Influence of Genetics on Food Choice and Risks of Obesity

 Directions: The purpose of this assignment is to become familiar with different types of sources that are available to us when researching a topic. As you know, we will be examining how information from popular press sources and scholarly (peer-reviewed) scientific sources on the same topic vary. To complete the assignment, you will select a scientific topic of interest and use techniques introduced by the librarian who presented in your class to find both scholarly and popular press articles on your scientific topic. In doing so you will work though steps 1-3 of this assignment. Once this portion of the assignment is complete, you can then move on to the actual written assignment, part 4.

Step 1. Pick a Topic. Pick any biology topic such as evolution, biotechnology, genetics,

environmental concerns, etc. You can get some ideas from the table of contents of your biology

textbook. Topic Selected:

Step 2. Find Two Articles. Find two articles on your selected topic, one that is more

popular (magazine or newspaper) and one that is more scholarly, using the library article

databases linked on the BIO 101 Lab Research Guide (libguides.nvcc.edu/bio101-al). A news release is not an article that fits either of these categories, so avoid using them for this assignment.

Create CSE format citations (see the last page for examples of this format) for the two articles you found:

After you have found your articles and completed your citations, you can have them reviewed by a librarian to check that you have one of each type of article and to check your citations.

Step 3. Read Articles & Take Notes. Look for, identify, and take notes on:

Article characteristics (select only three of these to focus on):

• Author credentials: What are the qualifications of the authors to write these articles? What are their educational credentials and affiliations? What experience do they have writing about this topic?
• Audience: Who is the intended audience? Consider language/jargon, concepts.
• References: Describe any references or works cited, including the amount of references, type of

references, where in the article the references are provided.

• Publisher: Identify the publisher and any relevant information about the publisher.
• Purpose: Why was the article written?
• Editing: Is it peer reviewed? Or basic editing? How do you know

Step 4. Compare the Content of the Two Articles and Write a Paper. Use your notes from Step 3 as the basis to write a 1,200-word paper (preferably single spaced and 11 font) comparing the popular and scholarly articles you found to one another:

A. Use three criteria from the list below to describe and discuss for each article:

• Author credentials What are the qualifications of the authors to write these articles? What are their educational credentials and affiliations? What experience do they have writing about this topic?
• Audience: Who is the intended audience? How can you tell? Consider language/jargon, concepts.
• References: Describe any references or works cited, including the amount of references, type of references, where in the article the references are provided.
• Publisher: Identify the publisher and any relevant information about the publisher.
• Purpose: Why was the article written?
• Editing: Is it peer reviewed? Or basic editing? How do you know?

B. Compare the content of the popular and scholarly articles.

• Describe 2-3 key points from each article.
• How is the content similar?
• How is the content different?
• Read the section below to get an idea on how to structure the paper, and you can see how the paper will be graded.

How to structure your paper

The written assignment should contain four sections: (1) an introduction and overview of the topic, (2) a summary of the information presented in the popular article on your topic, (3) a comparison of that popular article’s content to the information found in your scholarly source and (4) your bibliography. In section 3, please be sure to clearly articulate your impression of how the scholarly sources differ from your popular article.  When writing the assignment keep in mind that every statement that contains information from someone else’s work must be cited directly in the text (as author, year), and as a full citation entry in the bibliography. We will be using the CSE citation style because it is what is typically used in science, and it’s the easiest of the styles. Submit the final version of the paper to Canvas. See the last page of this assignment for CSE citation examples. Below is the rubric for the paper:

(1) Introduction and overview of the topic (5 points)—here you should present an introduction to your topics and sources. Be sure to include information that the reader needs to know in order to understand what you are presenting in the following sections.

(2) Summary of the information in the popular article on your topic (5 points)—here you should present the topic using information derived exclusively from your non-scholarly articles with emphasis on your criteria selected from step 4 (above). This section should end with a logical and smooth segue into section 3 and should also include in-text citations where appropriate.

(3) Comparison to scholarly sources (5 points)—if you’re finding that once source alone doesn’t suffice, you can have more than one, it’s okay. Here you should compare your non-scholarly findings to findings of one or more scholarly sources (again from your chosen criteria in step four describe above). Please be sure to clearly state how the scholarly source(s) differ from your popular article. Use in-text citations where necessary.

(4) Bibliography (5 points)—list all sources (a minimum of two) according to the CSE citation style guidelines.  Please note that no direct quotes are allowed in this paper. Everything must be synthesized in your own words. The total points here include your completion of steps 1-3 and submission of this worksheet as a separate file from your paper.