Social and Scientific Issue Origin of Life Contrast and Critique Paper

Objective: To make you aware of the volume and nature of the material written on this contentious social/scientific issue, i.e. creationism, and to give you the opportunity to objectively contrast and critique the scientific merits of a small sample of the arguments.

Select a specific topic (reasonably narrow in scope) and locate TWO (or more) sources representing the issue from opposing viewpoints. This can be from the web or from print media. You might start at www.talkorigins.org. Select these carefully and write a 1200-1800-word paper giving a brief synopsis of the particular point of contention (e.g., “There are no transitions in the fossil record,” “All mutations are harmful,” “Organisms display irreducible complexity denoting intelligent design”), and why it caught your interest. Can you identify the authors’ backgrounds/expertise and credentials? Summarize, contrast, and critique the pro and con arguments that are made, and evaluate their merits and limitations and the impressions you take from them. I want to see your thoughts and reasoned, factual evaluation of the arguments – Remember you are senior biology majors. Cite your sources fully.