Write a unified essay in which you describe and analyze the problems Rosalind Franklin faced in the 1950’s as a university-based woman scientist in Great Britain. See movie The Race for the Double Helix

Write a unified essay in which you describe and analyze the problems Rosalind Franklin faced in the 1950’s as a university-based woman scientist in Great Britain. See movie The Race for the Double Helix

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2 (Analytical Essay)

 

SUGGESTED LENGTH:      7-10 typed pages, double spaced

 

TOPIC:

Write a unified essay in which you describe and analyze the problems Rosalind Franklin faced in the 1950’s as a university-based woman scientist in Great Britain. See movie The Race for the Double Helix

 

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Write your essay for a general reader, not just for me. That is, don’t assume that your reader knows anything about the Franklin case. You will need to set the scene, introduce the characters, and then narrate the story, as you see it. You can make comments as you go along, or you can narrate the entire story first, briefly, and then go back and comment on key scenes; or you can use a combination of these approaches.

 

  1. Make your essay analytical as well as descriptive. e., explain the ultimate sources of the problems you describe.  Locate Franklin’s experiences in the larger social content.

 

  1. Use the theories we have talked about in class to frame your discussion. In particular, discuss how the Franklin case illustrates the following course concepts:

                        The gender binary system                    The Perfect Girl Syndrome                                           The “80% / 20% Rule”                              Male-norming

Gender Role Deviance                          The Double Bind (“Bitch” v “Airhead”)

Social Capital

 

  1. Throughout your essay, compare and contrast Franklin’s experiences as a scientist working on DNA with Crick and Watson’s experiences (and also with Wilkins’). In particular, compare the four scientists’ attitudes toward

Risk-taking (and guessing)               Competition

Public failure                                     Goal-orientedness

        

  1. Be sure to respond to the central moral issues at stake in this case: i.e., do you think that any of the scientists involved in this case did anything unethical? Why/ why not?

 

  1. Base your essay on your analysis of The Race for the Double Helix (shown in class.) You do not need to do additional research on Franklin, Crick, Watson, or Wilkins.

 

  1. If you use secondary sources be sure to cite them using standard MLA format (Use endnotes rather than footnotes, however. They’re easier to manage.)  You can use the citation format in my syllabus as a starting model.  Email me specific questions about documentation, and I will try to guide you.

 

  1. Be extremely careful to avoid plagiarism. Please review my PowerPoint presentation on “Plagiarism and How to Avoid It” posted on Moodle.  (If you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism, be sure to ask me.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Bibliographic Information about the Film: The Race for the Double Helix       UK 1987 Color               Director: Mick Jackson Cast (in credits order)      Jeff Goldblum                                Jim Watson      Tim Pigott-Smith                          Francis Crick      Alan Howard                                Maurice Wilkins      Juliet Stevenson                           Rosalind Franklin

 

QUOTES FROM THE FILM THE RACE FOR THE DOUBLE HELIX

 

Perhaps some of these quotes will stimulate your thinking on the Rosalind Franklin case:

 

WATSON:

–There’s money in genes…fame, glory.

–I don’t want a scientist. I want a girl!

–I’m very goal-oriented.

 

FRANKLIN:

–You know what I like about our kind of work? You can be happy or unhappy. It makes no difference. It’s there all the same. You look at it and say, so that’s how it is.

— Sometimes I feel like an archeologist breaking into a sealed tomb. I don’t want to touch anything. I just want to look.

–I wish there were someone I could talk to [about my work].

–In the end, you become the person people expect you to be

–One thing at a time, Raymond….We’ll get to the B form in good time. No hurry.

–You don’t read the ending first to see who did it. Spoils the book. Satisfaction doesn’t come from knowing the solution. It comes from knowing WHY it’s the solution.

–I just like to know what I’m taking about first.

 

BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ROSALIND FRANKLIN CASE:

 

  1. How did Crick & Watson go about finding the structure of DNA?
  2. How did Franklin’s approach differ from Crick’s & Watson’s?
  3. What problems did Franklin face in her working environment that Crick & Watson did not face?
  4. How did the problems that Franklin faced as a woman in a male-dominated environment affect her work?

Did these problems affect the approach she took in her research?

Did these problems affect the way she related to other scientists?

  1. Why did Crick & Watson “win the race”?

Why didn’t Franklin win?

  1. Did Crick & Watson do anything ethically wrong?
  2. Did Franklin get fair and full credit for her work?

If not, what needed to change in order for her to get credit?

  1. Is there any way that Franklin could have “beaten the system”?