Title: Pathfinder to Genetic Engineering Issues

Scope:

This assignment requires you to research some aspect of Genetic Engineering/Biotechnology to understand its technological, economic and environmental impact on society and the individual. This guide will assist you in locating information dealing with the scientific, economic, environmental and ethical issues related to genetic engineering. You will need to look at both sides of the issue and use scientific evidence to defend and support your point of view on the issue you select.

Background Statement:

Genetic engineering refers to the use of molecular techniques to alter the hereditary makeup of a living organism. This often results in the production of new substances by, or the endowment of new functions in, that organism. Such modification, which entails the introduction of new genes or the alteration of existing ones, is a critical component of the modern biotechnology industry. The discovery of genetic engineering has and will continue to impact many aspects and elements of society.

Purpose/Objective of the Assignment

1. You will be required to find information from a variety of sources. One of each of the following types of sources must be included in your bibliography.

• Books/Videos
• A Scientific Journal (i.e. Nature, Science, , Science News)
• Other Magazines or journals (i.e. Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report)
• Online Databases (i.e. Science Resource Center, SIRS Researcher, Grolier's Encyclopedia)
• Internet Sites - (see below for selected list of websites)

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Identifying Keywords

The first step in Finding Information on your Topic is to Identify the keywords for your topic. Following the next three steps will help you identify the keywords to use in researching your topic.

1. What is Your Topic? (Select a topic from the list above)

2. Put your Topic in the form of a Question? For Example:
How can genetics improve food production in third world countries?
or
What impact is gene therapy likely to have on medicine in the future?

3. From the questions you develop, identify the main (keywords) words to use in searching for information.

The keywords from the question above include:

MAIN Keywords: genetics (SEE ALSO: genetic engineering or biotechnology)

ASSOCIATED Keywords: food production or food or crops AND third world countries

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Library Resources - Finding the information

1. To obtain an overview of your topic, the best place to start your research is the Encyclopedia. (When searching an encyclopedia, it is best to use the broader term for your subject.)

Click Here Encyclopedia Britannica and type in your Main Keyword - Genetic Engineering. Along with the main article on Genetic Engineering, Britannica also provides, Images and Video clips dealing with Genetic Engineering. View: Article  | Images  | Index Entry  | Multimedia 

2. Try the Science Encyclopedias available online in the Gale Virtual Reference Library

Here are the online encyclopedias relevant to conducting Genetic Engineering Research
Biotechnology: Changing Life Through Science , 3v,  2007
The Gale Encyclopedia of Science , 4^th ed.,  6v,  2008
Lucent Library of Science and Technology: Genetics , 2004
Science and Its Times , 8v,  2001
Scientific Thought: In Context , 3v,  2009
World of Forensic Science , 2v,  2005

3. When searching for a Book/Video, it is best to use your MAIN keyword.

Click Here to locate books in the RHS Book Catalog on your topic.

Type in the Main Keyword from your topic.
Example: If your main topic is Genetic Engineering, copy and paste this term into the search bar.
Click on the Subject icon. This will bring up a list of Subject Headings you can use.
NOTE the Cross References provided:
Genetic engineering See also: Clones and cloning
Genetic engineering See also: Cloning
Genetic engineering See also: Fertilization in vitro
Genetic engineering See also: Gene therapy
Genetic engineering See also: Recombinant DNA
Select the appropriate Subject Heading, this will bring up a list of books on that Subject.

Examples of a few RHS Print Resources:

NOTE: If RHS does not have a book on your topic, change the search to include the entire ISD 196 .

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Online Databases

Finding a Scientific Journal Article

Select: Science in Context or Academic Search Premier or General Science Collection

Finding Articles from other Magazines

Articles from more popular magazines can be found in MasterFILE Premier.

Conducting a Boolean Search in any of the Online Databases will help you narrow your topic, for example:

Use the keywords: genetic engineering AND food production AND world hunger

NOTE: Scroll through the list and choose those articles with Titles that best match your search terms.

PRO and CON articles on scientific issues can be easily located in the following Online Databases....

Opposing Viewpoints     
Today's hottest topics are explored in a unique pro/con format.  Integrates full text articles, statistics, topic overviews, primary and secondary sources, web sites and images.

Points of View Reference Center
Provides students with the key facts, pro and con points of view, primary source materials, radio and TV news transcripts. Covers more than 300 topical issues going back to 1995.

U.S. Government Resources - from this site select Science & Technology.

You can search any of the following government locations for information on your topic.  Including: 
National Institute of Health,
the Office of Scientific and Technical Information,
the National Technical Information Service  or
SCIRUS for Scientific Information Only.

Combine your keywords to locate technical and research reports from various departments of the U.S. Government.  For example:

1. Select the link, Department of Health and Human Services.
2. Type in the search bar your keywords, (i.e.: cancer AND genetics)

Internet Resources

Agriculture/Food
Agricultural Biotechnology - USDA and the FDA are primarily responsible for regulating biotechnology in the U.S.
Biotechnology in Food & Agriculture - discusses biotechnologies used with crop, forestry, animal and fish production in developing countries.

Biotechnology
BioEthics - American Journal of Bioethics from St. Louis University.
Biotechnology Advances - covers issues and their impact, bioethics, applications, diagrams and a history of biotechnology.
Biotechnology Information - collection of resources on biotechnology research and education.
Human Cloning - scientific and medical aspects of human cloning.
Issues in Biotechnology - covers cloning, genetically modified organisms, medical biotechnology.

DNA and Forensics
DNA From the Beginning - from the basic concepts of inheritance to the latest methods of DNA analysis.
DNA Profiling - Since 1987, forensic DNA analysis has made appearances in U.S. courtrooms.
Forensic Science Communications - online journal from the FBI.

Genetics
Genetics Arizona - provides problem sets, tutorials and activities on genetics, dna and forensics.
Genetic Engineering News - largest circulated publication in the biotechnology field worldwide.
Genetic Machine - determines facts about your genes based on your family's physical traits ("phenotype").
Genetic Resources - information on the Human Genome Project, medicine, cloning, DNA, testing and more.

Human Genome Project
Human Genome Project - complete mapping and sequencing of human and selected model organisms' DNA.
Human Genome Resources - background information, sequences for each human chromosome and Genome maps of other organisms.

Medicine/Diseases
Bioethics Database - includes the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature and the National Information Resource on Ethics and Human Genetics.
Human Gene Therapy - from the National Reference Center for Bioethics literature.

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