RUNNING HEAD: GRANT PROPOSALS IN THE HEALTH SCIENCE MAJOR

Grant Proposals in the Health Science Major:

A Recommendation Report
at California State University, Fullerton
Prepared for: Dr. Leslie Bruce
Prepared by: Andrya Ventura
November 19, 2014

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RUNNING HEAD: GRANT PROPOSALS IN THE HEALTH SCIENCE MAJOR

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Abstract
A student who majors in Health Science is obviously expected to take courses pertaining
to health. Yet, genres of writing within this field have yet to be assessed. We will analyze why
grant proposals and patient reports seems to be the most significant writing genre within the
Health Science major, and out of the two, I will reason why only one should be implemented.
Keywords: health science major, csuf, writing, student, major, careers
Grant Proposals in the Health Science Major Information
The purpose of this recommendation report is to urge that grant proposals be included
into the Health Science major curriculum. Although there are many health science courses, there
fails to be a course that is heavily specific to a writing genre that will be useful in the Health
Science field of careers (University catalog 2013). Sources of information incorporated in this
report are opinions of students, professors, physical therapists, and online research. Topics
included are the writing genres of grant proposals, patient reports, patient evaluations, and case
studies. The result of the most desired writing genre was a tie between grant proposals and
patient reports. I recommend grant proposals since it aids the student in critical thinking skills
through calculations, needs assessments, and literature reviews, and will be the most useful in
Health Science careers (M. Koleilat, personal communication, 2014). The following sections
show the research methods, results of the findings, the conclusion---which will include further
discussion of the results----and lastly, the recommendation section.

Method
Participants, Setting & Procedure

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Three professors, forty Health science students, and two certified physical therapists were
interviewed and surveyed. The professors are from the CSUF Health Science department who
are full-time faculty professors with a great experience in the Health Science field. The two
physical therapists being interviewed have been in the physical therapy field for more than five
years, and one owns her own physical therapy business. The Health Science students were from
a HESC 401 online course at CSUF.

The surveys were given to the faculty members and students of the Health Science
department while the interviews were given only specifically for more information on the field of
physical therapy, and their uses of various writing genres.
I. Survey
A survey will be conducted to decipher which writing genre is the most relevant in the
physical therapy field. There will be five possible choices with ratings from 1 to 5 (patient
evaluations, patient reports, grant proposal, case studies). The survey will include four questions:
1) Which genre will help you get to your future career? 2) Which genre is most relevant in your
career? 3) In your opinion, which is the most difficult writing genre in your field? And lastly, 4)
Which genre do you think should be taught more in the Health Science major?
II. Interview
A series of three questions will be given during the interview of two physical therapists
asking which genre is most relevant for physical therapists, which genre is most common, and
which genre of writing is the most difficult.
III. Online Research
Online research was done via the CSUF Library Database, the CSUF course catalog, and
other internet sources for further information on existing courses and writing genres.

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Results
Writing
Genre

Which genre
will help you
get to your
future career?

Which genre
is most
relevant in
your career?

In your opinion,
Which genre do you
which is the most
think should be
difficult writing
taught more in the
genre in your field?
Health Science
major?

Patient
Evaluations

Patient
Report

Grant
Proposals

Case Studies

This criteria chart shows the result of the surveys distributed. The weight is calculated
based on the overall average of the answers received from the students and professors. The point
results were 9, 15, 15, and 10 with a tie between grant proposals and patient reports.
I.

Survey
The survey revealed that lab reports and grant proposals were the most significant in

aiding a future career.

II.

Interview
Patient evaluations, patient reports, discharge papers, and rehabilitation exercise plans

are the overall common writing genres of a physical therapist. Although, there were four
writing genres, I only incorporated the top two significant genres of patient evaluations and
patient reports (F. Manuel, personal communication, November 8, 2014).
III.

Online Research

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The CSUF course catalog of 2013-2015, states the writing requirement of a Health
Science major to be either ENG 301 (Advanced College Writing) or ENG 360 (Technical
Writing). Prerequisites of writing include HESC 400 (Program Design) and 475 (Health Science
Planning, Research, and Evaluation) (CSUF Catalog, 2013-2015). These existing classes do
teach various writing genres such as research papers, program design, case studies, and lab
reports. It fails to have an emphasis on the most significant writing genre of grant proposals.
Conventions
A grant proposal is typically about two to three pages including approximately four
sections: summary, background information, project description, budget, and methodology. The
format of a grant proposal states the proposer, sponsor, and how much money is needed. The
summary section gives a brief summary of the research, background information includes the
introduction and the proposers goals, the project description includes details of the upcoming
workload of the project, the budget are the expenses, and lastly the methodology explains why
different equipment is needed, and where research has been taken place (Rutgers 2014).
Discussion
The results conclude that grant proposals and patient reports are the most significant in a
Health Science major and future career with this degree. Surprisingly, faculty and students did
not have much differing opinions. In fact, the data from the faculty and students were almost
identical. There was a great stress on the two writing genres of grant proposals and patient
reports for several reasons. Grant proposals are significant within the Health Science industry
because money is always needed for equipment, experiments, studies, and facilities (Rutgers
University Catalog, 2014). While patient reports are highly common in the medical industry as
well. Patients are always evaluated which calls for reports to be recorded for medical
convenience and patient history (Robey, 2011).

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Recommendation
Since there are a variety of writing genres within the Health Science field, I recommend
grant proposals simply be incorporated in HESC 475 which is a course on planning, research,
and evaluation. This course should dedicate a quarter of the semester on a grant proposal project,
emphasizing its significance in the Health Science field. Being that grant proposals include much
research, persuasiveness, calculations, and identified limitations, valuable information in the first
quarter of the course will aid an individual in future success on the field (M. Koleilat, personal
communication, 2014.) Having limitations to conducting experiments, studies, or any other acts
within the health field due to the lack of money can always be solved. Hence with the ability to
write grant proposals, there will always be a solution.
References
California State University Fullerton. (2014, November 7). 2013-2015 University Catalog.
Fullerton, CA: Titan Shops
Clark, I. L. & Fischbach, R. (2008). Writing and Learning in the Health Sciences:
Rhetoric, Identity, Genre, and Performance. The WAC journal, 19, 16-21.
Robey, T. (July 2011). The Art of Writing Patient Record Notes. American Medical Association,
13:7,482-484.
Ruddy, A. (2012). Writing in Physical Therapy. Prezi Online. Accessed: November 13, 2014.
Rutgers University. Developing and Writing Grant Proposals. Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance.
< http://njms.rutgers.edu/research/orp/DevelopingAndWritingGrantProposals.htm>
Accessed on November 11, 2014.