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Wesley Allen

Nathan Cole

English 1010

25 April 2017

Final Draft

Genetic Education

Weve all had to take some sort of class in high school that involved biology. Most of us

thought that it was either fun, hard, or even gross and have had to sit through a lecture about

DNA and how it makes up all living things. Genetic engineers are those people in that class that

enjoyed every minute of those lectures and, eventually decided to make a living off of playing

with DNA. There is a lot of variety within the field of genetic engineering, which also makes it

easy to get a job in this field since there is little competition. The only thing that you really need

is the right degree for the designated field. Genetic engineers need to know how to use a lot of

different equipment and have a extensive knowledge in biology and chemistry; as they spend

their time altering and adding DNA to animals and plants. We will mostly be focusing on what

kind of education will be needed to be a Genetic Engineer, with the amount of time it will take to

get the degree, the writing skills, and oral skills required in order to graduate into that field.

Someone going into the genetic engineering field starts out with a bachelors in either

biology or chemistry. After that you can pursue a more advanced degree and can expect to

advance in the genetic engineering field that for which you study. A few of the best schools in the

genetic engineering program are the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) and Arizona

State University (ASU). UCLA has a good program due to the quality of professors that teach
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there. Most of them have been in the field for many years and have lots of experience to go

around. On the other hand, ASU has Fantastic labs that will allow students to get used to the kind

of work environment they will experience and to learn how to use the equipment that they will

be exposed to. Going to these schools is great for those that are looking to pursue something

more than just bachelor's degree, like a doctorates. Those that get a doctorate degree in the field

do it to be able to do there own self studies. Allowing them to be able to be leaders in a team and

to conduct their own experiments. In order for you to be able to get a bachelor's degree you need

about four to five years of schooling. But, if you're going to be getting your doctorate degree it

can take another three to four years to get after getting your bachelors. A lot of the time people

that pursue their doctoral degree go for a second one in medicine.

The kind of writing skills that are required to have in the genetic engineering field arent

very high. Most of all the documents that they deal with are only a paragraph or two long. But,

the content that is within those paragraphs are summaries of current projects or the results of the

latests experiments. One of the most important things that they need to be able to do is to

construct hypotheses that are specific and can be easily replicated. This also includes having

extensive knowledge of the project's background which can also be expressed in short

paragraphs. That being said, they also need a significant understanding of the scientific method,

and rules they need to abide by. They also need to be able to write these summaries very

efficiently so that all of their co-workers can understand it. When publishing findings they need

to identify their audience and use vocabulary that their audience will be able to understand. They

would need to know how to simplify their explanations and/or wording and learn how to explain

things in simpler terms. In order for them to do this they need to have great comprehension

skills.
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In order to become a genetic engineer you must be able to develop great oral skills; which

will help you in the field. One of the most important things needed in this field, other than

knowledge of biology and chemistry, is communication. Someone in this field should be able to

not only work well with others in the lab but must also have great oral comprehension skills to

receive and give instructions properly. It is also important for one to be able to debate, whether

the debate in inductive or deductive. Deductive reasonings are the result of a statement can be

found as true and acceptable. No good argument can be found with a false conclusion. An

inductive reasoning is the result of a conclusion that follows the premise of a deductive

reasoning In other words, if the argument is deductive but doesn't have a conclusion that follows

the main idea of the statement, then the argument says deductive. If the conclusion does match

then the argument is considered inductive. This implies that if you want to become a genetic

engineer then you need to be able to acquire good oral skills. You also should be able to have

good persuasion skills in order to be able to get people on your side during a debate. Genetic

engineers also need to have a high critical thinking level in order to be able to finish projects

quickly and without error.

Overall, genetic engineers have to do many things while in school in order to succeed in

the field. In order for them to be able to do everything they are required to do, they need to have

developed a wide variety of different skills. A lot of the different equipment that they use has to

be used with precision in order for an experiment to be successful. If an experiment doesnt

succeed, then they need to find a quick and sometimes complicated solution. Even if someone is

going to school full time to try to get into this field it may take up to sixteen, or more, years in

order to do so. On top of having to know complicated equipment and know complex formulas

related to the field, they also need to have great oral and writing skills. They need to be able to
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state the progress of a project with wording that is easily understood. When they write a

hypothesis that not only is easy to duplicate, but can also be easily proven false. If an experiment

fails or a hypothesis is proven wrong, that they need to be able to easily reconstruct the

hypothesis and do the experiment again. When becoming a good genetic engineer, there is

simply no other way to go but the hard way. There is nothing easy about the job or the years of

grueling school that lay ahead of those that try to get into the field. However, there is a lot of

different things that can be done in this field of work and the outcome for some may be worth it.
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Work Cited

What is Genetic Engineering and How Does it Work? University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 2001

http://agbiosafety.unl.edu/basic_genetics.html

Become a Genetic Engineer: Education and Career Roadmap. Study.com. 2003

http://study.com/articles/Become_a_Genetic_Engineer_Education_and_Career_Roadmap

.html

What Degree do I Need to be a Genetic Engineer? DegreeQuery.com. 09 August 2013

http://www.degreequery.com/what-degree-do-i-need-to-be-a-genetic-engineer/

Torrance, Megan. How Long Does it Take to Be a Genetic Engineer? Cron.com. 2012

http://work.chron.com/long-genetic-engineer-28709.html

Top Genetic Engineering Schools: List of Best Programs. Study.com. 2003

http://study.com/articles/Top_Genetic_Engineering_Schools_List_of_Best_Programs.htm