Topic: Does Wi-Fi, cellphone or microwave radiation cause serious damage to our body? Why or why not?
1. Write a research paper on the above topic. Just like any other research paper, your research paper should include at least 5 parts:
a) Abstract
b) Introduction
c) Data and Analysis/Discussion (with scientific evidence)
d) Conclusion
e) References.
Links to (5) documents:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qqgzknoz81j4vxj/FCC-gov%20paper.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6zphf2w35kyf39v/2005_MWR_NonthermalMWEffectsReview.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ks3ipwcfp8mlpf/Harvard_CellularPhone.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7t4i08joz12nsl/Oxford_MicrowaveHuman.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8remljbfa5ujrkq/PhysRevA_LowFrequencyEMWaves.pdf?dl=0
2. Along with this document, there are 5 research papers posted in the Final Project folder on Blackboard. You are required to read and refer to these papers when writing your own research paper. Please read these papers in a specific order (the titles of the 5 papers are listed in the recommended order at the end of this document). These 5 research papers should serve the following purposes as you prepare, draft and edit your final research paper:
a) As your literature review sources. “A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study.” (https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview)
b) As templates or sample papers as you write your own;
c) As your references (you can read more research papers and list them as your references besides these 5 given, but not less).
d) Please NOTE that we have 0 tolerance for plagiarism in this course. You may cite the papers but are not allowed to copy and paste sentences or paragraphs into your own paper.
3. In this paper, you are also required to give a clear introduction to Electromagnetic Waves (EM waves), including:
a) Different parts of the EM spectrum
b) What’s in common and what are the differences among different portions of the whole EM spectrum?
c) Which part of the EM spectrum do Wi-Fi, cellphone, or microwave radiation belong to, respectively? Are they usually harmful to human body? If yes, what kind of harm/damage do they cause to human body? If no, please explain why.
d) Please support your argument with evidence.
4. A rubric is also posted in the Final Project folder. Please read the rubric carefully before writing the research paper.
Recommended Order of Reading of the 5 Research Papers
1) Questions and Answers about Biological Effects and Potential Hazards of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields, by FCC, August 1999. (Most important one out of the 5, also the only one that you should try to understand – the relevant parts)
2) Microwave Radiation Effects on Humans, by Stephen F. Cleary, Oxford Journals, April 1983. (Important, especially the difference between ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation)
3) Non-thermal Biological Effects of Microwaves, by Igor Belyaev, Microwave Review (less important, skim, just to find useful information for you)
4) Potential Hazards of Cellular Phone Radiation: Responses to Fear and Uncertainty, Harvard Library, May 2002. (Less important, a Student Review Paper, not much new information provided, but some biology jargons may be found in this paper, only for your reference)
5) Constraints on biological effects of weak extremely-low-frequency electromagnetic fields, by Robert K. Adair, June 1990. (the most technical paper out of the 5, “very physics”, hard for most people, skim and only look for useful information for your writing)
