The paper is supposed to be a ‘non-scientific’ paper on sleep, expected to essentially come up with a creative way to discuss an aspect or application of sleep research in an area that is of interest to us. Though they are non-scientific, this means that we are not meant to answer a research question, we are still expected to include sleep science-related information in the essay.

I’ve attached two sample papers given to us as model answers. One is on the sleeping habit of U.S. presidents and the other is on Sleep Paralysis interpretation in different cultures.

Topics we’ve covered in class so far:
-Sleep in Art and Literature
-History of Sleep medicine
-Neurobiology of sleep
-Review of stages of sleep, REM, -Non-REM
-Sleep Research Techniques
-Sleep in animals
-Sleep patterns in humans that don’t have access to electricity
-Effects of sleep deprivation
-Circadian cycles

“Grading of papers is done independently by the instructors and then by consensus based on four factors – originality/ creativity, integration of the sleep science and knowledge, and the quality of the writing/presentation.”