters, I will often write, "So What?" at the bottom.
   
2. Form. 40%. Title, Intro., Body, Conclusion
   1. Does your Title describe the contents of the essay? "Catchy" titles earn brownie points.
   2. Do you have an identifiable Introduction that describes to a general reader what to expect, serving as a "road map" to the essay as a whole? By "general reader" I mean someone else besides the instructor. For example, writing that "This essay will answer Question 1" is NOT addressed to a general reader. A general reader might be interested in your topic, but would not be interested that you are completing a specific assignment. A good idea is to pretend that you are writing a magazine or newspaper article.
   3. Does your essay have a Body that is well organized and proceeds from topic to topic without wandering aimlessly around? In complicated cases, it should even keep track for the reader, where in the overall structure we happen to be. Is the body consistent with the Introduction? Do you support general statements with specific examples and/or information? Your main ideas should be broken into separate paragraphs, and any large or sudden transitions should be identified and smoothed over for the reader.
   4. Do you have an identifiable Conclusion that accurately summarizes your essay, as a whole? Does your Conclusion show that you have dealt with the question or topic posed in the Introduction, and does your Conclusion give an impression of drawing the essay to a close? Generally, new information or ideas should be in the Body, not the Conclusion, and putting them in the Conclusion indicates that you have not yet finished thinking out your answer. An exception to this general rule is that you can place the topic in a larger context or demonstrate its larger importance, if this can be done with a single short question or statement.
      
      Many beginning students will write an essay by emptying out whatever thoughts on the topic are in their heads, and stopping when they have run out of things to write about. This method will not work well for these essays; they need to be thought out ahead of time, and the writing planned. There is a way to cheat; write the Body first, and then the Introduction and Conclusion.
      
      Some instructors have described this form as, "First you tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, then you tell 'em, and then you tell 'em what you just told 'em." Another attempt is, "The Introduction says what your point is, the Body proves it, and the Conclusion answers the question 'So what?'".
      
      Even if you are answering a question with several parts, your essay should be a unified whole while still managing to answer the individual parts. That is, in answering a question with several parts, reformulate the question into one question that includes the individual parts of the original question.
3. Mechanics. 20%. This refers to punctuation, spelling, and grammar. The remarks below are not a complete guide to good mechanics, but do point out some of the most common problems.
   1. Punctuation. A complete sentence has at a minimum a subject and a verb, (or an action and actor), expresses a complete thought, and has no missing references. For example, "John ran" and "John ran to the store" are both complete sentences, but "John ran to" is not (missing reference - where is John running?).
      
      The punctuation marks ",;:." indicate progressively higher levels of separation between sentence elements, and are used as follows:
      
      ",". Separates parts of a sentence that would be incomplete by themselves, in order to make the logical structure of the sentence clear. The comma is used, for example, to set off an explanatory phrase, or to separate items in a list.
      
      ";". Indicates a higher level of separation than the comma. For example, if the items in a list have internal commas, then ";" is used to separate the items. Further, a semicolon is used to separate items in a parallel construction: "A's are good; E's, bad." It can also be used to connect two complete sentences, if the second is subordinate to the first: "The grades in this course were high; I got an A."
      
      ":". This is only used to join complete sentences or to signify the beginning of a list.
      
      ".". Ends a sentence. Whatever follows must be a complete sentence since it is not joined to the preceding sentence.
      
      The apostrophe (') indicates possession; it is only rarely used to make a word plural. Normally, a word is made plural by the simple addition of an "s".
   2. Spelling. Some common mistakes: (a) not using the right one of the "three two's" (to, too, two), and (b) there is no "e" at the end of "develop" (this one seems to be common in Michigan, for some reason!). If an abbreviation is specific to your job, or is not common, it should be explained the first time it is used (similarly, a technical term or jargon word should be explained at the first use). In general, use a dictionary or SpellCheck to check your spelling.
   3. Grammar. The most common problem is a verb (the action) that does not agree with the subject (the actor). For example, "it means", not "it mean" ("it" refers to one thing, "mean" to two or more, while "means" is the singular form). Other common problems are changing tense (past, present, future) or person (I, you, them) within a sentence or connected sequence of sentences; and breaking off a phrase into a separate sentence that does not have both a subject and verb. This last practice CAN be acceptable if the intention is to emphasize the second phrase or to emphasize that there are several examples of a major point. A common example goes, "This author (or instructor?) goes on. And on. And on." Generally, you should not break the rules in such a creative manner, unless the rest of your essay shows that you know how to obey them. Help for problems with grammar can be gotten by buying Keys to American English by Richard Raspa et al, published by Harcourt-Brace. The University Bookstore carries this; any bookstore should be willing to order it for you.

