Christof Teuscher

UNST 134A
Fall 2014

Final Essay

Social, Ethical, and Legal Implications of the

Definition of Life
Goals:
Learn how to write a short research paper.
Learn how to make arguments and back them up with evidence.

Introduction:
Defining what life is, as we have seen so far in the class, is by no means an easy task. There is not
commonly accepted definition that clearly separates living into non-living entities. Yet, the
definition of life has widespread implications on societal, ethical, and legal issues. What are they?
And why does it matter how we define life in these contexts? For this paper, imagine that you write
your essay for a friend who has not taken the course. The goal is to make your arguments in a way
that he/she will be convinced in the end that (1) the definition of life matters (2) that it has a
profound impact on society in the areas you have chosen to focus on.

Steps:
1. Start with the articles you collected (and read) for your Literature Search assignment. That
should give you a great basis for the definition of life.
2. Decide what aspect you want to focus on by selecting one specific topic/issue, i.e., social, or
ethical, or legal implications. Do not try to cover each and every aspect you can think of.
3. Do more research, find sources, examples, studies, etc.
4. Think about the overall structure of your essay. Start with a skeleton. Or do a free-write and use
the text generated as a starting point. The Purdue Owl website has a nice article on Where do I
Begin? https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/
5. In your essay, make sure you define important concepts and/or provide citations to the
relevant literature. Your friend may not know what you are talking about otherwise.
6. I recommend that you include examples, case studies, ethical dilemmas, etc., to better illustrate
the points you want to make.
7. Format the paper in MLA (but use single space). Carefully check the spelyngg.

FAQs:
Q: How much depth or breadth is reasonable? A: For this assignment, I care more about depth.
Select one topic and go deeper rather than trying to address all issues you can find.
Q: How long should the paper be? A: 2 pages, not including the bibliography.
Q: Do I need to use single or double space? A: Single space please.
Q: Do I have to have a thesis? A: If you know what a thesis is and how to come up with one, sure,
use one, but its not required.

10/31/14

Christof Teuscher
UNST 134A
Fall 2014

Due date:
Wed, Nov 26, 10:00pm
Start early, start now!

What to submit:
Upload the file on D2L. Word, PDF, LibreOffice, and OpenOffice are acceptable file formats.
Dont forget your name.

Resources (clickable links):
MLA Formatting and Style Guide:
MLA sample paper (pdf)
Where do I Begin: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/

10/31/14