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Assignment questions
PsychologyDiscussion postAdhd

A trend, event or policy related to ADHD

Three routes are offered and they need different sources: news coverage for a trend, an institutional statement for a policy, or a listing for an event. Pick one and follow it properly rather than sampling all three.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 15, 2026

01

Trend, event or policy — pick one and commit

The prompt offers three routes and expects you to take one, so the first decision is which. The trend route uses news coverage and asks what reporters are currently writing about, which in recent years has meant stimulant shortages and their effect on continuity of treatment, the growth of telehealth prescribing and the regulatory response to it, rising adult diagnosis rates and the argument about whether that is recognition or overdiagnosis, and the influence of social media on self-identification. The policy route uses institutional statements — the CDC's own data and guidance pages, or professional body positions on diagnosis, medication and school accommodation. The event route needs a real, datable event: a conference, an awareness campaign, a legislative hearing, a state education department rule change. Each route carries its own risk: a trend may have no primary source behind it, and an event may be a marketing exercise.

Whichever route you take, the answer needs three things and the third is the one that gets left out. Identify it precisely, with a date and a source. Describe it accurately, which means representing what the source actually says rather than what it is commonly taken to say — CDC prevalence figures in particular are widely misquoted. Then say what it means, which is where an ADHD post becomes a psychology post rather than a summary: what does this trend, policy or event imply for how the disorder is understood, who gets identified and who does not, and what happens to people on either side of that line. If you take the trend route on adult diagnosis, the interesting question is whether the rise reflects better recognition of a group historically missed — girls and women especially — or diagnostic expansion, and both readings are defensible if you argue them. Cite the source so the reader can check what you have described.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Choose an appropriate source type for the route taken.
  • 02
    Represent an institutional statement accurately rather than as commonly summarised.
  • 03
    Move from description to implication for understanding and identification.
  • 04
    Argue a position on diagnostic expansion versus improved recognition.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Do some research to identify a trend, event, or a policy related to ADHD. If you look on news websites, you can identify and discuss what reporters are currently writing about ADHD. If you look at the policy statements by institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html) or American Psychological Association (APA.org), you can identify and discuss which policies or advice they provide. You could also try finding events (either past events or future ones) about ADHD at the local, state, or national level and then explain what one or more events were (or will be) about.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Discussion: Policy related to ADHD. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Discussion: Policy related to ADHD.

02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    One trend, event or policy identified precisely, with date and source.
  2. 02
    An accurate description of what the source says.
  3. 03
    An account of what it implies for how ADHD is understood or who is identified.
  4. 04
    Citations in the format your course requires.
03

Identify, describe, then say what it means

01

Choose the route

Decide between trend, policy or event and say why that one.

02

Identify it precisely

Name the trend, policy or event with a date and a citable source.

03

Describe it accurately

Report what the source says, including the figures as stated.

04

Say what it means

Draw out the implication for understanding, identification or access to treatment.

04

Where to look for each of the three options

Recommended databases

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ADHD pages
  • American Psychological Association
  • PubMed Central
  • Major news outlets for the trend route

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Decide the route first — each one needs a different kind of source and mixing them weakens all three.
  2. 2.
    Go to the institution's own page rather than a news summary of it, since the description has to be accurate.
  3. 3.
    Check any prevalence figure against the primary source before quoting it.
  4. 4.
    For the implication section, find one peer-reviewed source arguing each side of the recognition-versus-expansion question.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

    StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023

    Diagnostic criteria and prevalence in reference form, which is the check against a misquoted figure.

  2. 02

    Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

    American Psychological Association · 2017

    The professional body's own standards, relevant if the policy route touches assessment or practice.

  3. 03

    CDC's Developmental Milestones

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · 2024

    Developmental surveillance context, useful for the identification question in children.

  4. 04

    APA Dictionary of Psychology

    American Psychological Association · 2024

    Reference definitions for the behavioural vocabulary that school accommodation policies rest on.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Sampling all three routes shallowly instead of following one properly.
  • Misquoting CDC prevalence figures, which are among the most commonly misreported statistics in this area.
  • Summarising without saying what the finding implies.
  • Choosing a trend with no datable source behind it.
  • Treating rising diagnosis rates as self-evidently overdiagnosis.

Submission checklist

  • Have you committed to one route rather than three?
  • Is your trend, event or policy dated and sourced?
  • Does your description match what the source actually says?
  • Have you moved from description to implication?
  • Is the source cited so a reader could check it?

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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