Ideas for a Biology assignment?

blue powder

For an assignment concerning biology, I've been asked to describe cell theory using two detailed examples to emphasise the fact that cells are the fundamental basis for all life. We're being marked on originality so I'm just looking for interesting areas I could research?

I have several books by Dawkins which I've flicked through, but I can't find anythign really sepcific enough, but perhaps I missed something?

Thanks in advance for any ideas, guys.

RUNN1NGMAN

Is the irony of saying:

blue powder wrote: »

We're being marked on originality so I'm just looking for interesting areas I could research?

and then coming to an internet forum for ideas not lost on you? Anything you get from us will be, by definition, not original. In fact, unless you put a footnote in your assignment saying that you got the idea from Username XXXXX at Penny Arcade, it is PLAGIARISM.

blue powder

Not at all, I'm not looking for a written answer to cut and paste, I'm simply seeking advice and an interesting topic to research from people with more experience in this area. I've asked similar questions on this forum and received some really useful information and genuine help without implicitly giving answers. That's all I'm asking for.

RUNN1NGMAN

All I'm saying is that if the instructor is grading on originality, it really sucks for your classmates who may have actually come up with something original.

And plagiarism is more than cutting and pasting. You probably couldn't care less, but people have been expelled from universities for doing less than you. Taking someone's ideas without credit is the big P, regardless of you skill at paraphrasing.

Marathon

You could compare and contrast the differences in the development of a human and say a tree. Talk about how every human and the billions of cells in their bodies all began as a single cell and also talk about how the same essentially happens for trees.

blue powder

So you think my class mates won't be seeking advice from people who have more experience in this area of study? If a mod sees this as me plagerising then they can lock/delete as they please, but as far as I'm concerned I'm not doing anything wrong.

Thanks, marathon, I'll give that a go. I've read too many books concerning natural selection so I'm afraid that I won't be specific enough/miss the point etc.

Moobly

On Marathon's note, perhaps it could approached from a reproductive angle. The smiliarties and differences between fetal and seed development?

As for plagarism, I think you're being a bit overly harsh and accusatory. Why are you so bitter about this? I'd have a hard time agreeing that asking for advice from anyone, internet or not, is wrong. I don't know that asking a mate for his opinion on something, then using that suggestion, is plagarism any more than asking in a forum. The only difference is the number of people you can ask. Are you suggesting that you'd have to give your mate credit in a bibliography. I can imagine the expulsion hearing now.

"Yes sir, I did receive the idea for my paper from a bloke named "SatanismyMotor. I also received pointers from other members including, "Moobly," "DiscoZombie," "Cardboard Tube," and various others.
As for expulsions for less...I'm curious. Can you provide examples? It could be mildly entertaining. Has some poor sod got himself removed for speaking to a friend in public? A wayward cough in the presence of an angry administrator?

RUNN1NGMAN

Moobly wrote: »

On Marathon's note, perhaps it could approached from a reproductive angle. The smiliarties and differences between fetal and seed development?

As for plagarism, I think you're being a bit overly harsh and accusatory. Why are you so bitter about this? I'd have a hard time agreeing that asking for advice from anyone, internet or not, is wrong. I don't know that asking a mate for his opinion on something, then using that suggestion, is plagarism any more than asking in a forum. The only difference is the number of people you can ask. Are you suggesting that you'd have to give your mate credit in a bibliography. I can imagine the expulsion hearing now.

"Yes sir, I did receive the idea for my paper from a bloke named "SatanismyMotor. I also received pointers from other members including, "Moobly," "DiscoZombie," "Cardboard Tube," and various others.
As for expulsions for less...I'm curious. Can you provide examples? It could be mildly entertaining. Has some poor sod got himself removed for speaking to a friend in public? A wayward cough in the presence of an angry administrator?

I'm not bitter. If the teacher said that originality is a factor, then the implication is that everyone should be coming up with their own idea for the project, not asking their Uncle Benny or Mom or H/A.

Obviously, the penalties and standards of enforcement in high school are going to lower, but there's nothing wrong with holding yourself to a certain ethical standard for plagiarism.

It's not an exact corollary, but see this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/09/AR2008080901453.html
Note that students were briefed on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. And note the last line of the article: "I really don't think," Gruntz said, "I did anything wrong." This is just one example of how kids are coming out of high school with a poor understanding of the ethics of borrowing other people's ideas.

As another example, I currently am taking a class with a "no collaboration" policy. If I provide information to someone else on something as simple as what book I am using for a source and was caught, I would, at a minimum, be suspended for one year. And as for your strawman above, if someone did in fact ask someone for an idea for a thesis and did not then somehow cite that conversation, they would definitely face a sanction.

Moobly

That's all fine and good, but it's the difference between researching and asking an opinion. He's asking for thoughts on a subject, not for us to write his paper, or even provide research. He's not even asking for places that he could research said topic.
The no collaboration rule doesn't really apply to this. There was no mention of anything like that in the OP.

The article is about a paper, this thread isn't about an entire paper,. We're speaking solely about an idea for a topic. As for the thesis topic, ironicly, do you have a reference for that? It seems that as advice from person to person holds no kind of citable material, it's just a conversation or an asked and answered question. It's not an interview. I couldn't even find an approved method of citing "Having a conversation with Bill." I'm really not instigating, I'm actually quite curious.

witch_ie

I think it would be interesting to see how you could fit viruses and/or prions into the discussion.

reminderGTO

Talk about how cells become cancerous. You can pretty much delve right into cancer because obviously there are tons of research papers on it.

witch_ie wrote: »

I think it would be interesting to see how you could fit viruses and/or prions into the discussion.

This too although, it might go into seperate topics considering that prions are misshapen proteins.

Pulvaan

you could also talk about how organelles are believed to be descendants of ancient prokaryotic cells that were engulfed by eukaryotic cells - which is why the outer membrane of mitochondria are much more similar in structure and composition to eukaryotic membranes and the inner membranes more similar to prokaryotes, and why some mitochondrial genes are retained within the mitochondria.

To be more interesting you might be able to tie it into germ theory, versus miasma or other theories of disease.

blue powder

Fantastic! Cancer and prions are topics I completely forgot about, especially prions is a good one, thanks a lot! I think i'm more inclined to discuss prions, and ideally the two topics should be related. What else could I talk about concerning this? Cancer and prions aren't really similar prcesses, you know?

Also? Thanks for backing me up, Moobly.

EDIT: The germ theory sounds intersting, I did a paper on viruses last semester, I'll look into that also.

ceres

The topic of how cells one day all got together and said to each other "You know, it'd really be easier if we did this as a group. Here, I'll handle the defense and you can handle the filtration and Bob over there, he's got that engineering degree so maybe he can whip up something so we can get around..."

Especially because they couldn't actually plan like that. They just moved in that direction, and it just happened that way one day, and then evolved. It a massive oversimplification of what actually happened, but I find the how and why fascinating nonetheless.

As far as cellular processes go, I always thought the sodium-potassium pump was really neat, not to mention meiosis for genetic diversity.