1. Introduce Your Discipline and Graduate Program.

My major is Nutrition. Scientifically speaking Nutrition is the study of energy

and other healthful components in food. However, personally, nutrition is something I

connect with as I firmly believe in the old saying that Health is Wealth. According to

American Nutrition of Journal 70% of Americans fall under the category of obese. I

do not expect to change the world but wish to be of some potential to contribute

towards a healthy society. Nutrition is a very complex discipline, it includes the study

of micro-nutrients, macro-nutrients, food safety, Fundamentals of cooking, famine

and other issues, they are also related to nutrition.

George Mason University has prodigious ways of helping its students in need.

Through the GMU official website, I can learn very specific details about my nutrition

programs (George Mason University, 2018).

The main purpose of my major is to develop a set of skills for students to meet

nutrition-related needs (George Mason University, 2018). Specifically, students will

learn how to assess, evaluate, and intervene in the most current and relevant nutrition

issues (George Mason University, 2018).

Students will also be able to work in local, national, and even international

nutrition-related organizations, businesses, and organizations in the future (George

Mason University, 2018). At the same time, students can carry out further research.

(George Mason University, 2018).

As for the specific project content, my graduate nutrition program will include

courses on nutrition science such as macro-nutrition and micro-nutrition, nutrition

education, nutrition assessment, nutrition project development and research methods

(George Mason University, 2018). The areas covered will include global nutrition,

food safety, cooking Fundamentals and knowledge of different cultures (George

Mason University, 2018).

2. Set Your Academic Goals by S.M.A.R.T Goals (UHR, Employee Development).

Follow the requirement of the assignment, I chose 3 goals and these goals are the

requirements of my academic program.

Goal:

a. Passing the Pathway Program.

1. Specific. What will the goal accomplish? How and why will it be

accomplished?

a. I have worked hard around the year to pass my Pathway Program. Because

only through this I can continue to study at such a prestigious university,

which is my prior aim to come to the US.

2. Measurable. How will you measure whether the goal has been reached?

a. Firstly, no course grade is below B. Second, GPA is higher than 3.25. Third,

two letters of recommendation. Fourth, meet all the requirements of my

Pathway Program could mean that I accomplish the goal.

3. Achievable. Is it possible? Have others done it successfully? Do you have the

necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and resources to accomplish the goal?

Will meeting the goal challenge you without defeating you?

There is no doubt that the goal are possible to achieve but will be difficult. I
 know many friends who have successfully achieved the goal. I think I have

enough knowledge, ability, and resources to accomplish some professional goals.

It only needs just time. Achieving the goal will be a huge challenge for me but

will not defeat me.

4. Result-focused. What is the reason, purpose, or benefit of accomplishing the

goal? What is the result of the goal?

a. Through my Pathway Program is the ultimate goal of this year of mine.

The ultimate goal of my coming to the United States is to graduate

smoothly. Obviously, only through Pathway Program can I be officially

enrolled in Mason and complete my studies.

5. Time-bound. What are the established completion data and does that

completion data create a practical sense of urgency?

a. Next end of the semester. Not very urgent but I have to hard work.

Revised Goal:

a. Passing the Pathway Program.

3. Provide an Annotated Disciplinary Resources List.

The following books and academic journals are very important to my major.

1) Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics: Using excel 2016

A book about statistics. This book is a basic statistics textbook. Through this

textbook, one can learn and practice Excel, functions, tables, operations, formulas and

so on. Lead readers to understand and grasp statistics easily. There is also the

knowledge of simple description, correlation, and graph statistics (Salkind, 2017).

 2) Nutrition + MindTap Nutrition, 6-month Access Concepts and

Controversies.

Introduction to nutrition, which is divided into chapters, describes in detail the basic

nutrients, including protein, carbohydrates, water, vitamins, trace elements, and their

relationship with the human body. It is not only academic but also the introduction

and popular science with pictures and texts. It is very easy to learn about health and

nutrition from this book (CENGAGE L, 2016).

3) Cell

Cell is a scientific journal, it publishes research paper across a large quantity of

discipline about life science. Like Cell, Neuron, Immunity, Current, Biology and so

on. It is peer-reviewed, so it is authorized. It has many sub-publications, all of them

are also famous in the world (Cell, 2018).

4) Nature

Nature is also a scientific journal, it is multidisciplinary, it is first published on 4

November 1869. It is also one of the famous journals in the world. It ranks No.1 in the

world’s cited scientific journal by 2010 Journal Citation Reports. It publishes original

research across a wide range of scientific fields (Springer Nature Limited, 2018).

5) Science

Science was first published in 1880, it is weekly circulated currently. Science is

one of the world’s top academic journals. We often mention the Science as Science

Magazine, it is also a peer-academic journal of the American Association. It serves a

large quantity of audience ( American Association for the Advancement of Science,

2018).

