How to complete the assignment:
- This assignment is to be completed individually.
- Locate a main-stream written news piece about a trendy diet or other fad nutrition-related topic. Look for articles that are published on mainstream news outlet websites (i.e., Huffington Post, Toronto Star, CBC, CNN etc.), on a magazine website (i.e., Men’s Health, Self, Prevention etc.) or other health websites (i.e., BodyBuilding.com). Avoid the less main-stream, scientific websites like Sciencedaily.com or institution websites (i.e., Harvard Nutrition), as these may be more challenging to critique. You can use a hardcopy print version, but you will need to scan or take a photo of the news piece, and the text must be legible.
The news piece must be about a nutrition-related intervention (i.e., diet, food item, beverage) Please avoid articles about pharmaceutical interventions or natural health products/supplements.
The news piece should be about how the nutrition-related intervention effects health/disease development.
The news piece must be based on the findings from a scientific study. For example: randomized controlled trials, observational studies (cross-sectional, longitudinal, retrospective), in vitro studies and animal experimental studies, meta-analyses or systematic reviews. Usually, the study is linked to in the body of the news piece, referenced in the news piece or is referenced at the end of the article. If you are unable to locate the scientific study that the news piece is based on, seek out another news piece. q Include a screenshot, or copy and paste the news piece, in the APPENDIX A of your submission.
- Locate the scientific study that the news piece is based on. Use the single citation matcher in PubMed to help you do this (see APPENDIX for examples). Include a screenshot of the PubMed page for the scientific article in APPENDIX B to demonstrate that you were able to locate it. See the APPENDIX for examples of these screenshots.
- PART A (12.5% of final grade): In a two-page written summary, include: A brief background on the topic (i.e., why is the topic important/relevant, how it affects overall health and wellbeing etc.) and nutrition-related intervention.
Support your points with references.
A description of the message that the mainstream news piece is conveying to the reader.
A critique of how well the news piece conveys the message in the scientific article.
Suggestions about how the news piece could be revised to better portray the message in the scientific article and what additional information the reader should know about the nutrition-related intervention. This additional information could come from the scientific article that the news piece is based on, or other scientific articles on the topic.
Transform some components of your written summary into a one-page infographic to convey scientific information about your nutrition-related intervention from Part A.
Infographics are commonly used in public health to convey complex messages to the public using visual aids and graphics. Your infographic should be aesthetically pleasing (consider layout, white space, logical flow of content), eye-catching, contain as few words as possible, and be intended for a non-scientific, lay audience. You do not need to include information about the news article or about your critique of the news article. You may use information from studies that you located for Part A, or other studies not included in Part A.
In your infographic, also include 2 myths/misconceptions about the nutrition-related intervention. You can come up with these myths on your own based on what you think or what your peers may think about the nutritionrelated intervention, and then use scientific literature to debunk the myth.