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Skills for social sciences
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Key Academic writing style and why they are important
There are four different types of academic writing styles. These are; Descriptive, Analytical,
Persuasive and Critical. All these styles have their characteristics features that make them unique
from each other (Valdés & Royo-Bordonada, 2012 p.89).
In most cases, however, one may find themselves using more than one writing style within a
single research paper. For instance, when writing a research paper, the various sections of
research may require that one uses writing styles. One many use critical writing when writing the
literature review, the method section may employ the use of a descriptive style while the
discussion section may require the use of an analytical style. These different styles of writing are
discussed below;
a) Descriptive writing-This is often regarded as one of the simplest academic writing styles.
It usually aims towards providing some facts about a certain issue and/or information. An
example of a perfect descriptive piece of writing would be a report about the results of a
certain experiment and/or a summary of a certain article (Ward et al, 2014 p.68).
b) Analytical writing-An analytical writing is a complex form of descriptive writing. It
entails descriptive writing but at the same time re-organizing facts and ideas in such a
way that they are categorized into sections; groups parts, types and identifying
relationships between various issues. Such writings may include comparing various
theories and how they relate to each other
c) Persuasive writing-A persuasive writing is more of analytical writing but in this case, is
characterized by a well-organized argument. A recommendation as well as an
interpretation of the findings. The researcher often gives their point of view regarding a
certain issue of interest.

d) Critical Writing-They have all features of persuasive writing, in this case, however,
unlike persuasive writings that require one to give their own point of view, this requires
that a person considers more than one point of view. Critical writing requires that a
person have a clear understanding of the topic issue and be in a position to explain it in
such a way that it clearly draws out the different point of views based on evidence.
The purpose of a writing style is to communicate. These different writing styles are often
employed so as to communicate certain information. It is therefore important that they are used.
They facilitate the arrangement of ideas and thoughts and thus producing a concrete piece of
information that is meant to explain a certain issue (Smith & Smith, 2016 p.69).
Writing styles also act as proof of one person's individuality as well as originality. A writing
style tends to present a writes ideas and thoughts in an organized manner and therefore tends to
bring out the aspect of individuality as well as that of originality in a piece of writing by a certain
writer.
Introduction of the topic
The issue of childhood obesity has been identified as a world disaster for the last ten years.
Childhood obesity is undergoing a rapid epidemiological and nutrition transition which is
attributed to the nutritional deficiencies. Consequently there are other diseases attributed with the
childhood obesity (Anderson, 2012 p.67). The prevalence of obesity, diabetes and other chronic
diseases are as result of obesity. Reports shows that obesity has reached the epidemic levels in
the society and also in developed nations. The higher percentages of childhood obesity are in
developed countries as well as the developing nations. Different researchers have indicated that
childhood obesity is common in females as compared to the males in our society. Females have

been attributed with higher percentages of hormonal inheritance thus prone to obesity. Therefore,
obesity in real sense refers to the defined excess fat found in human body. There is no identified
cut off for the excess fats in childhood (Baidal & Taveras, 2012 p.74). There are different m
methods which have been used to determine the level of fats in body. Some of the methods
which have been used to determine the level of fats in childhood include the densitometry, the
magnetic resonance imaging and the multi frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis. Most of
these methods tend not to be effective for use as compared to the research work. Although some
methods such as the densitometry can be used in research, they tend not to be feasible to
different fields such as the clinical wok in country. We have those methods which are more
reliable as they target the central cause of obesity o children. In addition, we have different
factors which causes childhood obesity in society. Different authors have argued that childhood
obesity results from the imbalance between the energy intake and the expenditure (Cawley &
Liu, 2012 p.31).
Quantitative articles
The first quantitative articles is Dynamics of childhood growth and obesity: development and
validation of a quantitative mathematical model. The lancet Diabetes & endocrinology, 1(2),
pp.97-105.The article was published by Hall, K.D., Butte, N.F., Swinburn, B.A. and Chow, C.C.,
2013. The article developed a mathematical comparison between the childhood energy and
balance accounts for heath growth and development of obesity. The article makes a quantitative
research on predictions related to the weight management interventions (Gibbs & Forste, 2014
p.76). The model used by the article was validated by comparing what was predicted with the
data obtained. The findings indicated how energy increased with intake from ages 5-18 with
rough amount of 1800kcal per day in boys and also 1000kcl in girls. The article indicated that

childhood obesity had substantially greater excess energy development for adult obesity. The
study concludes by formulating mathematical model that predicts the childhood obesity.
The second quantitative article is The role of grandparents in childhood obesity in China-
evidence from a mixed methods study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
Physical Activity, 12(1), p.91.The article was published by Li, B., Adab, P. and Cheng, K.K.,
2015. The article is based on how family environment influences childhood obesity in different
populations. The study outlined in the article examines how family members influence obesity
among the chines children in primary schools (Hales et al.,2017 p.67).The article describes a
mixed study that was conducted to determine the socioeconomic distinct in primary schools into
two cities found in China. There were 17 focus groups and 6 personal interviews which involved
family members such as grandparents, school staff, parents and food retailers around the school.
The cross sectional part of the study measured the weight of children and the results revealed the
health behavior of children. The research concluded that grandparents in childcare are the major
results of the childhood obesity in china.
The third quantitative article is cardiovascular consequences of childhood obesity. Canadian
Journal of Cardiology, 31(2), pp.124-130.The article was published by McCrindle, B.W.,
2015.The article describes a study which seeks to determine how intervention of childhood
nutrition and the physical activities can be cause of obesity. The study utilized the a single arm
design that aided in getting information related to obese and overweight to patients. The article
concluded by showing how individual with obesity can be allowed for a nutrition and physical
activities (Lu et al., 2013).
Qualitative articles

