Climate change
The 1,000 word minimum research paper is due on the third Sunday of the course by 11:59 pm PST. The format and content of the Research report is detailed below. Below is a list of suggested topics, but feel free to use your imagination and write on a topic not on the list.
Suggested topics:
Vaccinations and how they do not cause autism
Patenting genes and modified organisms/CRISPR-Cas9
Precision medicine
Cancer immunotherapy
Climate change
Effect of climate change on biodiversity/evolution
Stem cell research
Other topics — please run them by me for approval
Paper format. The student is to write an evaluation of a current topic, such as those listed above. This is to be an objective research paper based upon scientific evidence from the primary (peer-reviewed) literature. The point break-down is:
10 points — Paragraph that introduces the topic.
25 points — 1 to 3 paragraphs that objectively presents the research topic. You are to be factual and accurate with your information. Refrain from inserting your personal opinions at this stage, and from using biased, loaded terminology (e.g., “Uninformed people make the following argument …”, “These people have a blatant political agenda …”).
25 points — 1 to 3 paragraphs that presents conflicting information, if present. If not present, use this space to discuss your topic in more detail. You are to be factual and accurate with your information. Refrain from inserting your personal opinions at this stage, and from using biased, loaded terminology (e.g., “Uninformed people make the following argument …”, “These people have a blatant political agenda …”).
20 points — 1 or 2 paragraphs that presents your opinion on the topic. This section is to be more subjective, but your argument should be based on the information that you presented in the “for” and “against” sections.
10 points — General style, organization and in-text citations (see https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/).
10 points — Bibliography. You are to list at least four peer-reviewed sources that you used. I encourage you to use authoritative books and journal articles, but you may also use reputable websites (those ending in .edu, .gov). At minimum two of your sources should come from outside the course materials. Use APA formatfor books, articles, etc. For websites, provide the URL that links directly to the information.
To submit the paper save your file as MS Word .doc or text, and turn it in via the Writing Assignment
dropbox under Week 3. Title your paper with your last name and first initial, so for instance Charles Darwin’s paper would be DarwinC. To submit to theDropbox, click on the “Dropbox” tab near the top center of the eCollege screen. Click on the Submit an Assignment link. Choose the Dropbox Basket titled [Course Home: Research Paper]. Click the Add Attachments button to browse for the assignment document on your computer that you would like to submit. After attaching this document, you may add comments to your instructor in the Comments field if you wish, then click the Submit button.
The research report should be in APA format and include
at least four peer-reviewed sources. More about APA formatting . The National University Online Writing Center is available to help with all your writing needs. Please do not hesitate to use this service. You can make an appointment with them by going to http://tutor.nu.edu or emailing the online writing center at: wonline@nu.edu . Also please make yourself aware of how to avoid plagiarism, as this practice will result in zero points on the paper and may also have other consequences. To find peer-reviewed sources, go to the National University Library. Websites do not count as references unless they have a .edu or .gov suffix. Peer-reviewed sources can be accessed online.
