Genetics, Decisions and Society Spring 2002

Presentations and Papers

Two presentations and two papers are required in this course. The presentation based on a human genetic disease should be approximately 10 minutes in length, with three presentations scheduled for each class meeting. Since time is limited, your presentations will need to be extremely well organized to include all important aspects of the disease. For both the presentation and the paper on a human genetic disease, the following information should be included:
  1. A description of the trait, including the map location and the molecular basis of the disease, if known.
  2. The mode of inheritance, dominant or recessive, autosomal or sex-linked, mitochondrial, etc.
  3. Method(s) of diagnosis, including prenatal, if that is possible.
  4. Prognosis and types of treatment available.
  5. Literature cited (for the paper only)
Some sources of information for this presentation and paper are given in the links found on the syllabus page for this course. I suggest you start with Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man. It is very important when researching these topics to be sure of the legitimacy of your web sources. There is a great deal of misinformation available on the web so be sure to utilize sites with a strong scientific under-pinning. If you are unsure as to the legitimacy of your source(s), ask the instructor for the course. You may also find it necessary to consult a medical dictionary or other specialized sources/sites. The paper and the presentation must be on two different human genetic diseases.
 
 

The second presentation and paper will focus on ELSI. Topics such as implications of genetic intervention and treatment, and public policy issues would be appropriate, as would international and political ramifications. Primary starting places for identifical of original written documents will be the Bioethics links given on the syllabus web page. Each student will again prepare an oral presention and a written paper on two different topics relevant to ethics and societal considerations.
 
 

Reference Citation

For your written assignments, you will need to cite your reference sources. In scientific writing it is customary to refrain from extensive use of quotations. Instead, the writer should state the point in his/her own words, followed by the appropriate citation. For example: As previously shown, alteration of tryptophan 126 to any other amino acid results in the complete loss of protein function (Overholtzer, et al., 1996). In scientific writing, a number of different styles are acceptable, several of which are described at the following web site: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite8.html. You should use one of the styles described here for your citations. The site includes instructions for the citation of web sources.

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V. Cameron can be contacted at: cameron@ithaca.edu

Last modified: January 2004