Dr Ellen Moody. My homepage address:
http://www.jimandellen.org/ellen/emhome.htm; This is an advanced writing and English course. In some ways it may remind you of the
introductory college freshmen writing course you took a few semesters ago. We will talk about
how to write plainly and clearly, about how to construct arguments, how to synthesize materials
to compose a research paper, about punctuation, documentation -- in short, about everything we
can think of having to do with writing essays; and we will read and discuss full-length books as
well as shorter stories and essays.
The course will, however, differ from introductory courses in writing and English in that you
will be asked to use these skills to read writing by scientists and about sciences and their applied
technologies. Since there is no science prerequisite for this course, our perspective and
discussions cannot be too specialized or narrowly-focused on simply a single science or group of
sciences, even if a fairly large number of students in the class are majoring in the same area of
science. The background knowledge assumed is that of the typical generally-educated reader
who has attained Junior status in a senior college.
You are required to write three essays outside class; to write book and film reviews in class
(in lieu of a mid-term and final); to give one short talk in class; and to present a 2-3 minute report
on the progress of your research paper. There will be a take-home test. There will be no
quizzes and no closed book exams.
Writing About How a Machine or Scientific Process Works or About the Composition of
a Objects which has been designed and built (or created) by people. The basic aim of the
science essay is often explanation, and the basis of good scientific writing an ability to use
scientific and technical or complicated English in ways that a reader can understand. So the first
of our essays is an exercise in which you use technical language and/or scientific concepts
in order to explain something in a clear and engaging manner. Here are some suggestions for
suitable topics:
The sort of object or process you are to choose is something which is man-made
or depends on knowledge, manipulation, or transformations of nature which are done
by people. It can therefore also be an object that is the result of a mechanical, chemical or other
artificial process initiated by man (e.g., glass or steel).
You can also describe the process by which the object has been made or its history. If you
are a humanities or social science major or would prefer to try something less technically-rooted,
you can also explain processes which use things which occur in nature and which we use with
little transformation by man. Cooking is not only an art; it is based on knowledge of nature. How
did people learn to brew beer? What's wine? There's an important history behind the invention
and use of ropes; there's an equally revealing history behind the invention of uses of ice or cloth.
And remember a machine or man-made object need not be made of metal or plastic, and it
can be used for aesthetic pleasure or emotional uplift: you can explain how any musical
instrument works or the history of how it comes to take the form it does. A ballet-shoe is
a man-made object which enables women to dance on the edge of their toes. Furniture
and toys may be included.
Your object need not be something technologically sophisticated; it can be a light-bulb or a
pencil or a fountain pen. You can look at obsolete or older inventions: the windmill or a
medieval knight's armor; you can go to the beginning of the industrial revolution for objects like
the spinning jenny You can explain the process whereby a book is made or history of
book-making.
You can also explain intellectual inventions like calendars.
You can write this satirically. Pretend you are a person from a community with no knowledge
or experience of such objects and use your description to criticize the society which uses such
objects. You can write this personally: tell how you or other members of your household or
school use the object. In all cases, you should have a thesis-statement and a context. You
should in the essay include the reason why your reader ought to know how your machine or
process works. You don't want your reader to be asking him or herself, 'why should I read this?'.
To those who are saying to themselves, 'I'm not a scientist, I don't know the first thing about
how things work. I turn the key in my car and it goes, period', I say, come in at the level that is
natural to you and that will be natural to a college-level reader.
Remember clarity is a special concern in the natural sciences and technical writing. Your
aim is to transmit technical information accurately and in a way that the reader will understand
sufficiently to be able to use what he reads. The intent here is to practice using language which
is jargon-free and analogies which actually help readers to visualize and explain something.
It is suggested you do some minimal research, and, therefore, you must document your
sources and all verbatim quotations or paraphrases. We will review documentation before this
essay is due. You may of course do research, but if you do please make sure your source is
reliable and respected e.g., the Encyclopedia Britannica or a specialized
encyclopedia in the relevant field is a wonderful source, but junk like World Book ,
Colliers, are not acceptable. If you take information from the World Wide
Web or an e-mail group of any kind, be prepared to verify the expertise of the person whose e-
mail you are quoting or the respectability of the host of the website whose information you are
relying upon. Length: minimum 3-5 double-spaced typed pages.
Observing Nature. To be a good scientist you must learn to observe accurately
and with as little bias as possible; the conveying of information based on such observation is
another basic aim of writing in the natural sciences. Thus our second essay.
You are given the choice of writing about how an animal, or a plant, or some species of
natural phenomena behaves. The idea of this essay is to describe nature in an objective and
unbiased way, to say in words what it is one observes, and in so doing to explain something
which occurs in the natural world without any man-made intervention or transformation.
