Assignment 3: Final Project Annotated Bibliography

Craft a research question on the topic you selected in your first discussion question post. Then locate at least five articles from peer-reviewed journals that pertain to your question that will be used to write the introduction section of your research proposal.

Submit these five citations in the form of an APA-style reference page. Under each citation, write one paragraph summarizing the main points of the article. As you read your articles, keep the following questions at hand; these will help you generate the information about each article.

• • What were the topic/research questions being investigated?

 

• • How was the study conducted (participants, materials, procedure, etc.)?

 

• • What did the results reveal?

 

• • How might these methodological considerations affect the research findings and the conclusions drawn from them?

 

• How does this article fit in with your paper? How did it influence your own ideas about your paper?

Based on your reading of the literature, what do you expect to find?

Include a hypothesis and a title page for your submission.

Submit your paper to the M1: Assignment 3 Dropbox by Wednesday, January 27, 2016. All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.

Assignment 3 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Created a research question based on a research topic approved by the instructor and submitted a testable hypothesis.	15
Submitted citations in the form of an APA-style reference page for five articles and included a paragraph summarizing each article and discussing its relevance.	40
Ensured that all the articles are from peer-reviewed journals.	20
Submitted a title page for the submission.	5
Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.	20

 

Assignment 3: Challenges in Identifying Mental Disorders

Most mental disorders lie on a continuum with “normal” behavior at one end. For example, nearly everyone has a fear of something, but it does not rise to the level of a phobia. A behavior may seem abnormal in one context but completely normal in another context. These two aspects show why it can be challenging to properly identify mental disorders.

Using your textbook and the Argosy University online library resources, research the principles and methods of identifying mental disorders. Note particularly the diversity of views and the challenges of identification. Based on your research, write a reflective essay. Use the following question to direct your thoughts and organize your essay:

• Why is determining abnormal behavior or a mental disorder so difficult?

To develop your essay, keep in mind issues such as the role of social norms in defining the abnormal, the multiplicity of indicators of what is abnormal, the stigma suffered by those identified as abnormal, and finally the need for objectivity in dealing with the concept.

Write a 2–3-page essay in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M1_A3.doc. For example, if your name is John Smith, your document will be named SmithJ_M1_A3

Assignment 2: LASA 1: The Costs of Production

Joseph Farms, Inc. is a small firm in the agricultural industry. They have asked you to help them complete the limited data they have gathered in an effort to enable effective decision-making. Some work can be done using MS Excel but it must be copied to an MS Word file for the final submission of this assignment. To assist Joseph Farms, Inc., respond to the following:

• Using MS Excel or a table in MS Word, complete Table-1 (Joseph Farms, Inc., Cost and Revenue Data).
  • Assume that the price is $165.
  • Assume the fixed costs are $125, at an output level of 1.
  • Assume that the data represents a firm in pure competition.
  • Show your calculations.
• Explain the MC=MR Rule.  Describe the market structures to which this rule applies.
• Create a chart to illustrate the data in Columns 9 and 10.
• Describe the profit maximizing (or loss minimizing) output for this firm.  Explain why or why not there is an economic profit?
• Explain why a firm in pure competition is considered to be a “price taker.”

(Assignment continues below Table-1.)

Table-1:  Joseph Farms, Inc., Cost and Revenue Data

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6	Column 7		Column 8	Column 9	Column 10	Column 11
Output Level	Price per unit	Total Fixed Cost	Total Variable Cost	Total Cost	Average Fixed Cost	Average Variable Cost		Average Total Cost	Marginal Cost	Marginal Revenue	Total Revenue
0			$             –		NA
1			$    113.00
2			$    213.00
3			$    300.00
4			$    375.00
5			$    463.00
6			$    563.00
7			$    675.00
8			$    813.00
9			$    975.00
10			$ 1,163.00

 

• Using the data in Table-1 (Joseph Farms, Inc., Cost and Revenue Data), complete Table-2 (Joseph Farms, Inc., Revenue/Profit/Loss Data). Show your calculations in summary form.
• Using the completed data in Table-2 (Joseph Farms, Inc., Revenue/Profit/Loss Data), Identify the break even output level for this firm.

Table-2: Joseph Farms, Inc., Revenue/Profit/Loss Data

Output Level	Price	Total Revenue	Total Costs from Table 1	Profit or Loss
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save your MS Word file including your graphs or charts using the filename LastnameFirstInitial_M3A2 and submit it to the M3: Assignment 2 Dropbox by Wednesday, January 27, 2016.

Remember, quotations, paraphrases, and ideas you get from books, articles, or other sources of information should be cited using APA style. Help with citing sources can be found through the Academic Resources page under Course Home.

