Introduction
The article “Scientists finally finish decoding entire human genome” by Laura Ungar was published online by the Detroit News website. It discusses an achievement in the genetics field whereby scientists eventually assembled the human genetic blueprint. Ungar (2022) provides information about the journey of the entire human genome sequencing that has spanned decades, including challenges and limitations encountered by scientists. DNA reading has not been complete due to inadequate technologies, leading to incomplete coding of the human genome. However, technological advancement has led to more sophisticated sequencing and eventual completion of sequencing. The article also includes direct quotes from the scientists involved in the process for over 20 years. This commentary will focus on the article’s structure, targeted audience, primary purpose, and connection to the course materials and topics.
Article Structure
Ungar’s text is presented in the form of a news article such as those appearing in print newspapers. However, it also utilizes some aspects of being published online, like having direct URLs to other resources. Following the media writing style, the whole article is in prose, as news articles do not include bullet points or numbering, has short paragraphs and lack headings or subheadings. There are several one-sentence paragraphs, and the longest one has only three lines. Although it is a scientific piece of writing, it does not include references to scholarly sources, as expected of a news article. For example, Ungar has direct quotes from the scientists participating in the exercise but does not cite the sources of such information. The author should provide links to the mentioned studies within the article or a list of the references at the end. Credibility and validity are essential aspects of any scientific text.
Intended Audience
The primary targeted audience is the ordinary readers who do not have extensive knowledge of biology or genetics. Although it is published under the science category of the Detroit News site, the article explains, often in layman’s language, important scientific terms. For example, Ungar (2022) defines the word genome as “the set of instructions to build and sustain a human being” in the second paragraph to ensure readers understand the rest of the material. Shorter sentences and paragraphs are also intended for the average reader who does not wish to engage in lengthy scientific readings. In addition, Ungar (2022) utilizes various media writing styles to attract and sustain the reader’s interest, which would not be necessary for a scientific audience who is used to dull and complicated texts. For instance, she uses the question “The next step?” to keep the reader hooked until the last sentence of the article (Ungar, 2022). Therefore, the targeted readers are ordinary people without any interest in complex scientific studies.
The Article’s Main Purpose
The article’s primary aim is to inform the public about advances made in genetics. From the start to the end, Ungar only details the reports of the groundbreaking achievements of the scientists in genome coding. She includes definitions of words and concepts to understand the relayed information better. The author explains the significance of the accomplishment to the human genetics and biology fields. In addition, Ungar briefly describes the sequencing process while elucidating the challenges scientists face in such experiments. The article does not have any call to action message to the readers but finishes with a statement that promises more research into the field. Therefore, Ungar’s article is an informative piece for scientific advancement.
The Article’s Link to the Course Syllabus
Ungar’s news article discusses human genetics, genome, sequencing, evolution, and DNA, biological topics. Genetics was selected as the emphasized topic for this commentary because genome sequencing and DNA are parts of it. In addition to ‘genetic’, other terminologies related to the subject used in the article include genes, chromosomes, DNA, genome, and sequencing. The success discussed in the article was not achievable earlier due to the limitation of DNA sequencing technologies (Ungar, 2022). Evolution understanding is said to improve through complete genome sequencing. The DNA subunits that make up the human genome are over 3.1 billion (Ungar, 2022). More than 30,000 human genes are grouped into 23 categories of chromosomes but only the X ones were entirely coded because Y was not in the mole (Ungar, 2022). These are topics covered in the article mentioned in class during the coursework.
Conclusion
Laura Ungar’s article is related to the genetics topic of the textbook. She uses a media writing style to inform ordinary people about the accomplishment of scientists in genome sequencing. Through DNA reading, scientists eventually decode the whole human genome. This commentary has identified the article’s audience as ordinary people without vast knowledge or interest in biology or science, evident through the simple writing style adopted by the author. The lack of scholarly evidence disqualifies the article from being a scientific text. The article’s purpose was to inform readers, as no call to action message is included. Overall, Ungar successfully achieves the intended purpose of telling her audience about genome coding.
Reference
Ungar, L. (2022). Scientists finally finish decoding entire human genome. The Detroit News. Web.