The first qualitative article is A qualitative study for understanding family and peer influences on
obesity-related health behaviors in low-income African-American adolescents. Childhood
Obesity, 8(5), pp.466-476.The article was published by St. George, S.M. and Wilson, D.K.,
2012.The article is related to the recent biological framework on family members and peers in
lives of African American adolescents. The method used involved collection of data from
African American population (Moore,Harris & Bradlyn,2012 p.65).The results obtained
revealed how parents paid attention obesity related issues .In conclusion, the results indicated
how boys and girls interacted with their parents when dealing with overweight issues or obese.
The second qualitative article is Family‐based models for childhood‐obesity intervention: a
systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Obesity Reviews, 14(4), pp.265-278.This
article was published by Sung‐Chan, P., Sung, Y.W., Zhao, X. and Brownson, R.C., 2013.The
research carried out in the research was used to prevent children weight related challenges. The
aim of the study was to provide q qualitative information related to the topic. In addition the
research results indicates how 90 % of the total participants were from different nationalities.
The conclusion shows how number of groups targeting a diverse obesity risk can serve beyond
the diet limit and level of physical activities (Ogden et al., 2014 p.72).
The third article was Parents’ views and experiences when their preschool child is identified as
overweight: a qualitative study in primary care. Family practice, 30(6), pp.719-723.This article
was published by Toftemo, I., Glavin, K. and Lagerløv, P., 2013.The aim was to explore the
views from the parents when professionals identify children with disabilities. The article uses
interview as method of obtaining information on overweight cases. Ten rural clinic parents were
recruited and the weight of the ten children recorded (Patterson, Risby & Chan, 2012 p.89). The

results obtained shows that, most of parents don’t like their children. In conclusion, early
childhood should be addressed
Strengths and weaknesses of the study
The strength pf the study is that data form the quantitative research provides appropriate
knowledge that is used for analyzing the entire research. Also, the quantitative study provides a
descriptive data (Prentice-Dunn & Prentice-Dunn, 2012 p.125).In qualitative research there is
flexibility on the data collected. The weakness was that the data need to be standardized.
Conclusion
Childhood obesity is a very common and chronic medical condition that affects quite a
considerable amount of youths in the modern world. Research has indicated that childhood
obesity is associated with various issue and causes. Some of the common causes of childhood
obesity are known to be; Inappropriate diet that is often characterized by the eating of high-
calorie foods such as baked goods, snacks, and other fast foods. Family factors such as a child
coming from a family that has overweight people, other psychological factors such as stress and
lack of exercise (Roberts et al, 2012 p.60).
Childhood obesity is often characterized by a child having extra weight with extremely high
amounts of body fat.
As mentioned earlier, the six articles of childhood obesity have explored various issues about the
chronic condition of childhood obesity. Certain variables have been identified that have had an
impact on the issue of childhood obesity. Findings from these articles have indicated that the
family environment has had a very big role in the issue of childhood obesity.

Various family environmental issues have been linked to obesity. Some of these issues comprise
of Family food security level, parental feeding behavior as well as parental social-economic
level. The articles have indicated that there is a direct relationship between childhood obesity and
some of the family environmental issues. The issue of parental feeding, for instance, has had a
very great impact as far as cases of childhood obesity is concerned.
Results depicted from these articles have also suggested that there is always an acceleration of
BMI especially starting from the age of 5 years (Shier & Sturm, 2012 p.17). As children grow
they also tend to get fatter. An acceleration in the BMI has been associated with issues such as
family stress, maternal depression, father absence, childhood confinement where the child is not
provided with the freedom to engage into various childhood activities such as playing with others
and engaging into various activities.
It can, therefore, be concluded that the issue of obesity has been a challenge not just today but
over a decade ago. This has really affected the quality of life of individuals. In addition to this,
these articles have also suggested that there are various ways in which obesity can be prevented.
Some of the issues that can prevent obesity as per these articles are; limiting eating out. This is
really important and can be used as a tool for preventing obesity. Eating out involves eating in
various fast-food restaurants and joints. Minimizing cases of eating out reduces instances of
obesity by about 4,9%. In addition to this obesity can also be prevented by limiting the
consumption of sugars and increasing intake of vegetables and plenty of fruits (Taveras et al,
2013).

Reference
Anderson, P.M., 2012. Parental employment, family routines and childhood obesity. Economics
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Baidal, J.A.W. and Taveras, E.M., 2012. Childhood obesity: shifting the focus to early
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Cawley, J. and Liu, F., 2012. Maternal employment and childhood obesity: A search for
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