All posts should be written in your own words and be referenced and cited with at least one scholarly peer-reviewed journal article to support your position. That means even if you are replying to another person’s posts, your post still needs to be original, and referenced, and cited with a scholarly peer-reviewed journal article. The reason that PRJA citations and references are a requirement is that it elevates the discussion. The citation also allows readers to understand exactly what portion of the post is paraphrased from the reference. No direct quotes are allowed – paraphrasing is expected.

The source in which you are required to reference and cite in your discussion posts needs to come from a peer-reviewed journal article. A book (textbook or otherwise) is not appropriate. Your post and reference need to be original – not something that another student has posted and or used.

You must include an APA or AMA formatted citation and reference in your post. Discussion participants may include the instructor or students. The post must pertain to the discussion board issue in which it is being posted.

Posts must be respectful of peers and show an insightful response to a topic related to ethics in health care.

Your post will be evaluated using the following criteria:
Quality of Post (content, logic, depth, breadth) – 8 points: The quality (8 of the 20 points) of the post is of primary importance. The content, logic, depth, and breadth of your post are central to my assessment of the post’s quality. It should be your original writing and the material you cite and reference to support should be of the highest quality. It is not purely a message indicating your opinion. The support must come from at least one Peer-Reviewed Journal Article (PRJA). The lack of a PRJA affects the overall quality of the post.

The support of a peer-reviewed journal article – 4 points: How the PRJA supports the content of the post is critical (4 of to 20 points). The PRJA should provide meaningful evidence to the cited portion of your message.

Grammar, construction, academic tone – 4 points: The tone of the Required Discussion Board forums is formal. It is wise for you to evaluate the writing of your post using an editor, like grammarly.com. The basic grammarly.com editor (not the premium version) is an essential tool for you to use. Grammarly.com is free and gives you nearly immediate feedback with suggestions for improvement.

Reference properly constructed – 3 points and Citation properly constructed – 1 point: The reference (3 points out of 20 points) and the citation (1 point out of 20 points) should be properly constructed. A folder on the course website contains resources that will help you with APA and AMA style. These two styles are the only ones accepted in this class. Pick one and use it throughout an assignment.

To post a message, click the name of the forum on the left side of the page. On the next page, click the phrase “Create Thread”. Follow the prompts to indicate a subject and enter your message. Finally, click

“Submit”.