BIOL 4431L—Human Physiology Lab

“Animals in Vaccine Development” position paper

What is it?

You will write and submit a position paper on the topic of the usage of animals in the context of vaccine development. A position paper presents an arguable opinion that is held by the writer (you), and should include data-driven facts cited by scientific sources. For this paper, you can write in first person, since portions of it are opinions you hold.

Am I “pro” or “con”?

Most of us already have some pre-conceived notions regarding this topic that may or may not include some mixed opinions (likely a majority!). I would encourage you to have an open mind throughout this assignment and research
both sides of the issue. This is an opportunity to research and justify any and all of your opinions, so it is completely acceptable (and encouraged) to include arguments for both sides in your paper.

Assignment:

You will submit a typed paper (12 pt font, double-spaced, 1 in. margins) of your research representing your stance to the D2L Assignment folder titled “Animals in Vaccine Development”. The paper should be 2-3 pages long (no cover page necessary) and it should contain in-text documentation of your sources. You should also submit a Works Cited page (see below) with no fewer than 3 scientific resources (feel free to include more). Your Works Cited page will not count towards the page limit of your paper.

Scientific resources:

Scientific resources traditionally refer to peer-reviewed journals, but I will also accept published national policies (NIH, USDA, etc). Please do not use online sources such as Wikipedia, PETA, Humane Society, etc as one of your 3 minimum sources as these websites are not peer-reviewed and typically not seen as credible by the scientific community. Any “blog post” found online, even from a credible source, is not peer-reviewed and will not count as a “scientific source”. Feel free to peruse those websites during your research, but please find more scientific sources to cite during your arguments.
In-text documentation is required. Your citations should be of scientific format as indicated by APA or MLA guidelines. You may visit the following website for documentation guidelines:
Purdue Online Writing Lab

Please note: it is NOT customary in a scientific paper to use direct quotes. You should paraphrase any information you use in your paper that you learned from any outside source, but that information should still be cited in-text!

Three APA examples are seen below:

1.
Citing a textbook in Works Cited page:

Widmaier, E.P., Raff H., & Strang K.T. (2019).
Vander’s human physiology: the mechanisms of body function. 15th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Education.

2.
Citing a journal article found online in Works cited page:

Hendriksen CF. (1996). A short history of the use of animals in vaccine development and quality control.
Dev Biol Stand, 86, 3-10. PMID: 8785959

3.
Citing a journal article/textbook in-text:

The quest to eradicate diphtheria was one of the primary examples of the successful use of animal testing (Hendriksen, 1996).

A note regarding artificial intelligence software online. It is very attractive to students to use AI software to generate written assignments. Please know that the use of software such as ChatGPT without proper citation is considered plagiarism by KSU. Anyone suspected of using this software and claiming ownership of the product could be reported to
SCAI.

A few questions to get you started:

· What is considered “humane” animal research?

· Who or what organization(s) holds researchers accountable for their practices involving animals?

· What legislation is in place to protect these animals?

· Is vaccine development different than other scientific purposes?