Research Paper Proposal
Jessica Kisner
ENGL 191-17
Jack Hennes
The topic I have tentatively decided on for my research paper is experimentation on humans. There are multiple reasons as to why I chose this topic; the main one being my fascination with it. Since I first began learning about it in grade school it has always struck me, and I find it astounding that such a terrible thing could be part of our history. But it is, and I think it’s vital that we know more about it and are educated on the topic and shown how wrong it is.
I will approach this paper from an argumentative perspective, and with the view of course, that it is wrong, cruel, and should never happen again in any way shape or form. I will look back on the history of human experimentation and different cases of it, the most infamous ones at least. I will then tie it in to the story of Henrietta Lacks and how she was experimented on. Maybe not to the degree as the others, but it was still wrong. I will then compare how severe it was back then to today, and analyze whether it is still present
I have not yet formed a clear outline yet, but I have a general idea of the subtopics I will use. (Although I may end up altering them). The ones I have somewhat in mind are a brief summary of human experimentation and its history. Then other subtopics will be 3 main cases most people will know about. The Holocaust, The Nuremberg Trials, and what happened at Tuskegee as well. Then I will have a paragraph dedicated to tying human experimentation in with the book Henrietta Lacks. Then my last topic before the conclusion would be comparing and contrasting then to now, and perhaps looking towards the future. In all with the intro and conclusion I should have 7 main subtopics. Again, this may be altered though.
My tentative thesis for now would be something along these lines: Human experimentation is not something we focus on a lot in today’s day and age. It is cruel, wrong, and we must be sure it never happens again. This thesis is VERY tentative and can use a lot of work, but it is the general idea that I have thus far.
