Memo Assignment

MEMO ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES FALL 2017 INITIAL STEP: Students may choose any topic from the list below or covered in class. NO TOPIC CAN BE CHOSEN BY MORE THAN ONE STUDENT. If there is a topic that is maternal and child health-related, but not covered in this course or on the list, contact your instructor for permission to use the topic for your paper. Some of these recommended topics are very general. Students should narrow down their topic as much as possible. Focusing on a narrower topic will enable you to write a better paper, and, therefore, get a better grade. For example, if you are interested in postpartum depression, you can focus on the causes or risk factors of postpartum depression, the effects of postpartum depression on infants and children, postpartum depression among minority groups, or the treatment of postpartum depression.

My Topic is…..School violence (non-bullying)

In this final assignment, students will write a 3-4 page memo to an individual who has a decision-making role in the field of Maternal and Child Health. Students will identify the appropriate person as the audience for the memo, depending on the nature of the topic selected. Students do not need to address the entire issue selected, but identify a specific activity that is under the control of the recipient of your memo.

The student must answer the following questions in his/her memo: 1) What is the problem? Define and explain its significance as a public health problem. 2) How big is the problem (e.g., magnitude, overall trends, statistics)? 3) Who does it affect the most, and why? 4) Why is this problem important to MCH? 5) What policy change and/or program intervention do you propose to address this problem, and why? 6) What specifically do you want the person reading the memo to do? Why should this person/group care and why is this topic important to this individual or group of people? Make your objectives and intended outcomes clear. The concise answers to these questions will help the student make a persuasive argument within the memo, to move his/her specified decision maker to action. This argument must be research-based; students should review the research literature (using at least 3 scholarly journal articles and his/her choice of other sources, such as the CDC website). The information learned from those research studies and publications should be used to inform and support the student’s argument and thoughts.

You must use at least 3 articles that are from peer-reviewed scholarly journals (articles must be published in 2001 or later). Use databases such as PUBMED, OVID, CINAHL, Google Scholar, or other databases in the social sciences to find appropriate articles. It is strongly recommended that students take the following short tutorial from the HSC Library, for details on how to conduct a literature review and seek peer-reviewed scholarly publications using these databases: