Good topic- 5,000 word paper

[nurseontheway]

Hello everyone. My Anatomy teacher wants us to write a 5,000 word paper. It is due June 24th. What is a good topic to write about? We can pick anything from diabetes to mental illness etc. I just can't seem to think of anything that seems interesting enough to research that deeply... This is my 2nd semester and it is a bear.

[sunray12]

Wow - 5k words is a big paper! My a&p reports weren't anywhere near as big. As far as selecting a topic goes, we were told to go with a disease or medical condition that we experienced or that was experienced by a family member. If you start by thinking along those lines you should easily find a topic.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

anything will net you 5,000 words. i just wouldn't choose anything as mundane as diabetes because it is too broad. there are thousands of diseases. a disease is anything that goes wrong with the anatomy or a physiological process. that covers a lot of territory. perhaps there is one among your friends or family that you always wanted to know more about. i had a teacher who got malaria in wwii and used to have malarial attacks and get sweaty. i had an anatomy professor years ago who had gotten amebic dysentery from drinking water from a stream while hiking in india--bad error. there are also many tropical diseases and parasites that people living in other countries get that we will never see in this country because we erradicated them. then, there are diseases such as leprosy and smallpox which there are now cures for which we are likely to never see in our lifetimes. it would be interesting to write a paper as if you were living during the year the cure for them was just found. it would catch the teachers eye and probably increase your chance of a higher grade. just my ideas.

places to find lists of diseases are to go onto the various nih websites and access their diseases a-z lists. the nih website can be accessed from a weblink at the bottom of the medline plus website which is listed on this thread along with a whole bunch of other sites: https://allnurses.com/nursing-student-assistance/medical-disease-information-258109.html. the websites on this thread have all kinds of sources you can use to find the information you will need to write this paper including how to organize it.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

AHRQ is also a great resource.

[natrgrrl]

I would choose something that will help you in the future, like blood circulation throughout the body or cranial nerves and their functions or where hormones are produced and what they target. If you are worried about 5000 being too many words just start writing and don't worry about the words. You can always go back and elaborate on something if you are short. HAVE FUN!