Dietary fibres: chemistry, impacts on human health and applications in food industry

TOPIC:

Dietary fibre: chemistry, impacts on human health and applications in food industry.

What is dietary fibre? What are the sub-classes of dietary fibre? What are the differences in their chemical structure? **

Discuss key health benefits of dietary fibre. Try to summarise all of the key health benefits and then choose two to discuss in detail. **

Discuss the influence of dietary fibre on the absorption of nutrients.

Discuss the main applications of dietary fibre in food industry? **

To which types of food can dietary fibre be added and how does it influence the property of the food it is added to? Provide at least two examples.

>Within this topic there are five key points. Bolded (**) are the most important key points to focus on. The remaining key points can either be briefly covered or left out altogether. When completing your review of the literature, you may also find other relevant aspects within this topic that you wish to address (and we encourage this).

DEPTH OF RESEARCH:

Real evidence from real studies, so you need to use research papers from journals. Note, reference books should be used

minimally. The main information you will use is in the abstract and

possibly tables and figures.

WORD LIMIT:

1,000 words (+/-10%)

Included in word limit:

 Main body of text

 Headings and subheadings

 In-text citations

LAYOUT/PRESENTATION

 Use font size 12 Times New Roman

 Type in 1.5 line spacing with a minimum of 2cm margins all around.

 Use headings and subheadings. Don’t underline headings and subheadings, but do use bold (as in journal

articles).

 Writing should follow an essay format. i.e., introduction, body of text, conclusion, references.

STRUCTURE

Your essay should have an introduction, body and conclusion.

Start with an Introduction telling people briefly what the topic is about and some simple background.

Then have the body of the work under relevant headings and subheadings. Include tables and figures in this body of

the work, and correctly label as shown in this guide.

Then finish with a short summary (conclusion) of what it all means.

WRITING STYLE

This essay is a scientific essay that should be based on fact. Therefore, scientific evidence (supporting and opposing

if relevant) should be used. Personal opinion in this style of essay should be avoided. Hence, showing different

EVIDENCE is acceptable as long as it is published in the scientific literature.

HEADINGS/SUBHEADINGS

Use headings, subheadings and sub subheadings as required. These can be numbered or simply different font size, italics etc, but not underlined. The wording of each heading/subheading/sub

subheading is up to you and how many you have is also up to you. You should, however, ensure that the heading you

use adequately reflects the section content.

VISUAL AIDS

Make use of relevant visual aids to support and enhance discussion points and add value to the essay.

The table/figure MUST be mentioned in the text of your essay, you cannot just include pages of tables/figures

that are never discussed – penalties apply. In the past some students have also simply cut and pasted numerous

tables/figures of information that may not have even been relevant to their essay and in many cases, they were

so complex the students could not explain what they were about. If markers find this practice, they can ask you

to explain each table/figure, and if you don’t understand what you have included, they will deduct marks.

 Remember, visual aids are designed to enhance the understanding of a concept being discussed. While the visual

aids need to have stand-alone status (i.e., it is clear to the audience what they are relaying without reading the

body of the essay), they should not be randomly included in the essay without being introduced/discussed and

put into context. For example, in the body of the essay, you should say something resembling, “as depicted in

Figure 1….” or “as shown in Table 2….” when referring to each table/figure. This will show the audience where the

table/figure fits in. Even if the table/figure logically fits in the sequence of your essay, you still must refer to it in

the main body of text.

 All visual aids should be integrated into the body of the essay, not included as an appendix. This also contributes

to the ‘logical flow’ of the essay.

 Ensure the concepts of visual aids are discussed prior to the visual aid being used (logical flow of

information).

 Visual aids should be kept within the margins of the written text.

 If you use a table/figure or part of one from a journal or book you MUST state the reference at the bottom of the

table/figure. e.g., Sourced from….., Adapted from….. etc.

LABELLING TABLES

 Tables of information are numbered and labelled at the top of the table with a title. Tables do not have vertical

lines, only horizontal lines for headings at the top and bottom of the table (see example below).

 The Table title should clearly explain what the table is about, so readers can look at it alone and understand what

messages it is communicating without even reading your essay text (i.e., It must stand alone).

LABELLING FIGURES

 Figures are numbered and the title/label is at the bottom of the Figure (see example below).

 The Figure title should clearly explain what the Figure is about, so readers can look at it alone and understand

what messages it is communicating without even reading your essay text (i.e. It must stand alone).

REFERENCING

Referencing should follow APA 7th or Harvard style involving citations as authors and years, with alphabetical listing

of references later. Also need to use in-text citations. Need to use an appropriate amount of sources. (No less than 5 but not too many either.)

INTRODUCTION

An introduction should tell your reader exactly what your paper is about and how it is structured. Introductions are usually 5-10% of the length of a typical essay.

The basic elements of an essay introduction typically flow from the general to the specific, in an order as described below.

A general statement introduces the topic to the reader;

Relevant background information provides more context;

A statement of the central theme articulates the specific topic;

The organisation or structure (map of the essay) narrows down the scope of the essay even further and shows what issues the essay covers, and in which order.

BODY

The body of an essay supports the argument presented in the introduction and it does this by presenting a reasoned case grounded in evidence from relevant scholarship. Its order corresponds to the overview that you provided in your introduction and provides the detail of your position in paragraphs.

Argument structure:

When thinking about how you are going to structure your argument, take into account the following:

Your argument controls all ideas in your essay;

Your argument needs to be composed of the main points supporting it. These form sub-topics which in turn need to be supported by evidence;

Supporting the main points are the individual pieces of evidence, examples, and/or analyses. These are usually based on your research and form the bulk of your writing.

CONCLUSION

The conclusion is an opportunity to summarise what you’ve achieved in the body of the essay. It is where you bring together all of the strands of argument, refer back to the topic, and draw conclusions in a balanced and reasonable tone. The claims you made in your introductory paragraph have now been fully developed and substantiated, so you can reiterate them more assertively. The conclusion should not, however, contain any new material. Your evidence and argumentation should have been laid out in full in the body of the essay.

– A brief reiteration of the main points covered (a summary); but also, perhaps more importantly,

– An actual ‘conclusion’ – clear statements of the position you are at having completed this paper.

Don’t simply repeat yourself in this section. A conclusion which only summarises is repetitive and reduces the impact of your paper. Your conclusion should end on a well-reasoned note. A conclusion needs to do the opposite of an introduction: it needs to move from the specific to the general