Research Report - English 271W Writing in the Sciences
Within my Writing in the Sciences course, we were tasked with creating an authentic research project. We had to choose a topic that was "hot" in the media, relating to science. I decided to choose the topic of gene editing. Should it be done? Is it ethical? We had to conduct primary research on the topic, and then find 6-10 scholarly, peer-reviewed sources that supported and/or complimented our research. After conducting said research, we ran data analysis and wrote a research paper using the IMRAD with plans to submit said research paper to a target journal for acceptance in publishing (in pretend). I chose to write my paper to be “submitted” to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
I conducted primary research via a survey to extend the knowledge of the known field of perceptions of gene editing. I then created a blog post on my topic and what I think it meant to the general public. This coincides with level 3 of 'dissemination of results' and level 4 in 'information synthesis' in the research competency because these results were posted publicly in a blog and peer-reviewed by several classmates before doing so. This post helped me to reflect and speak to the public about how my research question led to new knowledge in the field; there are now more scientific results regarding the public’s knowledge and opinions of gene editing.
As mentioned above, for my mode of primary research, I used a survey to ask people about their knowledge and perceptions of gene editing. This survey was then administered to 50 MNSU students. After a couple weeks of data collection, I went through all of the data and inputted it into figures based off of commonalities within participants' responses. This task meets level 4 in 'information literacy' because I was able to provide results and interpret the data that I received to try to answer the research question of “What are MSU student’s perceptions on gene editing?” and then discuss what those results meant in the ‘Discussion’ section using other scholarly sources to support my findings.
This project helped me to improve my skills in the areas of information literacy and synthesis because of all of the data I had to collect and research I had to draw conclusions on. Now I see the importance of utilizing information ethically and integrating other scholarly sources into my own pieces of research. I am now more equipped to perform more original research projects with the ability to draw conclusions utilizing multiple other perspectives and scholarly sources.