Paper 2 Guidelines
Paper 2 will consist of an argumentative, analytical paper between 1800-2500
words that examines a contemporary or historical social problem or issue related to
the themes of the second half of the course. In addition to at least one of the required
readings, the paper will draw on at least two (2) outside scholarly sources.
Themes of Part 2 of the course:
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Ethics of editing the human genome
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Which genes should we edit? Which should we leave alone?
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Health vs. enhancement
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Issues of disability – discrimination against the disabled? (Physical, mental)
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Issues of diversity
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Editing an individual’s genes vs editing the reproductive cells
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State-driven vs. parent-driven eugenics
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Ethics of genomics research (e.g. animals, embryos)
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Economic and racial inequality of gene editing
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Costs of medicines/treatments
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Commercialization of genomics
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Commercialization of medicine in general vs. of human enhancement specifically
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Racial, sexual, gender diversity
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Origins and implications of racial/sexual/gender categories
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Culture vs. nature in explaining human development/difference
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The “mutant” and mutation in general
Within those broader themes, you can write about anything you like, as long as you
apply the relevant concepts to some sort of real-world context (i.e., your argument
cannot be purely conceptual).
In your introduction, you should lay out the basic facts about the issue or problem
you have chosen and end with a statement of your thesis. The rest of the paper should
consist of a structured argument supplemented by textual evidence and analysis.
If the issue you choose is very current, you may need to look at some news articles for
factual information. Please stick to mainstream news sources whenever possible (e.g.,
The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian), as I may not have time to
check up on the credibility of unfamiliar sources.
Whether or not you look at news articles, you must draw textual evidence from at
least two scholarly sources. Please use Google Scholar or the resources provided by
the Kettering library to identify and access scholarly sources.
My evaluation of your paper will be based on several factors:
– The quality (logical coherence, originality, insightfulness) of your main
argument, as encapsulated in your thesis statement and topic sentences.
– The focus and organization of the paper.
– The clarity and mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, etc.) of
the paper.
– The skill with which you make use of textual evidence, including quotations,
from the relevant book and articles (this requires you to choose evidence
carefully and analyze it thoroughly in a manner that supports your overarching
argument).
I strongly recommend that you discuss your topic for Paper 2 with me and that you
keep me updated on the progress of your paper. I am always happy to discuss your
paper with you and skim through drafts during office hours. I also strongly encourage
you to seek help from one of the writing tutors in the Academic Success Center. Do
not wait until the last minute to write your paper. Papers receiving strong grades
will be the products not of a last-minute scramble to complete the assignment, but of
a term’s worth of effort. This means that you should not only write but rewrite and
revise multiple drafts of your paper, in addition to seeking input from both myself and
a writing tutor.
References
As with Paper 1, you do not need to provide full citations of required course readings–just cite them parenthetically as appropriate. For your outside sources, please provide a full citation in a “Works Cited” section at the end of the paper. You should use Chicago Style citation. Please refer to the following guidelines: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html.