September 19th, 2020 
Assignment # 5: Describe a Process
Compose one or more paragraphs within which you describe one or more processes important to an understanding of your topic. My topic is Stem cell research.
When using outside sources, SEE THE “APA TAB” IN THE COURSE FOR DOCUMENTATION GUIDELINES.
FOLLOW THE MODEL and examples given, and be sure to refer to your evaluation guide/ rubric for where you will earn or lose points.
SAMPLE:
Other experiments are performed on animals to test the effectiveness of new drugs and medical procedures. For example, animals are infected with various viruses, they are implanted with cancers, artificial hearts and kidneys, or they are surgically altered so that the diseases or medical procedures can be studied in more detail. As Peter Singer reports in Animal Liberation (2006), Robert J. White of the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital is the perfect example of the scientist who thinks of a laboratory animal as a tool for research (pg. 37). Studying the human brain, White experiments on the decapitated heads of monkeys that are alive in fluid (pg. 75). While Whites studies may sound bizarre, they are but one example of biomedical research employing animals as subjects.
SAMPLE:
Scientists have come up with ways to increase plant production, extend shelf life, and make food more nutritious through genetically modifying organisms. In 2015, Chelsea Powell, and Anna Maurer, from Harvard University, created a flow chart about the most common ways that GMO plants are made and explains it through easy to follow pictures and notes. They describe GMO production as a process that starts out simple enough and that begins with the question: what do I want from this plant? Once scientists come up with an answer, they look into nature to find a trait that exists in that species of plants. It may take a while, but once the plant with the desired trait is found, scientists will look at its DNA and isolate the trait they want. It is then compared to the DNA of other plants in the same species so they can find out where the DNA of one plant can fit into the DNA of another. The desired DNA is then cut from the strand and is inserted into the other plant. This can happen by either shooting the genes into the plant directly, or through using bacteria and enzymes to alter the modified plant, which has a more successful rate of integration than directly inserting a gene. With luck, the foreign DNA is absorbed into the DNA of the seeds and a plant will grow. It may take several tries to get a plant to grow after the genetic modification, and even then, the plant may not have the traits that were desired in the first place. At that point, the process begins anew, until the desired effects are grown (para. 3). It may seem like an over complicated method of seed production, especially when basic plant seeds are readily available and cheap, but these new seeds have the potential to bring more nutritious food production to the most desolate of places.
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