Library Award Papers

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https://hdl.handle.net/10587/1015
These awards are available to undergraduate students who demonstrate outstanding research skills in using information and resources located in, or accessible from, the Mount Library when completing a research assignment for course credit during the 12-month period preceding the deadline.

Visit www.msvu.ca/awards for current details on application procedures and deadline.

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Browsing Library Award Papers by Title

Now showing 1 - 10 of 21
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    Barriers and Enablers Affecting Exclusive Breastfeeding Rates Among Mothers in Nova Scotia
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2019-03-22) Millar, Alyssa; MacEachern, Emily; Manning, Caylene
    The World Health Organization currently recommends that mothers breastfeed their infants exclusively for the first six months, and to continue to breastfeed for up to two years [1]. These recommendations have been accepted by Public Health Canada, the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Breastfeeding Committee of Canada, and the Dietitians of Canada [1]. However, the current national rates in Canada established by the Canadian Community Health Survey do not reflect these recommendations [2]. In Nova Scotia, there are two databases that collect information on breastfeeding rates; although, due to the sampling profiles used, these rates are not representative of the population [3]. It is widely portrayed in research that exclusive breastfeeding positively impacts both maternal and infant health [4]. Various initiatives have been created to encourage exclusive breastfeeding practices and provide support for mothers; however, the effectiveness of these initiatives is unknown due to the unavailability of current data [3]. Despite the many benefits provided by breastfeeding, a number of intrinsic and external barriers act to prevent mothers from breastfeeding [5]. These barriers negatively impact the current rates of breastfeeding in Nova Scotia and need to be addressed via breastfeeding policies and initiatives to improve the current rates. The purpose of this project is to establish current rates on breastfeeding in Nova Scotia and identify barriers and enablers which affect these rates.
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    Dissectible Bodies in the Nineteenth-Century: Robbery of African American Graves for Anatomical Dissection in the United States
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2017-04-14) Redgate, Isabella
    The first report of human dissection in the United States dates as far back as 1734 when the body of a Native American who, executed for murder, was publicly dissected in Boston.1 The pressing demand for cadavers, however, surfaced in 1762 when medical colleges like the Medical College at the University of Pennsylvania, the Medical College of Philadelphia and King’s College (now Columbia University) began to offer formal human anatomy courses in which dissection was required. In this essay, I will be specifically looking at the controversial origins of anatomical dissections in the United States by focussing on the perception of necessity that influenced the use of African American bodies for science. Due to the ideological systems in place, African American bodies were the most acceptable bodies to gain medical knowledge from because the commodification of their bodies transgressed the line between life and death, which meant that their bodies were often commodified in death as they had been in life. Secondly, science as an “unquestioned prerogative” was not expected to abide by a moral code but instead was expected to breach the “superstitious” notions held by the general American population. To convince the American population of the objective and foundational personality of medical science, the desecration of African American graves and the use of their bodies instead of white bodies for dissection was key.
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    Effects of Stereotype Threat on Simple and Complex Math Tests
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2016) Beals, Ann Marie
    Stereotype threat is the risk of confirming a negative stereotype of one’s group as being accurate of oneself. An individual from a negatively stereotyped group attempts to disconfirm the stereotype, which in turn increases cognitive load and decreasing working memory, causing errors in responses on complex tasks. These cognitive miscalculations manifest as impaired learning, stunted intellectual development, and underperformance in testing, with decreased motivation and low self-esteem. Mere effort theory posits that if a task is cognitively easy, then the drain on cognitive load and working memory decreases, allowing for better performance. As a person from any group may be subjected to stereotype threat, understanding ways to mitigate stereotype threat and improving learning and performance is beneficial to all individuals and groups. The premise of this research paper is to examine the possibility of attenuating stereotype threat by introducing first a cognitively simple math test, followed by a more cognitively challenging math test. The intention being that by having participants first complete a simple math test, they will have more confidence and be more motivated to perform well on the second, more complex test. The hypotheses were not confirmed; however, there was significant interaction between the simple and complex math test types and the order in which the tests were performed.
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    An exploration of discursive framings of body weight
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2020-05-01) Waugh, Rachel
    Body weight can be a hot topic not only in today’s society, but also particularly in healthcare related fields of study. This is especially true with movements that call into question, resist, critique, and problematize popular historic science on body weight emerging and gaining popularity among healthcare practitioners, such as Health At Every Size®. Organizations like Obesity Canada have large platforms that include student-led Chapters that are typically affiliated with health professional programs within universities that are also discussing body weight within their contexts. The move to medicalize body weight and redefine obesity as a chronic disease differs greatly when compared to movements like Health At Every Size®, and the work of fat studies scholars and activists. Both can be seen as such differing viewpoints which can create turmoil in this area of research, while it is unclear which method is “right.” This research paper will explore discourse as a method to analyze two paradigms of thought that are contributing to the “turmoil” in weight related research. This paper unfolds in three main sections. First, medicalization will be discussed, and explored in regard to body weight. Second, discourse analysis will be explored as a method. The methods will be detailed in this Part 2 for a discourse analysis that will be conducted in Part 3 of this paper. Third, I will present results of my discourse analysis that was used for text-based qualitative research (in the context of a directed study) on two websites that each represent diverging ideological views of body weight; Obesity Canada and the Association for Size Diversity and Health. In this paper, I aim to provide insights into the competing discourses that exist on body weight in research, healthcare, and society.
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    Families Raising Children on the Autism Spectrum: Promoting Resilience
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2022-02) Van De Walker, Sarah
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    “For the sake of one Japanese Canadian family”: Mothertalk as Family Auto/biography
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2015-04-23) Kiddell, Charlotte
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    Hieroglyphics and the Acceptance of Human History
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2018-12-10) Blacker, Elise
    Ancient Egypt has long been thought of as interminably ancient, utterly and completely out of reach. Hieroglyphics have undeniably played a massive role in this conceptualisation of Egypt, entrancing many a small child’s imagination with what seems to a modern eye nonsensical pictures in unintelligible patterns. Yet others have historically disdained that which they do not understand, which was certainly the case with some Europeans’ views on the subject of both Egypt and hieroglyphics. The struggle to understand hieroglyphics lasted for over a millennium, not ending until the nineteenth century and during those years, the summary hegemony of the Bible’s authority on matters of history began to waver. This paper will examine historical European perceptions and understanding of Ancient Egypt and its hieroglyphics from antiquity to the enlightenment era alongside the development of the field of chronology, with special attention to the brief areas where the two quite distinct topics intersect.
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    Kenya: Development Status and Prospects
    (2011-04-05) Barr, Janelle
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