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Accurately calculated cost data (total fixed, total, average fixed, average variable, average total, and marginal) and revenue data (marginal and total) for output level ranging from 1 to 10 in Table-1.  Showed calculations in summary form. Correctly assumed data represented a firm in pure competition. (40 points) Completed Table-1 as Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or Word table. (8 points)	48
Explained the MC=MR Rule. (12 points) Identified market structures the MC=MR Rule applies to.  (8 points) Explained why MC=MR Rule applies to these market structures.  (12 points)	32
Graphed all the data in column 9 of Table-1 (marginal cost) as curves in Microsoft Excel. (8 points) Graphed all the data in column 10 of Table-1 (marginal revenue) as curves in Microsoft Excel. (8 points)	16
Explained the profit maximizing (or loss minimizing) output for Joseph’s Farms, Inc. (14 points) Explained whether or not there is an economic profit for Joseph’s Farms, Inc. (14 points)	28
Explained why a firm in pure competition is considered to be a “price taker.”	28
Accurately calculated price, total revenue, and profit or loss data for output level ranging from 0 to 10 in Table-2 using data from Table-1. Showed calculations. (10 points) Completed Table-2 as Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or Word table. (2 points)	12
Accurately calculated the break-even output level (break-even point) for Joseph’s Farms, Inc. using data in Table-2.  Showed calculations.	16
Style (4 points): Tone, audience, and word choice. Usage and Mechanics (4 points): Grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. APA Elements (12 points): In text citations and references, paraphrasing, and appropriate use of quotations and other elements of style.	20

In a 1,000-1,250-word paper, address the following:

1. Read “The Global Leadership of Carlos Ghosn at Nissan.”
2. Explain how Ghosn’s understanding of emotion helped him communicate his message of change. (Do not focus on Ghosn’s emotions, but on the emotions of those he was leading.)
3. In the second part of the paper, discuss Ghosn’s use of cross-functional teams and why they were important to gaining employee buy-in.
4. Conclude by giving a specific personal example of the importance of understanding emotion and of how you have communicated to gain buy-in.
5. Use outside sources as well as material from the readings to support your writing.

Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

Directly quoted source material may not exceed 10% of the paper’s content.

Due to its inherent unreliability, Wikipedia is not considered an acceptable source for use in academic writing.

This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.

You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Assignment 8

Several institutions, including the craft store Hobby Lobby and Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, have opted to decline birth control coverage to their employees or student because birth control use violates the religious principles of the governing organization.  In the case of Wheaton College, the college has decided to end all student health care coverage in order to avoid violating the regulations of the Affordable Care Act. (See article below.)

 

In your opinion, are these institutions behaving ethically?  (There is no RIGHT answer! You will graded on the strength of your thinking and writing, not on the position you take.)

 

Right a persuasive essay of at least 800 words that outlines your opinion on the ethics of this controversy.  Use at least 2 resources to support your positions.

 

Grading Rubric

	Possible points	Student points
Your essay clearly delineates the ethical dilemmas involved.	30
Your position is supported by at least 2 resources, and is at least 800 words long.	20
Your writing is clear and persuasive.	20
You demonstrated a consistent command of sentence boundaries and spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage conventions. Although minor errors may be evident, they do not detract from the fluency of the writing or the clarity of the essay.	20
Your resources are cited according to APA guidelines	10
	100

 

Wheaton College ends coverage amid fight against birth control mandate

July 28, 2015

Wheaton College is ending health care coverage for more than 700 undergraduate and graduate students, about a quarter of the student body, to avoid complying with the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive rules.

(Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune)

By Manya Brachear Pashman Chicago Tribune contact the reporter

 

No more health insurance, Wheaton tells students

Taking a firm stand against Obamacare’s controversial contraception mandate, Wheaton College on Friday will stop providing any health insurance for students.

The decision, announced to students July 10, will halt health care coverage for about a quarter of the college’s 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students, forcing them to shop for other plans just weeks before their coverage ends.

One of the most hotly debated elements of the Affordable Care Act has been the requirement for insurance plans to include base coverage for birth control. Wheaton College was among dozens of Christian nonprofits, as well as businesses such as Hobby Lobby, that argued the mandate was an assault on religious freedom. The college appears to be one of the first to move its protracted legal battle from the courtroom to campus.

Wheaton College in suburban Chicago says it will stop offering health insurance plans to students to avoid providing birth control coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act. (WGN-TV)

During an information session for students last week that was streamed live online, Paul Chelsen, Wheaton’s vice president of student development, said he regretted the last-minute decision and the hardship it brings.

