Research Paper

1) Choose a current topic or issue

• In the previous modules, many current topics and issues have been explored. For this assignment, you and your partner will be applying all the research concepts you have learned to write a formal, well-written research paper.
• If you are uncertain of your topic, browse through your Darby & Walsh Dental Hygiene Theory and Practice text. The chapters should give you some ideas of appropriate topics to explore.
• The following is a list of topics and titles of previous Research Papers that will give you an idea of appropriate research papers for this assignment:
  • Mental Health and Its Relationship to Oral Health
  • The Use of Miswak to Improve Oral Health
  • Effectiveness of Oral Appliances in Treating Obstructive Sleep Apnea
  • Barriers to Oral Healthcare in Underserved Communities
  • Lasers in Periodontal Therapy
  • Human Trafficking
  • Interprofessional Health Care Practice
  • Silver Diamine Fluoride
  • COVID 19 and the Dental Hygiene Professional

2) Research your topic or issue

• Use four resources for this assignment.
• Two of the resources must be from current, primary, peer-reviewed, refereed professional journals from our HEC St. Petersburg College library databases.

NOTE: One student in the pair will need to contact, either by phone or email, the SPC HEC Library tutors (i.e. [email protected]) for additional help on searching for these primary articles/studies and or for writing help (to include APA formatting). This will be documented and verified by the library team and faculty. Start working with the HEC library team early in the week…..they do not work Friday afternoons or on the weekends.

• One other resource will be a textbook such as your core text Dental Hygiene Theory and Practice.
• The last resource will be from a professional Website resource such as those that end with .org or .edu. Here is a list of a few acceptable professional websites:

1. American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA)
2. American Dental Association (ADA)
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
4. National Institute of Health
5. World Health Organization

• All sources must be current (no earlier than 2013).
• Web sources such as Wikipedia, eHow, WebMD, Ask.com, websites ending in .com,  etc., are NOT acceptable resources for academic papers.

Note: Remember that some journals such as Access, RDH, and Hygienetown magazines are NOT peer-reviewed journals, and will not be acceptable resources for this assignment.

• As a reminder, submitting previously created papers, assignments or presentations that were used for past courses is not permitted.  Your paper must be newly generated work/writing.  Plagiarism of any kind is not permitted and will result in the process explained in the SPC Academic Integrity Policy.  Please review this link for information on avoiding self-plagiarism.

3) Write a 800-850 word paper using APA editorial style

• Note: Because a RANGE is given for word count on this paper, you must fall within this range, or risk having points deducted. The word count is applied to the main content of the paper, not including the Title or Reference pages.
• Be sure to review the APA writing style tutorials developed by our library. You will find these documents to be a very handy resource!
• You do not need to include an abstract as part of the paper.
• Include page numbers on each page, starting with title page (page 1) according to APA formatting .
• Remember that research papers of this type are written in the third person (do not use “I”), and do not contain your opinions or ideas about the topic or issue.
• For this specific assignment, use direct quotes sparingly. Only 1 or 2 single sentence direct quotes will be allowed.