6) Journal of Food and Nutrition

Food and Nutrition is an open access journal focusing on nutrition and food

science, malnutrition, vitamin and mineral nutrition. Current research focuses on

carbohydrate and protein nutrition, child nutrition, food preservation and quality

control, food technology applications, food processing industries, nutritional

genomics, organic nutrition, and nanotechnology applications in food and nutrition

(JScholar, 2012).

7) Food &Nutrition journal

It is a famous journal in the field of food and nutrition. The journal publishes a lot

of research articles, review articles, short reviews, and editorials, etc. It is peer-

reviewed, and it is an open access to journals that published manuscripts from the

fields of food and nutrition science (Copyrights Gavin Publisher, 2018).

4. Design a Course Plan.

Course
Semester Course name Credits
number

NUTR 620 Nutrition Education 3

Nutrition Across the

Fall 2019 NUTR 522 3
Lifespan

NUTR 642 Macro-nutrients 3

NUTR 644 Micro-nutrients 3

Spring 2020
NUTR 626 Food Systems 3
 Nutrition Assessment,
NUTR 651 3
Monitoring and Surveillance

NUTR 583 Food and Culture 3

NUTR 670 Nutrition Research Methods 3

Fall 2020 Nutrition Program

NUTR 675 Development, Interventions 3

and Assessments

NUTR 583: Required only for students who will complete the Practicum Option.

5. Share an academic Reflection

In the 21st century, not only talent is more important, human beings are more

concerned about their own health. If there is no life, there is no meaning of talking

about talents, so in this society, not only are doctors more important. but also there

exists such an industry of nutritionists that people are very concerned about, so what

professional skills a dietitian need. How should we learn?

When it comes to my academic discipline, I learned many skills of discipline

from this semester. I know the difficulty of graduating from this college successfully.

Firstly, I require a lot of time to read and to overcome this I need to go through very

many articles and good novels to improve my language skills. Secondly, strong self-

learning ability is needed for me to adapt to this major’s study. It requires me to learn

by myself before classes begin. There are discussions in my classes. If I do not study

before class, I will not blend into the atmosphere of classes, so it’s essential for me to

get the self-study ability. Also, last but not least, the students of my major should have
the ability of practice. According to what the senior colleague said, if I want to

graduate from this college, an internship of 200 hours is demanded. Therefore, I

should ensure that every class is arranged properly, I can study effectively each

semester on the condition that time is arranged reasonably.

I have striven to succeed in this semester. The classes of INTO such as INYO501,

as well as EAP506, EAP505 and EAP 504, taught me so much. I understand the

importance of academic culture and academic writing in the United States, I also learn

much about how to write and what should I do on the campus. In addition, I have a

new general understanding of the professional direction. I learned a lot from the class

of NUTR295 and HAP602, they gave me a general introduction to Nutrition. besides,

I have an understanding of obesity thoroughly now. All the class helped me a lot,

which contribute to a better understanding of my major.

My expectations change most of the time. I recognize that the profession of

nutrition is very complex, it requires many things to consider, like micro-nutrition,

macro-nutrition and so on, what is more, I need to consider the cultural difference

between different countries because different countries have different eating habits.

Currently, I have no idea what I will do in the future, but I heard that I could do my

Ph.D. Personally speaking, I think it is a good way for my future. On one hand, I like

this major, I am interested in studying Nutrition; On the other hand, I could find a

more respectable job with my Ph.D. degree.

References

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (2018). Science. Retrieved

from Science: https://www.sciencemag.org/

Cell. (2018). Cell. Cell: https://www.cell.com/

CENGAGE L. (2016). Nutrition + Mindtap Nutrition, 6-month Access Concepts and

Controversies. Brooks/Cole Pub Co.

Copyrights Gavin Publisher. (2018). Food & Nutrition Journal. Retrieved from Food

& Nutrition Journal:

https://gavinpublishers.com/journals/journals_details/Food-and-Nutrition-

Journal-ISSN-2575-7091

George Mason University. (2018). College of Health and Human Services. College of

Health and Human Services: https://chhs.gmu.edu/

George Mason University. (2018). Environmental Science and Policy, MS. University

Catalog 2018-2019: https://catalog.gmu.edu/colleges-

schools/science/environmental-policy/environmental-science-policy-ms/

JScholar. (2012). Journal of Food and Nutrition. Journal of Food and Nutrition:

http://www.jscholaronline.org/journals/journal-of-food-and-

nutrition/jhome.php

SalkindJ.Neil. (2017). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics: Using

Excel 2016 (4th edition). Los Angeles: SAGE.

Springer Nature Limited. (2018). Nature. Retrieved from Nature:

https://www.nature.com/
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