Popular Press Review

· Students are to find and review a news article, from a major magazine or newspaper, describing a discovery, advance, concern, or ethical issue relating to biotechnology.

· A copy of the article should be attached to the review, along with a copy of a scientific article which is related to, or provides some background information for the article

· The student’s name should be on the top, right-hand corner of the first page, which should be stapled to the second page.

· Each review should contain a one page summary of the news article and any scientific background information, and a second opinion page on the benefits, detriments or concerns you have about the subject material in the article. Remember, if you use text, as is, out of any article, it must be quoted and properly referenced.

· Additional reference information can be used but should also be appropriately referenced.

The objective of the popular press review is to broaden your knowledge of the information around you and look deeper into information released by the press on biotechnology. A critical review of the popular press article is advantageous.

Points will not be taken off for spelling or grammatical errors unless quite extensive. Analysis of the article and scientific validity are valued. Was the content of the article biased or distorted, based on the scientific background? Addition comments on the thoroughness of the article are also useful. Did the writer report on all of the potential outcomes or concerns? Do you have additional questions that are not answered in the article?

5 points will be taken off if an appropriate scientific article is not included. For the remaining 20 points,….

*Point Value*	*Rank*	*Content*	*Scientific Validity*	*Thoroughness*
20	Exemplary	Summarizes >90% of content	Expresses logical (supported) opinion regarding article	A true critical review – many additional concerns are raised
15	Good	Summarizes 70-80% of content	Expresses opinion (not supported) regarding topic	Some additional concerns are raised
10	Adequate	Summarizes less than 70% of content	No opinion, or unsupported opinion	No concerns – little additional thought

How to find an appropriate popular press article and a useful scientific article:

Under “databases arranged by subject”, select “newspapers” and hit “go”

In the News Category, select, “General News” and the News Source is “Major Papers”.

Please find something from a newspaper that you have heard of, not an obscure newspaper from outside of the US. The easiest popular press article to review will contain information about a scientific article, which you should find for your assignment.

A scientific article usually contains an abstract, introduction, methods and results/discussion section. Scientific articles are found using other search databases. Most are very technical – you are not expected to understand the total article but you should be able to understand key points explained in the abstract and introduction.

To find a scientific article, go back to the university’s library web site: http://library.osu.edu

Under “databases arranged by subject”, select “Biology” and hit “go”

I prefer the ISI Citation database but other biology databases should be satisfactory.

In the ISI Citation database, click on check the box next to “Science citation index……”

Once a suitable scientific article is found, go back to the library page and perform a search for the name of the journal. Link to the online version of the journal and find the specific article of interest – it will usually be available as a pdf, which you should print and save.