   (I will not require a specific format for references or footnotes. References can be put "in line" in the normal body, and do not need to be collected at the bottom of the page. A suitable reference is "As Toffler writes in The Third Wave ...". To be more specific, include the page or chapter number in a similar manner.)

I am aware that this is a high standard for writing, requiring thoughtful and careful reading, your own analysis, and good organization and command of your own written "voice."

The computer conference will an excellent place for you to try out your ideas for essays, and to get reaction from me and the other students. I am not going to force you to use the computer conference this way, but perhaps I should.

Personal Health Project

In the Personal Health Project (PHP) you will apply some part(s) of this course to your personal situation.The project grade will in no way depend upon making actual changes to your personal health. This is because, as the textbook says, attempts to change your personal health can fail despite your best intentions. The PHP does not require any further research on your part (although you may choose a project that does require some) but instead requires you to apply the information in the course to your personal situation. Here are some possibilities:

• Gathering nutritional information on your favorite fast foods, and comparing these to the standards in the textbook.
• Writing about an attemp to make an improvement to your personal health, and how it works out. If it succeeds, writing about how you reward yourself. If it fails, why do you think it failed?
• Gathering together the textbook information about specific ethnic and other groups and how it applies to you.

There are three required reports for your Personal Health Project:

1. PHP Topic. A choice of topic, including a title and a brief one-paragraph description.
2. PHP Report 1. An interim one-page report on what you have done so far for the project, and how things are working out.
3. PHP Report 2 (final Project Report), a minimum of two pages. Your final description of the project, including
   1. What you did
   2. What you learned
   3. Your conclusions

Online Postings (online students only)

Basically, for online students, the course computer conference is an alternate form of the classroom discussion in the face-to-face students, and participation in the course computer conference plays a parallel role in the course grade. Online postings will use the course computer conference. There is a link to this conference from the course web site. There is  an online guide for this system available through a link off of the Instructor's web site. The URLs (web addresses) of both the course and Instructor web sites are at the top of this page, and at the top of all pages for this course. Here are the requirements for conference postings:

• Average of two per week, all due before the end of the semester
• Must be in the "F01 Personal Health (Bowen)" computer conference, not the computer conference for some other course.
• Must make a page reference to the textbook (for example, "on pg 12 of the textbook").
• Between a minimum of five lines and a maximum twenty-five lines as seen on the computer screen after posting.
• Can be an original posting or a response to another posting. If it is a response, must include the relevant part of the original posting, and only the relevant part (edit out any other parts).
• Can be in many forms, including, but not limited to:
  • Comment on a point of interest or significance
  • Apply course information to your own situation, or of someone else that you know
  • Compare or contrast with other information on personal health
  • Point out how something suggested can be done, or why it is difficult to do
  • Bring in current events or news stories

Weekly Progress Reports (online students only)

There will be a form on the course web site (see URL at the top of this and all course materials) for weekly course reports. I have found these to be useful to me in identifying situations before they become serious, and in keeping online students involved in the course, reducing the number that drop out unofficially. You will not be graded on the content of the reports, but just on the fact of having made them. If you have to stop working on the course for awhile, that can happen to anybody, but there is no excuse for not taking the five minutes required for filing a weekly course report.

For the purposes of counting reports, weeks will be taken as ending on Fridays. You do not need to file a weekly course report during which the course does not meet.

PLAGIARISM

Putting this topic at the end does not imply that I do not think it is important, but instead that I think it applies to everything in this course. In academic work, plagiarism is treated as a serious breaking of the rules. Plagiarism basically means passing off someone else's work as your own. It does not matter whether this is done on purpose or by accident, by commission or omission, from one source or from many sources; it is still plagiarism, and it is still serious. The most obvious form of plagiarism is "copying" - using another author's words, without a hint that they are not yours. Changing one or two words in a sentence still results in plagiarism. On the other hand, using quotation marks and a reference to the source is OK, since you are not passing off the work as yours. Such references can even add to an impression that you have read the assignments!  References to opinions can also be used to strengthen your arguments, since a reference makes clear that someone else feels the same way that you do.

In this course, work that contains any plagiarism will be ignored, as if it were never turned in. In order to receive credit for the assignment, another topic must be chosen, and the work completely rewritten. The assignment will also be counted as late. Note that at the end of the course, there may not be enough time to redo the work, or even to notify you, before grades are due. Therefore, plagiarism near the end of the semester can have a particularly serious effect on your grade.

If you have any doubt about what plagiarism is, make sure to ask the instructor. To be safe, make sure that you give credit to any authors you borrow from.