Literature Review

For the second writing project, we were tasked with writing a literature review, using multiple sources, that summarizes the current state of research on a topic. I shifted my focus from molecular delivery methods to mRNA vaccines, as I felt that this topic would have more material to cover, as well more applicable results. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines are currently a focal point for biological research, and this timing gave me an interesting perspective to address the topic from. My structure of my literature review follows along the history of mRNA vaccines, covering their early development up through FDA approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Many of the sources that I referenced were studies that attempt to optimize the mRNA delivery or investigate new possible applications of mRNA vaccines, most notably, cancer therapy. The first artifact that I chose is my first draft, which includes one paragraph proposing my idea for the project as well as a list of sources which I planned to use. The second artifact is an audio recording of feedback from Dr. Metzger. After the final draft, this feedback helped me to eliminate any instances of informal writing and touch up a few citations.