Science in the Media

There is nothing like reading a good book or watching a great movie for a little escapism and entertainment. With all of the television channels out there and access to the internet, you can watch just about anything you want at any time. In Unit 2, you talked about the science involved with technology, but in this Assignment, you are going to turn the tables and delve into how the media portrays science.

How does a pop culture portrayal of science and scientists impact the average person’s view of what science is and how research is conducted? Can what is presented by the media affect how the general populace views a particular research field? What might the long-term impacts of such a depiction be? These are just a few questions that you will reflect upon in this Assignment.

Your paper should address the following questions:

1. When you hear the word “scientist” what do you envision? Which famous people or characters from the media come into your mind? What characteristics do they have in common? Discuss at least three characteristics of your vision of a scientist.
2. Has your image of what a scientist does and how they look changed over time? If so, how has this changed and what influenced you?
3. Are fictional scientists usually the heroes, villains, or a combination of the two? Provide at least two detailed examples to support your position.
4. How is science portrayed in fictional media (television shows, movies, music, books, etc.)? Is it seen as a positive, negative, or neutral force in the world? Give specific examples supporting your position.
5. Do you think the portrayal of scientists in the various forms of media influences how society views people in this profession? Why, or why not?
6. Can the portrayal of science in media influence how certain research and technology is viewed, and accepted, by the general public (e.g., cloning)?

Your Final Project should be written in an essay format, with an introduction and conclusion. The paper will require you to include details from research including the course materials and sources you locate on your own. Use APA format to cite your sources of information, both within parenthetical citations and also within a reference page at the end of the project.

Basic Writing Expectations:

Turnitin Analysis

A special feature is available to help you with reviewing your Unit 9 Final Project for plagiarism. When you submit your Assignment to the Unit 9 Final Project Dropbox, your Assignment will automatically be analyzed by the plagiarism detection tool, Turnitin. Soon after you submit your Assignment, you will be able to view the Turnitin Originality Report. Originality Reports provide a summary of matching or highly similar text found in a submitted paper. When an Originality Report is available for viewing, an icon will appear in the report column of the Assignment Inbox. Originality Reports are only available in the InBox. For this reason, you will need to download the report prior to the grading of the Unit 9 final Project. To do this, click on the print icon at the bottom of the Originality Report. This will prepare a readable, PDF version of the Originality Report that you can save to your computer.

Submitting Your Final Project

Save your copy of the Final Project in a location and with a name that you will remember. Be sure to use the “Save As” option to include your first and last name in the title of the document. For example, your Assignment might be called Shawn_Edwards_FinalProject.doc

When you are ready, submit it to the Dropbox. For help using the Dropbox click the Additional Help button below.