Drug Use in Sports

1. Mechanical Construction: (20 pts) The report must be typed and double-spaced. Use 1 inch margins on standard white paper. Use 12 font size, and left justification. Neatness counts. Points will be subtracted for poor grammar, misspelled words, erasures, and smudged pages. Common mistakes include the spelling/use of words like lead and led stimulus and stimuli, datum and data. I highly recommend that you use a word processor, spell checker, and a good quality printer. Submit the original report. Make a copy for yourself, if you like. I will keep the original. You may view it in my office. 2. General Outline: (20 pts) The title page must contain your title, the course name, your name, and the date. Do not write your name on any page other than the title page. A brief abstract, one or two paragraphs, belongs on a single page following the title page. The body of your report, not counting title page, abstract page, or reference pages, must be 5-6 pages in length. Please paginate. The introduction starts on page 1. Quotations, if used, must be limited to 2 lines per page. Cite references in the body of your report, for example (Smith, 1992), and at the end of each sentence that contains information obtained from an outside source (book, journal, etc.). Ask yourself, does the average person on the street know this information. If not, then you better cite a reference. If you use the author’s name in the sentence, always follow it with the date of publication. For example, Smith (1992) claimed that………… Follow the APA format. Footnotes are not necessary. 3. Subject Matter: (10 pts) Any topic that relates psychoactive drug use with behavior is acceptable. Note that drug mechanisms and consequent behaviors must be given equivalent emphasis in your report. For example, it would be inappropriate to describe a drug process or therapies at great length only to end the discussion with a statement to the effect that the brain must be functioning or malfunctioning. Choose a topic in which investigators have done research regarding its physiological basis. 4. A Central Unifying Theme: (15 pts) Choose a single theme for your report. The theme should be specific. Frequently students error by writing broad reports that include too many different interrelated themes. For example, the theme of “psychoactive drug effects on behavior” is too broad. The student proceeds to list 6 or 8 different drugs and their effects on the brain and behavior. WARNING ! If your report closely resembles the table of contents of a book of a similar title, your grade will suffer immensely. If you are interested in psychoactive drugs, a disease, or general physiological responses, pick one facet of the issue and keep your discussion within a narrow framework. If you have questions, consult with me before proceeding. 5. Conclusions: (25 pts) At the end of the body of your report include a section titled: “Conclusions.” It must include a brief summary of the areas discussed together with your own impressions and insights. I do not want you to just regurgitate the views of authors cited in your report. I want to know your insights gained by bringing together several different ideas from various publications. WARNING ! This section is crucial for the success of your report. 6. References: (10 pts) Use original references whenever possible. Books on various topics often include summarized second-hand information. Use cross-referencing sparingly. Read and cite the original publication. References must be listed alphabetically following the conclusion of your report. A minimum of 6 separate references is required. This means 6 different authors of books, journal articles, or interviews. More references usually enhance the report and increase the points given for this assignment. Do not cite pamphlets or other documents that lack an author and date. You may cite information from the Internet, but be selective. You are allowed to cite as many refs on line as you care to if you can view the entire contents of a journal article. Check the APA site for details regarding reference citation: https://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html Review pamphlets on plagiarism before you begin to write. If you use material without proper citations or quotations, a score of ZERO (0) will be assigned to the report. I was thinking of writing about the drug use in sports. PEDS in particular for baseball, but thought including the NFL and NHL would be helpful too.