Abstract- This is a summary of your research paper. It will highlight ONLY the important information and the critical

conclusions. You should keep this section very brief as an abstract is meant to highlight the paper and grab the

reader’s attention; making them want to read the entire paper. Keep your abstract to ~200- 300 words. I usually recommend writing the abstract last (after you have completed the paper). It is much easier this way as you can read

through your completed paper and capture the key points for the abstract. A sample abstract is demonstrated below.

Please look it over so that you are aware of the general format and concept of an abstract.

• Introduction-Briefly discuss the topic you selected.  This section is where you will provide background

information on your topic. You need to provide the context for the problem/question being addressed and explain

how/why this research is important. For example, in this section I would suggest discussing the health implications

associated with your topic (for example if you choose a behavioral condition you can discuss the symptoms and effects

of that disease on the body. If you choose obesity you can discuss the health effects that obesity can have on the body.

If you choose homosexuality you can discuss the societal reactions and effects on the individual). This section should be about 1 page in length.

• Results of Scientific Research- Briefly discuss the data/information you found in your readings on the current scientific studies on this topic. This is where you want to address the scientific data on your topic. You must include the methods/techniques used to identify potential genes involved, where they are located in the genome (chromosome number/location), the effect on gene expression, the methods used for analysis, number of individuals in study, where the studies were conducted, if any animal models used and what types of experiments were done using these organisms, any important findings or associations that were noted in the scientific articles.  This section should be about 1 ½ – 2 pages in length.

• Discussion and Conclusion- This is the area of your paper where you wrap everything up. You need to summarize the paper’s findings and generalize their importance in healthcare and in society. You can also highlight any future

studies that could be done, mention practical applications of the findings, or discuss ambiguous data. This section should

be about 1 page in length.

• References-Please list the sources/sites you used when writing the review paper on your scientific topic.