7 Resources

1. The report entitled "Fish Consumption and Depression: the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study" by Markku Timonen, David Harrobin, Jari Jakelainen, Jaana Laitinin, Anne Herva, and Pirrko Rasanen, covers how the regular consumption of fish throughout a person's life can decrease a risk of depression and suicidality. The authors use a wide variety of sources and data to help prove their point, they even present a chart that shows the difference in the frequency of depression and suicidality between men and women as well as frequent fish consumers and non frequent fish consumers.

Timonen, Markku, David Horrobin, Jari Jokelainen, Jaana Laitinen, Anne Herva, and Pirkko Räsänen. "Fish consumption and depression: the Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort study." Journal of Affective Disorders. 82.3 (2004): 447-452. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.


2. "Early vitamin E supplementation in young but not aged mice reduces Aß levels and amyloid deposition in a transgenic model of Alzheimer’s disease"  is an article, written by Syuan Sung, Yuemang Yao, Kunihiro Uryu, Hengxuan Yang, Virginia M-Y Lee, John Q Trojanowski, Domenico Pratico, that explains the importance of introducing vitamin E into the diet at an early age.  The lab tests done by the researchers demonstrates that if vitamin E is introduced early it can slow the decline of neuro oxidation in Alzheimer patients.  In order to show this to the reader the authors include their graphs and full disclosure of the information they found while conducting research.

Sung, Syuan, Yueman Yao, Kunihiro Uryu, Hengxuan Yang, Virginia M-Y Lee, John Q Trojanowski, and Domenico Pratico. "Early vitamin E supplementation in young but not aged mice reduces Aß levels and amyloid deposition in a transgenic model of Alzheimer’s disease." FASEB Journal. 18.2 (2003): 323-325. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

3. The article "Food Insufficiency and American School Aged Children's Cognitive, Academic and Psychosocial development" by Katherine Alaimo, PhD, Christine M. Olson PhD, RD, and Edward A. Frongillo Jr, PhD investigates the correlation between insufficient amounts of food and cognitive, academic and psychosocial development in school aged children.  Children were classified as having an insufficient amount of food if the family respondent said that their family often times did not get enough to eat.  In order to conduct their research they used a reduction analysis process to determine the relationship between food insufficiency and cognitive, academic and psychosocial development.

Alaimo, PhD, Katherine, Christine M. Olson PhD, RD, and Edward A. Frongillo Jr, PhD. "Food Insufficiency and American School-Aged Children's Cognitive, Academic, and Psychosocial Development." Online Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. 108.1 (2001): 44-53. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
4. Within the article "Nutrition and Depression: Implications for Improving Mental Health Among Childbearing-Aged Women" the authors, Lisa M. Bodnar and Katherine L. Wisner, discuss the importance of good nutritional habits while pregnant.  They explain the ways in which certain fatty acids are essential and the susceptibility of pregnant and lactating women to various vitamins and minerals. In order to prove their thesis the authors use a variety of examples and sources to support their ideas.


Bodnar, Lisa M., and Katherine L. Wisner. "Nutrition and Depression: Implications for Improving Mental Health Among Childbearing-Aged Women." Biological Psychiatry. 58.9 (2005): 679-685. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

5. The article entitled "Fish Consumption and Major Depression" written by Joseph R Hibbeln discusses his test of the hypothesis that a higher consumption of fish will lead to a lower rate of depression. This was accomplished by collecting data from various countries around the world and comparing the amount of fish consumed within these countries with the amount of depression prevalent within the country. In order to accomplish this feat Joseph R. Hibbeln presents a variety of information and cites many sources within his article.

Hibbeln, Joseph R. "Fish Consumption and Major Depression." Lancet. 351.9110 (1998): 1213. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

6. Michael Grundman's article "Vitamin E and Alzheimer disease: the Basis for Additional Clinical Trials" discusses the impact of Vitamin E on the oxidation damage induced by ß-amyloid in cell culture and delays memory deficits in animal models.  He makes his case by using multiple test groups and using a placebo in one group and vitamin E in the other and then monitoring the results. He performed these tests in order to determine if vitamin E would be able to prevent or delay a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer disease.

Grundman, Michael. "Vitamin E and Alzheimer disease: the basis for additional clinical trials." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 71.2 (2000): 630-636. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

7.  The article "Macronutrients and Mental Performance" by Louise Dye, PhD, Anne Lluch, PhD and John E. Blundell, PhD discusses how the impact of macronutrients on mental performance has become a hot topic in the world of science and nutrition.  The authors discuss how glucose has a beneficial effect on cognitive performance. In order to present their hypothesis in a positive manner the authors discuss the flaws that are contained within similar studies that reside within the same field.

Dye, PhD, Louise, Anne Lluch, PhD, and John E. Blundell, PhD. "Macronutrients and MentalPerformance." Nutrition. 16.10 (2000): 1021-1034. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. 