Suggestions: you might try to develop or confirm a hypothesis about an animal or plant.
Here what you do is research patterns of birth or development and watch their strategies for
survival, for, obtaining food, for sleep, for creating an environment for themselves, for mating,
for interactions with one another. The reason it's good to start with a hypothesis is it can help
you decide what to to look for as you watch and, if you like, questions for further research.
The same remarks about clarity, research and length that apply to Essay #1 apply to Essay
#2.
The Science of Medicine. Our last book by Ofri and 5 of the essays
in Sacks's anthology are on the science of medicine as it is really experienced or exploited in our
society. The goal here is to go into -- with as much depth as we can -- a single area of science
which is today a huge industry in our society employing and affecting all people, not just the
scientifically-, and technically-educated. I ask you to write our one required research
essay about how a specific illness, or problem someone has which is treated medically, is
experienced in our society, from both the viewpoints of the patient (or customer) and the
physician (or anyone who practices some form of medicine). This will require that you
understand the illness or condition the individual has, how it relates to what we define as health,
its aetiology, and the treatments that are offered to help the individual cope or get better. Here
are the options:
This is to be a researched essay, but you are also encourged to use personal experiences.
Length: minimum 3-5 double-spaced typed pages.
Four good sources are required. I ask that one of them be a book or essay from a reputable
journal which you find in the library.
You can also use as one of your sources an expert (a medically-educated professonal) or
individual who have had the illness you are writing about. The point is not to do original research
(which you probably do not begin to have time for), but to learn to find and to integrate
respectable researched materials into a cogent argument.
The Annotated Bibliography: As part of the researched essay, you will be asked
to hand in an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography provides short summaries and
evaluations of the books and essays used in a research paper. The skill of synopsis will be
reviewed. Models will be provided.
An Abstract: You will also be asked to hand in an abstract of your own essay.
We will in class learn to and practice the art of writing abstracts, of summarising, paraphrasing,
and writing synopses.
Talk is primary and writing secondary. I believe everyone can learn to write more clearly and
enjoy writing more if he or she would only learn to talk on paper, to use the real language he or
she might use in the classroom or any other natural situation which demands a certain
coherence. Much of the advice you will find in John Trimble's Writing With Style is
based on this belief. Most science and technical manuals advise the teacher to schedule short
talks on topics taken from scientific issues or subject matter. A technical writer must learn to
think of his material as something he is really communicating to someone else. The success of
the communication of a technical writer is measured not only by how the reader or listener
receives it, but by whether the reader or listener truly understands and can make use
of what the technically-educated people say or write.
Thus, each student will be asked to prepare a coherent ten to fifteen minute talk for
classroom presentation on the readings from one of the four books which is due the day he or
she is scheduled to talk upon. The talks will begin the third week of the semester.
Fundamentally what you must do is invent a clear instrumental thesis-statement and develop it
coherently and concretely.
The whole class will listen and try to respond; their response will tell the student whether he
or she has made him or herself clear; the ensuing dialogue and the student's own later thoughts
about either what happened when he or she or another student talked will (it is hoped) teach
everyone something about the basis of writing -- again, clear thinking in clear language which
comes naturally to the speaker-writer.
Each student is asked to hand in an outline or cards (hand-written or typed) which he or she
used to talk from, and I will return this material with the grade for the talk in the following session.
I have provided a model in the form of a typed-out transcript of the talk one student gave on "Richard Feynman's Definition of a
Good Experiment".
Analysing Science Writing and Film. You will be asked to write book and film
reviews in class in lieu of a closed book midterm and final. If you become a successful
professional in any field, you may find yourself asked to review books, articles and films. The
mode will be "open book:" you can bring any books, notes and a good draft to copy out if you
like.
Together with the take-home exam on Trimble, the first book review you are asked to write
takes the place of a midterm exam. It is to be on both Feynman books when we finish reading
them and is to be written in class. The midterm will include questions on the four essays in the
Sacks's volume we will have read by that time and which may be given out in class on the day
before the midterm.
The other two book reviews, one film review, and a group of further questions on the essays
in Sacks's Best Science Writing 2003 (given out in class) take the place of a final
exam. The second book review will be a comparison of Olson's Mapping Human
History and Wallace's Digging the Dirt; the third will be on Ofri's
Singular
Intimacies. The film review is to be on one choice, possibly taken from the following films:
1) Last Journey of a Genius; 2) Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude;
3) In Search of the First Language; or 5) Wit.
