The GMO Observed in Field or Laboratory Settings

Hand in one hard copy in class and one electronic copy on Turnitin on iLearn. The Turnitin activity will be on our iLearn site in the Research Paper section and will be loaded by the end of April.
Topics: You may write on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s), stem cells , cloning, gene therapy, biopesticides, health implications of fracking, health disparities in different communities, a certain disease, or a new medical technology. If you have any other human biology topic in mind, you can always ask me to make sure it is relevant. In this paper you will gather and interpret scientific information from a variety of sources and use that information to discuss scientific issues in a current topic in biology.
Paper Length: 3- 4.5 pages (For papers either shorter than 3 pages or over 4.5 pages in length, 5 points will be deducted)
Introduction and Research: (20 points)
You will introduce the topic with a detailed description of its relation to health and human biology. Diverse points of view on the topic can be introduced here.
Analysis and Scientific Method: (10 points)
You will use scientific theories and methods of inquiry to explain phenomena observed in laboratory or field settings. Questions that can be addressed regarding the design of a scientific study in an article: • Was the experimental design valid based upon scientific method or could it be improved? If so, how? Specifically, did the researchers conduct the research themselves? Does or should this matter? Why or why not? • Did the researchers study human or animal subjects? Were the sample sizes large enough in both control and experimental groups? Was a placebo used? What was the duration of the study? Was this conducted over a long enough period of time? Was it a “controlled experiment”? • Were there possible opportunities for confounding variables to arise? Could either subject or researcher biases have confounded results? How would you know? • Was it a blind or double blind study? Who were the subjects? Were the demographic groups studied (based upon age, genetics, gender, ethnicity, obesity) broad enough or narrow enough to make either specific or more general conclusions?
Opinion: (10 points)
You will also describe ethical or sociological dilemmas arising out of scientific research and applications, which may include those related to social justice, and may have implications for local and/or global communities. You will be giving your opinion here. You will also discuss the relevance of major scientific theories and/or research to modern day life.
Format: Punctuation, spelling, grammar, structure, bibliography. (10 points)
STYLE: The paper must be typed using a minimum 10 point font and a maximum 12 point font, single or maximum double spaced, and 1” margins • The paper should be well organized and well thought out, with a beginning, middle, and end. • The paper except for your opinion section should be written in the 3rd person as a scientific summary and analysis. Use proper English grammar and spelling with no contradictions and with all thoughts presented in concise, complete sentences which are organized into paragraphs. Be sure to spell check and proofread! • Most importantly, the entire paper should be written in your own words. You may have occasional quotes for which you would have to cite a reference. However, the majority of the paper should be written by you. A score of zero will be given for any paper containing plagiarism (copying paragraphs, or even a sentence, from any source) or for any paper showing signs of having been written in conjunction with anybody.
REFERENCES: You will need at least 2 references for the paper. One will be from a scientific journal. These will be cited within the paper. You will list a reference section at the end of the paper. Use the APA system for the citations. 
FAQ: Can I use my peer review paper to expand on for this research paper? Yes, just include a scientific study within your paper and describe it as noted above. That should bring you up to the higher page count. Don’t worry about Turnitin recognizing the previous paper to have a high similarity. Turnitin is robust enough to “know” that it is your paper within in the same class in the same semester.