Cancer Public Service Announcement Project – Breast Cancer – 304
The local chapter of the American Cancer Society has learned that you are taking a Cancer Biology college course and have asked you to help them develop a public service announcement. The goal of the announcement is to educate the general public on the biology of one specific type of cancer and to encourage people to get screened, look for signs themselves, or implement lifestyle changes that will reduce their chance of developing that specific type of cancer.
In this multi-step assignment, you will throughout the semester create a public service announcement brochure, article, poster, video, podcast, or narrated presentation.
If you choose a video, podcast, or narrated presentation, you must also include a written script as part of your presentation. If a presentation or video is uploaded to YouTube (unlisted); you can download an automatically generated transcript – see more information below.
This assignment addresses the following course outcomes:
Identify properties involved in maintaining homeostasis in order to recognize how certain factors contribute to cancer.
Recognize the complexity of cancer and assess current approaches for screening, diagnosis, and treatment in order to adopt appropriate lifestyle strategies.
Apply knowledge of causes, development, and progression of cancer to ask questions and make informed decisions about personal and public health.
Step 4: Submit Public Service Announcement – Week 7
Format Choices:
A narrated PowerPoint presentation for a community health fair
A popular science-type article to be published in a local newspaper or magazine
A scientific brochure to be handed out at local health centers.
Regardless of chosen format, your public service announcement should contain the following information:
Introduction: Share a few statistics about the chosen type of cancer and introduce what will be covered.
Describe the known genetic and environmental factors that cause this type of cancer. Include details about genes, inherited and spontaneous mutations, proteins, hormones, and known carcinogens that are involved with the development of this type of cancer.
Using your knowledge of cancer cell and tissue biology, describe the development and progression of this type of cancer.
Discuss the current approach for screening, diagnosis, and treatment for this type of cancer. Include either an explanation of how one type of treatment works at the cellular level or discuss an emerging innovative approach to treatment.
Discuss what can be done from a public health perspective, and from an individual perspective, to reduce the risks associated with the development of this type of cancer.
A minimum of 5 informative and relevant images are required, regardless of the chosen format. More than 5 is fine. These images should be referred to in the text and/or narration and should be explained as needed. Include the source below each image (just the URL is enough). See suggestion for type of images under Step 2.
Conclusion
References in APA format. Include at least one intext citation for each reference, and more as needed throughout the presentation. Specific information from each of the cited information sources should be evident in your presentation. All references must have functioning URLs (links).
Length Requirement: 1200-1800 words
Mechanics and organization of content will account for 10% of grade.
Your announcement should be fully paraphrased in your own words, your own writing style, and structure. Changing just a few words in a sentence is not fully paraphrasing.
Use in-text citations within your assignment and a reference list at the end. Text from outside sources either needs to be fully paraphrased in your own writing style (in-text citation is still needed), or needs quotation marks around the copied text, plus an in-text citation after. There should be a minimal need for direct quotes in this assignment (less than 10%).
Remember that your audience is the general public. Although you may be using some technical information resources you should explain everything so that people who have not completed BIOL 304 can understand it.
Here are some resources that may be helpful as you write your paper:
The UMGC Effective Writing Center
Paraphrasing content in your own words
Submit your public service announcement to the assignment folder by the due date listed in the syllabus.
Submission formats:
Submit a video or narrated presentation as an unlisted YouTube link (see instructions below), and a written transcript in a Word document.
Submit a podcast as an audio file, or url, and as a written transcript in Word document.
Submit brochure, poster, or article as a Word document, PowerPoint, or PDF file.
Turnitin: The originality of your assignment will be checked with Turnitin. Please review the originality report, and if needed, submit a revised assignment before the submission deadline.
If you need help accessing and understanding the Turnitin Report, please use this resource:
UMGC Turnitin FAQ
Important: If you use a Generative AI tool to assist you with this assignment, it must be acknowledged. Please review the statement about Generative AI use under Academic Policies in the syllabus, and the UMGC Artificial Intelligence Guide, especially in regard to the importance of acknowledgement and citation. The large majority of your assignment must be your own work, and any Gen AI output incorporated into the assignment must be cited as such. An important aspect of responsible AI use, and academic integrity, is honesty. Your own voice, your own thoughts, and supportive detail from each of the information sources cited, should be evident throughout all your submitted work.
How to Create a Narrated PowerPoint Presentation and Upload to YouTube – If You Choose that Format
1. Download the desktop version of PowerPoint if you have not already. This is needed to add narration directly within the slides. All UMGC students can download Office 365, including PowerPoint, for free. Sign in to office.com using your UMGC student email and password. Select “Install Apps” on the upper right-hand side of the screen.
2. Create the slides in PowerPoint*
The title slide should have a title for the presentation, your name, UMGC, and the course/section number.
Use a limited amount of text on each slide. Add images that contribute to the information that you are sharing verbally.
Add the URL to the source below each image you use (small font is OK to make it less distracting).
List all references to information sources used in APA format on the last slide of the presentation.
*Alternatively, you can use Google Slides or any other slide program you are familiar with as long as it supports narration and upload to YouTube.
Here are some resources you may find helpful when creating the PowerPoint presentation:
Presentation Zen
How to Make a Good PowerPoint Presentation (Tips)
3. Write or autogenerate a script for your narration** for each slide in a Word document.
The narration should be fully paraphrased in your own words, your own writing style, and structure. Changing a few words in sentences obtained from information sources is not fully paraphrasing. It is OK if you do not strictly follow the script when you narrate.
**An alternative to writing the script prior to the narration is to follow this approach to download an automatically generated transcript from YouTube (Note: you need to allow extra time for the closed captioning/transcript to be generated, remember to choose the language as “English”), see this video for more detail if you want to use this approach: Easiest Way to Download YouTube Transcript/Subtitles as Plain Text.
4 Record your narration in PowerPoint.***
Go to Insert and click the Audio icon (to the right in the editing bar), choose Record Audio… from the drop-down menu. Click the red button to start your narration, then the blue button to stop. Check that your recording is OK. You can delete a recording and start over, and you can also do some minor editing by cutting off the start and/or end of the recording. Repeat for all the slides in your presentation. You may want to move the narration icon that appears in the middle of the slide to a corner.
***Alternatively, you can record your presentation in Zoom (if you have an account that allows recording), or another screen-sharing and recording program you are familiar with.
For additional advice, check out this article: How to Add Audio to a PowerPoint Presentation
5. Save your presentation as MPEG4 file.
Once your narrated PowerPoint presentation is completed, save it on your computer as an MPG4 file video by clicking File > Save > Choose MPEG4 format from the drop-down menu. Creating the video will take a few minutes. You can see a progress bar at the bottom.
6. Upload to YouTube.****
Go to: YouTube
If you already have a YouTube account, log in. If you do not have a YouTube account, create a free account. Click on the Create symbol in the upper right corner, and Upload Video. You can “Drag and drop” or click “Select Files” to locate your narrated PowerPoint MPG4 file. The processing will take a few minutes. You will need to click through a few pages of options. Most default settings are OK but choose the Unlisted option for visibility, if you only want people you share the link with (including our class) to be able to view it.
****An alternative to YouTube is Vimeo or any other video-sharing platform you are familiar with (must produce a shareable url).
Submit your YouTube link and the Word document in the assignment folder by the due date/time listed in the course schedule.
Turnitin: The originality of your assignment will be checked with Turnitin. Please review the originality report (Turnitin Instructions for UMGC Students), and if needed, submit a revised assignment before the submission deadline.
