How to Write a Personal

Definition of Health

Combining the Personal and the Definitive in a

meaningful way

Contents Assignment Outline Rubric Critiquing Definitions Brainstorming your own Organizing the Paper Titles

Assignment Outline

Personal Definition of Health Assignment (15%)

Your personal definition of health will be a three-page reflection of your thoughts, perspectives and/or experiences that have or are influencing your current personal definition of health. Further information will be provided during Week 2 regarding the criteria for completing this assignment. Your personal definition of health is due in seminar (Week 6)

Assignment Rubric

The student submitted an assignment of appropriate length (3 pages single sided), word processed and double spaced.The title was declarative, creative and relevant  The student provided a written definition of health which includes her/his thoughts, unique perspectives and/or experiences that influence her/his understanding of healthThe student took into account cultural, spiritual, social or economic considerations when elaborating upon his/her personal definition of health 

Assignment Rubric cont.The reflection was clearly written, creative and thought-provoking overall

  

The student relied on her/his own experiences and wrote in the first-person while making appropriate links to course content

  

The student avoided relying solely on others’ work, i.e., peer-reviewed journals, but used quotes where appropriate to elaborate on experiencesSupportive Materials/ References: Are supporting materials of high quality, and peer reviewed? Are references properly formatted?

Critiquing Definitions Find all the health definitions from the

readings Put them in groupings (How can they be

categorized? Engage in close-reading of its structure)

Critique each one (find strengths and weaknesses)

Start to think about what an ideal definition would include

Critiquing cont. Health is “a state of complete physical,

mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. (WHO)

Health is a “resource for daily life”. Health allows us to "to realize aspirations and satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment…Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources as well as physical capacities”. (OTHP)

Critiquing cont. “Health promotion is the process of enabling people

to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health.” (BC)

“The condition of being well or free from disease; the overall condition of someone's body or mind; the condition or state of something” (Merriam-Webster)

Old English hǣlth, of Germanic origin; related to whole (Oxford Dictionary)

Brainstorming your own Definition

From Professor’s lecture this week: What is important to you in terms of health?

Brainstorm ideas, words, pictures Reflect on some of the concepts we have discussed

Holistic? Supportive environments? Individual resilience? Healthy lifestyles? Health promotion/disease prevention?

Draft and share your definition – discuss/debate/defend!

Compare and contrast with the concepts in the readings

Share your personal journey to this definition – which experiences have influenced you?

Organizing the Paper What are the ‘parts’ of this paper? What are some ways to organize these

parts? What do you definitely need to include? What should you avoid?

Creating a Declarative Title

Your title should be declarative:

A declarative title states or asserts something; in a research paper, this might be a statement of main research findings or conclusions; in context of this assignment, this might be a main statement concluding the student's definition of health (e.g. the scope/breadth/main point of their definition)

Title cont.

In order to make sure it is declarative of your focus and definition, write it at the end, after you have written everything

Make sure it matches up with the wording you have used in your definition

TitlesSome examples from this course: Re-imagining the 'social' in the nutrition

sciences A lifecourse perspective: Understanding

food choices in time, social location and history

Sanitary Science and Home Economics 1880-1930

Introduction to Professional Practice

Titles Titles should also be creative

Spreading the Germ Theory: Sanitary Science and Home Economics 1880-1930

Introduction to Professional Practice: Passion, Portals & Pie

Titles Use the colon to help organize the title’s

parts

Creative: Declarative (or visa versa, mix-it up, or drop the colon)