Working Thesis

Eating healthy and nutritiously has a positive impact on mental health because vitamins A, E, B6, B12 and C have the abilitity to reduce oxidative stress in the brain and improve memory function, as well as the fact that food deprivation can affect cognition, and an decrease in fatty acids, such as those found in fish, can lead to depression.

The objective of the article "Nutrition and Mental Health" by Naiyana Wattanapenpaiboon and Mark L. Wahlqvist, is to to consider the possible effects or nutrition on cognitive function and depression.  The authors make their point by bringing up various mental illnesses that are associated with poor diet, such as Alzheimer.  In order to help the reader realize the importance of nutrition the authors use a variety of examples and use many details to support their examples. This piece is aimed at people who are interested in learning more about the topic and is written at a level that is a bit challenging to understand.

Wattanapenpaiboon, Naiyana, Mark L. Wahlqvist. “Nutrition and Mental Health.” Food and Nutrition. 2. 487-491. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

What you eat has an impact on your mental health

1. What effect does skipping meals have on mental health?
2. What role does a balanced diet have on mental health?
3. Do certain foods make you feel happy?
4. Does overeating/frequent eating impact mental health?
5. Can mental health problems be solved by a change in diet?
6. Can fad diets have a negative impact on mental health?
7. Does it matter how many meals per day a person consumes?
8. Can mental health problems be caused by poor diet and nutrition?
9. Can a nutritionist help solve mental health issues?
10. How do you know you need to meet with a nutritionist?

 Within chapter 7 of their book "Good Reasons", Faigley and Selzer approach the various topics used to develop an effective argument.  They present examples on various types of arguments in order to support their thesis. They bring up the point that every argument should have a strong point in which it is based upon. The purpose of this particular chapter was to prove that in order to have an effective argument a sufficient amount of research must be put into the topic. This chapter was intended to be an education piece to help those struggling with forming an effective argument.

In chapter 4 of "Good Reasons" by Lester Faigley and Jack Selzer they bring forth the idea that a well written piece of writing or argument always has a strong organizational system and that the process of revision is extremely important in regards to the thoroughness of the piece. They find it important to really think about what information truly needs to be presented to the reader. They also help by presenting how to ensure your paper has the necessary amount of clarity in order for the paper to be determined as a well written paper.  The chapter is presented to a group of students to assist them in writing a well organized and effective paper.

The topic of plagiarism is one that is difficult to discuss. The lines are blurry as to what is considered plagiarism and what is not.  It all depends on the amount of correct citations used within the paper that is being written.  The scholarly article that I read, entitled "What is Plagiarism?" helped to make it clear what is truly plagiarism and how to avoid it. I think this helped me to fully understand simply because it set specific parameters instead of just giving a vague outline like the other article we read for class. The article "What is Plagiarism?" also brings up the topic of borrowing information, which is similar to the audio clip about music sampling that we read.  It can be difficult to determine what is okay to use and what is not, and how to properly cite the information being "borrowed." All three of these information sources have provided me with information that I did not previously know. They have opened my eyes to the world of plagiarism and the complexity that lies within the issue. I was aware that plagiarism does happen within the college setting but I did not realize just how common of an issue it has become. I had been unaware of the issues that lie within digital music sampling before I listened to the NPR audio clip. Digital music sampling is not something that directly impacts my life so it was interesting to learn more about the topic.

Professor Ross Collins of North Dakota State University helps to clearly lay out what is and is not considered plagiarism in his article entitled "What is Plagiarism?". He does this by thoroughly explaining the common ways students plagiarism as well as laying out ways to avoid subtle plagiarism.  He explains that in order to avoid plagiarism it is necessary to be able to cite more than two sources, and that a larger knowledge base and makes it easier to formulate an independent idea on the material. This article is directed towards college students in order to make them more effective writers and to help them to avoid plagiarism.

The audio clip about digital music sampling brought up things that I had never thought much about.  It seems as though the issue comes from whether or not the person using the music sample holds the rights to the song and whether or not the original artist or that artists music label corporation is receiving money for the song being used. If the person using the sample does not have a license to use that sample they can be sued for copyright infringement.  It seems to me as though the original artists are not nearly as upset about their samples being used as the music label corporations associated with the original artist.  Samples can help bring the spotlight back to artists who had fallen out of it, when a piece of their song is used within the new creation it can help bring the spotlight back to focus on them.

The article about plagiarism brings up the fact that college professors are in awe over the amount of students who take part in plagiarizing. It is becoming easier and easier for students to plagiarize with the help of the internet.  The internet gives the student access to a wealth of information and the occasional lack of credible sources. Before there was so much access to information on the internet it was much harder to plagiarize, simply due to the fact that students used to have to physically look through books for information instead of being able to just copy and paste information from a web page and insert it into their papers. Part of the issue with plagiarism is the lack of citations found within student's research papers.  This may simply be due to the fact that students in this day and age have become lazier than the students in previous generations.  There is a overall lack of effort put into the writing of research papers and this leads students to "steal" snippets of information from articles and books written by other authors and claim them as their own work.