Assignment 4: Henrietta Lacks project English 102 Henrietta Lacks Essay Project: The story of Henrietta Lacks, as told by Rebecca Skloot, is a story of a woman and her family and the strange “culture” of medical research in the early fifties. In this essay project, I’d like you to analyze the many notions of “culture” we encounter in the text. What is culture, after all? “Culture” is used throughout the book, but it is also a term we frequently use to refer to social relations in our “culture” today. Indeed this era we live in is often said to be characterized by the intersection of many cultures in our ever more globalized society. In the book, we encounter the word “culture” in reference to the following large and small meanings: We have a “lab culture” (a biopsy, growing cells in a petri dish culture) The “social culture” of Henrietta’s rural Virginia youth (her family’s beliefs, understanding, and practices) The “culture of scientists” that Henrietta and her family find themselves dealing with; the cultural “mindsets” of scientists and doctors at Johns Hopkins University and Hospital—what they believe in, what they consider ethical and worthy of research, for example. Our broader social “culture of racial segregation and discrimination,” which would have affected Henrietta in Virginia and Baltimore in 1950, before the Civil Equal Rights gains of the sixties.. Or other notions of culture you discover when reading the book Essay Prompt The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an account of the relationship between “Henrietta Lacks” and the “culture” in which she lived. This story can be read at many levels, including but not limited to: social, historical, ethical, educational, scientific and spiritual. Choosing one or more of these contexts as the focus of your research, what is/are the most compelling question(s) pertaining to culture raised by the story of the Henrietta Lacks, her cells and her legacy. Reflect and write about this book directly, and use the book as a springboard to materials in other texts you find. Specifications Your essay should be no fewer than 1500 words. You should incorporate direct quotes from 3-4 sources other than The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. You should use the MLA’s Documentation Style to cite sources (I’ll create a link to a useful MLA site.). Incorporation with English 101 Research Project Writing the Researched Essay This assignment will introduce you to the researched academic essay. This is the type of writing you will be doing for most of your college career, so it’s important for you to master the form. We will be focusing on themes derived from No Impact Man, our common text for this semester. Your tasks: Select and narrow your topic: CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Formulate a working thesis Establish a research plan Use library databases and other resources to find support for your thesis Learn to evaluate sources Differentiate and practice paraphrase, summary, and quotation; learn to integrate these smoothly into your prose Organize your research around a central argument/thesis and develop this argument fully Avoid plagiarism by using proper MLA-style in-text citations and works cited page Format: This essay must be 1200-1500 words in length (approximately 4-6 pages), word processed, MLA Style, double spaced, have 1” margins all the way around, use a plain font style such as Times New Roman or Arial, and should use a font size no larger than 12 point. Paragraphs should be indented half an inch from the left-hand margin, and all text should be flush to the left margin except for the centered title, which should be creative and unique. Your assignment should have a heading in the upper, left-hand margin of the first page to include your name, instructor’s last name, course name and number, and the date. A running header including your last name and the page number should be in the upper right-hand corner of each page. Do not include a title page. Please save your file as a .docx, .doc, .rtf, or .txt file and name it with your last name and the assignment number (ex. Maguire 4). Points are awarded for following proper format. Research and documentation: Essay must include at least six sources, at least one of which should be a direct reference to or quotation from the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Among the other five sources, you must include at least one article from an academic journal that you will find in our library databases, one book, and one web-based source (outside of our databases). Sources must be current, relevant, and authoritative. Wikipedia, without proper documentation, is not an acceptable source. You must use MLA style to document all sources, providing in-text citations for every instance of researched material that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized in your paper You must also have a complete works cited page. Failure to cite your sources properly may result in plagiarism. Submitting papers that have been written by others or purchased is also plagiarism. Papers that are found to have been plagiarized will be given a zero, and the student committing plagiarism will fail the course and be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs. See the Student Code of Conduct for more information. Procedure: 1. Select your topic from the list above and post it to the Research Topics thread in the discussion forums. You must not select a topic already chosen by someone else, so be sure to review the thread before you post. 2. Narrow your topic to a workable scope. 3. Establish a working thesis. You may want to use this thesis development worksheet to help you. 4. Search the library catalog and databases and begin to gather information on your topic. If you are accessing the databases from home, you will need to establish a remote access login. 5. Keep good research notes, including all bibliographic information for each source you find. Here is a research log that may help. 6. Begin to outline your research paper. 7. Develop a rough draft of your research paper based on the outline. Section VII of this comprehensive research paper guide has some great tips about writing the rough draft. 8. Smoothly integrate outside sources into your draft. You must document all sources, whether they are paraphrased, summarized, or quoted. 9. The rough draft should incorporate in-text citations and include a works cited page. See links in “Research and Documentation” above as well as your Little, Brown Essential Handbook. 10. Post your rough draft to the Writing Assignment #3 peer review thread in the discussion forum by the posted deadline. 11. Read and respond to at least two of your classmates’ rough drafts and post your reviews as replies to the authors’ posts in the peer review thread. Use the peer review form posted in the Assignment #3 folder to guide your responses. 12. Use your classmates’ feedback to help you revise your research paper into final draft form. Edit your paper carefully. 13. Upload your final draft to the Writing Assignment #3 Drop Box by the date indicated on the course calendar. The works cited page should be included on the final page of your paper. Grading: Essay is worth 250 points. These points will be distributed as follows: Manuscript format – 30 points Content and organization – 100 points (title, thesis, paragraph organization and development, transitions, conclusion, critical thought, clarity, unity, and coherence) Selection and documentation of sources – 60 points (relevance and authority of sources and intext citations and works cited page) Grammar, spelling, and punctuation – 60 points (5 points per mistake) The topics are as follows: Beauty Prejudice Education Wealth Terrorism Intelligence Grief Rage Parenthood Handicap Justice Friendship Recreation Creativity Nature Art Addiction Community Joy Satisfaction Possible Research Topics for Writing Assignment 4 Topics below are related to themes found in Rebecca Skloot’s boo, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. These topics with be related to issues that are in the book. You must either select one of these topics or submit your desired topic to me for approval. Students must post selected topics to the designated thread in the discussion forum. Students may not select the same topics. The first student to claim a topic in the thread gets it. If you propose a topic not on the list, you must wait for my approval before posting it to the thread. The topics listed below are very broad. It will be up to you to narrow the topic you choose to a workable scope. In other words, if you are writing about forms of poverty, you might choose to discuss just one of its forms, causes, results, remedies, etc. I will be adding and updating this list, from time to time to include other relevant topics. The present list is similar to the definition assignment with some modifications. Be aware that just because you may have picked this topic for that previous unit does qualify you to use it again. The requirements for research paper are much more involved than the definition paper, and as previously stated, it is on a first come-first served basis. MY TOPIC: Cultural Differences ..