Evan Kelly
3/17/09
The future of humanity is completely unknown at this time, but it is clear that we are moving towards a new era. President Obama has just recently lifted the ban on embryonic stem cell research.
I plan to analyze the good and bad aspects of research progress. I believe that we should continue forward with stem cell research, but there is also a line that could become dangerous to cross. I will use sources such as Silver, Shelley, news articles, and books and movies to back up my argument. McKibben, Ware, and other sources such as the Pitt digital library will be used as an opposition to my thesis.
Though at this time I am not certain where I believe the divider between good and bad is; I will take a clear and strong stance in my final draft. I know that I will support stem cell research when used to cure disease and when used to allow parents to choose genes. But I am against flat out cloning.
This project will include a number of issues that we have discussed all year such as our “loss of meaning”, the purpose of a human, and what makes something good or evil and when the line is crossed.
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2 comments:
My initial comment on this topic is that it is an extremely popular one (in fact, it was a popular topic when I did a very different section of Seminar in Composition!). The *large* majority of college students, in my experience, agree that the ban should be (mostly) lifted; where most papers fall down is on pinning down exactly where the line should be drawn.
Papers on this topic which succeed tend to be
a) Very well researched, with multiple scientific sources, and,
b) Have a very clear, if complex, position on where the dividing line is.
I think your proposal is good because you're implicitly recognizing the difficulties; don't forget them as you proceed.
Hey Evan,
I think this is a very interesting topic, certainly one that is controversial. This should make for a paper that allows you to deliver some very strong opinions. I understand that this is just a proposal, so I realize that things will inevitably change. I think that you should, in your paper, be assertive about your stance. Also, in your final project, you should be able to explain your reasons for why you believe the line should be drawn where you believe it should be drawn.
I’m not sure where exactly you were going in your last paragraph. I felt that the material in the first three paragraphs were perfectly fine. I feel that you might be too ambitious in your desire to cover all of those topics in a single paper. If you decide to, I would just advise that you relate it to stem cell research briefly. Don’t dwell too much on it, because the highlight of this project is going to be your STR material and your stance on it.
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