The health sector is a versatile sector to write about. The changing trends in research, technology, and clinical practice make the health sector an interesting niche to write about. Writing a research paper on health care is demanding. This is because the trends in the health sector are always changing. What used to be the norm today can quickly become obsolete tomorrow. For example, once upon a time, penicillin was the number one antibiotic for most bacterial infections. However today, no thanks to antibiotic resistance, penicillin is as obsolete as using a candle as a light source.
If you plan on writing an engaging research paper on health care, then, this article is just for you. By the time you are done reading it, you should know how to:
- Choose a suitable topic;
- Write a title;
- Develop the body of your essay;
- Research.
And much more! Read on!
Pre-Writing Tips
Before you start writing your research paper, there are some tips that will help you make the writing process a breeze. If you take time to put these tips to work, the writing process becomes shorter, and you save more time. Do these!
Brainstorming
Brainstorming on a suitable topic is the first step in writing a relevant article on health care. There are so many topics and fields out there to write about; therapeutics, palliative care, surgery, medicine, Obstetrics, pediatrics, research, pathology, medical ethics, the list is completely inexhaustible. How do you know the suitable topic to write on?
Let’s say you were given a research paper on oncology. How do you make a choice? Oncology has different topics: chemotherapy, pain management, nutrition, counseling, infections, psychotherapy, the list is endless. How do you make a choice? To make the brainstorming process effective, do these.
- Make a long list of topics you wish to write on. Remember to write topics that have some meaning for you;
- Next, make a long list of trends and current developments in the healthcare sector. Remember that an interesting research paper on health care is up-to-date with current trends. That way, your paper is relevant to read.
- Arrange these topics in ascending order, putting preferable topics on the top and least preferable topics below.
- Arrange your topics based on how long the paper will take, the feasibility of research, the complexity of the topic, required word count of the essay, and popularity of the topic.
Examples of likely topics to write on may include:
- Opioids, pain relief, and drug dependency;
- Exploring palliative care in cancer management;
- Minimally invasive surgeries;
- Antibiotic resistance and the cost of treating infectious diseases.
Outlining
Sketching an outline gives you some focus and direction. And it’s pretty easy to tell when you begin to drift in your essay. An outline acts as a framework that supports the body of your piece. Your outline is like a skeleton for you to add muscles and skin on. A research paper usually has these parts:
- title;
- thesis statement;
- introduction;
- body;
- conclusion.
Make quick drafts on each of these parts, listing important points you wish to discuss. Remember that your outline is a flexible framework. Feel free to make as many changes as necessary.
Research
An interesting research paper is a product of detailed and systematic research. The more time is taken to research the topic, the more brilliant and engaging your essay becomes. This is because research exposes you to information that helps you think critically. From the onset, you should have a plan of how you wish to research. Your research should be systematic. A haphazard research is time-consuming, and in the end, you may not be able to make sense of the information gathered. Follow these steps:
- Start by keeping a record of your research sources and information obtained from them. This way, your citations and bibliography become easy to structure.
- Start your research by asking for guidance and direction from your lecturer or research supervisor. Their experience and counsel will save you both time and energy.
- The Internet is a rich storehouse of information. Unfortunately, it makes no distinction between wrong and right information. You should stick to the recommended sites given by your supervisor. Other trusted sites include Med pub, Medscape, Google Scholar, and others.
- The library also has journals and other forms of literature for cross-referencing. You should know that most of these journals and magazines are already archived on the Internet.
The Writing Process
The writing process shouldn’t be hard to tackle once you’ve succeeded the pre-writing stage.
Title
Your title should be on the point. Avoid long titles with ambiguous words. Your title can be a summary of your thesis statement. It should also be engaging and from the beginning. Give your reader an idea of what you are going to discuss.
Thesis Statement
The thesis statement is a part of the introduction. It defines the purpose of your essay. What do you wish to achieve in the essay? Convince or educate? Inform? Whatever the purpose of your essay is, make it clear from the beginning what you wish to discuss.
Introduction
You should aim to grab and hold your readers’ attention from the title to the introduction. Good techniques may include using anecdotes, quotes, rhetoric, or using statistics and figures to make a point.
Body
In the body of your essay, aim to build solidly on your thesis statement. Any point that doesn’t add anything to your thesis statement shouldn’t be mentioned or discussed. Make sure your body is made up of logical sequential paragraphs. Put your best points in the beginning paragraphs then close the body with minor points. Put your best ideas forward.
Conclusion
As you conclude, try to involve the reader by putting a call to action that may encourage them to research further. Before you do so, restate your thesis statement, summarise your best points, then put a call to action forward.
Post-Writing Tips
Rewriting/Editing
Rewrite as many times as necessary until your words become clear and concise. You can rewrite as much only if you start your paper early. Edit grammar errors, misspellings, and typo errors.
Proofreading
Give your work to a fresh pair of eyes for proofreading. Your proofreader is more likely to catch those errors you missed when editing.
Formatting
Be sure to format your essay and citations according to the lecturers’ specifications. Font type, font size, line spacing are a few of the things you have to mind.
The key to writing an engaging essay on health care is research. You have to take time to research on the current and ever-changing trends in the health sector. When you take time to research, you write papers that are relevant, informative and engaging.