Research Paper

Biotechnology in Culture versus Biotechnology in Reality: MythBusters Edition

LSP 112-505: Cloning and Biotechnology

Term Paper Research Assignment Paper & Presentation Due 3/7/2017

Once you have your term paper topic, you can start doing your research. As you go

about writing the paper, you should be aware that your grade will depend on how well you

answer certain questions about the topic. I expect you to have clearly answered all of these

by the end of your paper:

1. What is the exact depiction of the technique in your ‘urban legend’? 2. Who invented/discovered the real technique? 3. When was the real technique developed? 4. Where was the original research article on the technique published? This one is important -- this is a research paper, so I expect you to track down the original article where the technique was first published. 5. How does the real technique actually work? If you feel a diagram or figure would help you explain this, you are encouraged to use one. 6. Based on your research into how the technique works, what is your verdict on the ‘urban legend’ -- Myth Confirmed, Myth Plausible, or Myth Busted?

Remember, this is a research paper. You will be expected to obtain multiple sources and

report on them appropriately. You will be expected to provide a bibliography and cite it

correctly -- I strongly recommend you visit the writing center for help on this. You should

have citations from popular media (e.g. Time), secondary literature (e.g. review articles) and

the primary literature (e.g. Science). It needs to be long enough to completely answer the

above questions; I expect this assignment should require at least 6-7 pages, not including

the bibliography page.

One additional note on sources: Wikipedia can be a useful tool (I read it too!) but you

should consider it like a “Cliff’s Notes” summary of the topic. This means you should not

cite it directly, as it is already a paraphrase of other sources. However, the list of

“References and Notes” at the bottom of a Wikipedia entry can be a valuable starting point

to finding articles about the topic.