“What has brought us here is about student health insurance, but it’s bigger than student health insurance,” Chelsen said, according to a recording of the session obtained by the Tribune. “What really breaks my heart is that there are real people that are affected by our decision. But if we don’t win this case, the implications down the road in terms of what the government will tell us what we can and cannot do will be potentially more significant.”

“I acknowledge that students have been hurt by this decision and I regret that,” he added.

Officials at the west suburban evangelical school said a compromise provision that would require them to notify the government of their religious objections would prompt the school’s insurance carrier to provide the coverage directly to students. Pulling the trigger on that action, and providing the health care plan in the first place, would force Wheaton to violate its religious beliefs, officials said.

“When you order somebody to provide something for the beneficiaries of my plan, you are using my plan,” said Mark Rienzi, a lawyer for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based law firm representing Wheaton. “For the government to do that is to effectively change the terms of the plan.”

Rienzi said it was not enough that the carrier would provide the emergency contraception and that it would be made clear that Wheaton did not condone the services.

“That’s moral analysis, and Wheaton College doesn’t feel that way,” he said. “It’s very reasonable not to feel that way. The government insists it’s not creating new insurance policies. It’s riding on existing insurance policies.”

While the Roman Catholic Church objects to all forms of contraception, many Protestant institutions do not mind covering several forms of birth control, including pills and sterilization procedures.

But methods such as intrauterine devices and FDA-approved morning-after pills that prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus would violate Wheaton’s religious principles because some evangelical Christians equate those processes to abortion.

Some religious groups and schools have accepted the government’s compromise plan. Wheaton filed a federal lawsuit in 2012. Since then, it has postponed complying with the order, most recently with a temporary stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chelsen said the college was on the verge of canceling insurance last year before the high court’s ruling July 3, 2014.

The injunction came the day after justices ruled in Hobby Lobby’s favor that a family-owned corporation could not be forced to offer contraception coverage for its employees.

When the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Wheaton’s request earlier this month for a preliminary injunction while its lawsuit is pending, it hastened the college’s decision to drop the students’ health care coverage.

“When Wheaton College tells us that it is being ‘forced’ to allow ‘use’ of its health plans to cover emergency contraceptives, it is wrong,” Judge Richard Posner wrote in the opinion. Posner wrote that he didn’t see any reason why Wheaton couldn’t abide by the compromise plan while the case moved through the court system. “This is hardly a burdensome requirement,” Posner wrote.

In the presentation to students, Chelsen explained that the college must be consistent and that the students’ hardship serves a greater purpose.

“We are attempting to protect the larger lawsuit the college has against the Department of Health and Human Services,” Chelsen said. “The reason protecting that case is so important is because basically what has happened is the government is telling us we have to offer something that we find morally objectionable.”

Student health insurance is a relatively recent addition to Wheaton’s enrollment package.

Even though the federal government does not require higher education institutions to provide health insurance, Wheaton added a requirement in 2010 that students enroll or provide proof of comparable insurance every year. Before 2010, students enrolled only in accidental or illness coverage that could protect them in emergencies. Most college students are covered under their parents’ health plans.

The minimum annual cost for last year’s package was $2,700; this year’s plan would have been similar. But the college already had notified students that it would no longer cover spouses and dependents.

Chelsen said some families believed the burden of proof was a headache.

“Some of our families are actually saying, ‘Thank you’ because they did not like the current system we had in place,” Chelsen said.

But some students and alumni object to the college’s decision.

Rising senior Chris Prescher, 22, said he is unaffected by the change. He understands the moral objection, but disagrees with the college’s action. “I fear the administration is putting petty politics above caring for students.”

The Rev. Katherine Kallis, 74, who graduated in 1962, also disagrees. “I just feel it is a very sad thing. Nobody is forcing anybody to go against their religious convictions. … Wheaton is really overstepping its bounds.”

Meanwhile, the college is trying to ease the burden for those who took advantage of the student insurance, especially international students. Chelsen said the college will set aside money to help students who might struggle to pay for an increase in the cost of insurance. A page on the Wheaton College website walks students through the process of finding a private health insurance plan or one on the federal public health insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov.

Chelsen said the insurance decision doesn’t affect access to the campus health clinic.

He said the college is investigating the possibility of a self-insured plan in the future.

“I understand this is a tumultuous, unexpected decision, but we’re hoping it’s not long term,” Chelsen told students last week. “I can’t make any promises. I don’t want to raise expectations for something we can’t provide. But we’re going to give it our best shot.”

mbrachear@tribpub.com