Reviews follow a conventionalized format, which we will learn about. Here is an outline for
a good book review:
It is difficult to educate the general public about the natural sciences and applied technology.
One way to do it is through film. We will discuss the difficulties of translating science as a topic
into moving pictures and what are the means used by film-makers to overcome the technical
problems as well as the problem of attracting audiences not well-educated in science. We will
also discuss how a film review usually includes some or all of the following points:
The reviews and questions on Trimble (see directly below) and Sacks are intended to test
whether you read all the books with care, watched the films with attention, and to reward those
who attended class and listened to the short talks. They will provide practice on how to select,
elaborate upon and judge books and films.
I will hand out a 10 question short answer test on John Trimble's Writing With
Style. The answers required will not be a single word, but you should not have to write
more than a short paragraph to answer each. I will hand it out shortly before the first book
review is due. You write the answers at home and bring them in to class on the day of the
midterm exam.
Assumptions behind this course : I think that 1) something is to be gained by
coming to class, and that we all can learn a great deal from one another; 2) good writing can be
discussed in simple words, and exemplified, learned, practiced, and improved through imitation
of models; 3) people who write well are often people who read a lot; and 4) the only way to
improve one's writing is by much practice over a long period of time; so:
By the end of the term there should be seven grades for each student on my roster.
These I will average together to form the final grade. I should have six major grades: three for
the three essays, one for the short talk, one for the midterm (an average of the take-home test
on Trimble, a book review of the two Feynman books and short-answer questions on essays in
Sacks's anthology), and one for the final (an average of the two book reviews, the first on Olson
and Wallace; the second on of Ofri; more questions on essays in Sacks's volume, and a film
review). I also give minor grades for the plans; they tell me how much thought and work you are
putting into the paper; if you are working on it; they substitute for diaries; at the end of the term, I
will factor them in as "class work" with any in-class writing we do (for which you get a check), and
this becomes your seventh grade.
The short talk is due on the day set; if you miss an in-class writing, you must make it up at
home (but it must be printed out, not hand-written); if your essay is late, the grade will be pulled
down one element for every session, it is late. You must give your talk on the day cited on the
short talk schedule so as to ensure only one person will talk on a given day. If you do not give
your talk, you must take an F and that will be factored into your final
grade.
For the final grade for the course also I take into account 1) your attendance record; 2) your
plans and participation in class; and 3) if you came for help if you needed it in planning the
essay, thinking up a perspective; organizing and revising it. I have no way of producing a
number or letter grade for this; rather if you have come to class, participated, done the reading,
worked hard on the papers, I will give you the benefit of the doubt if your average for
the six grades comes in either above or below a specific grade. A teacher can tell when an
essay or short talks is done with care, is something really thought about, something for which a
genuine self-educational effort was made. I respect serious hard work and reward it
when I see it. I will reward someone whose writing improves. In my courses, process and
product count.
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Plagiarism is defined by the GMU English Department as follows:
If I discover you have plagiarised, I will follow the guidelines of the English department which
require that I fail or report you to the Chair of my Department. I am serious about this.
Without an appointment:
Write to me by e-mail. My strongly preferred address is
Ellen2@JimandEllen.org Please do not write to
me at emoody@osf1.gmu.edu. I rarely look at that address and cannot take attachments
through it. You can write me 24 hours a day at Ellen2@JimandEllen.org; I look at my mail at
least twice a day, and I write back. Be sure to type the e-mail address to which you wish me to
send my reply at the end of your message. Please feel free to write me. I will provide thorough
commentary on any drafts of essays that you send me through my e-mail addresses.
You can call the phone in the office I use (703-993-1171) or leave a message in my box in
the English Office, which is in Robinson Hall on the fourth floor. My office is Robinson A455. I
have no voice mail, and there is no way you can fax me. Remember that I am scheduled to be
on campus only on Tuesdays and Thursdays; the secretaries will not call me and simply put
notes in my box. Also, leaving essays in my box is a chancy business because materials get lost
this way: no-one stands guard over the boxes. If you send an essay through an attachment, it
doesn't always come through. The surest speediest way to get a late essay to me is still to bring
it to the next class and give it to me warm hand to warm hand.
With an appointment:
Private conferences are available by appointment on Tuesday, 12:30 - 1:20 pm, and
Thursday, 12:30 - 1:20 pm and 4:15 - 5:15 pm, Robinson A455. Sign up on the stenography pad
which will be placed on the corner of my desk every time the class meets.
The College of Arts and Sciences runs a University Writing Center where you will find
tutors to help you with writing. Their phone number is 703-993-1200. Here is a description of
the place and its services:
To find out more and to start to use the services offered, go to
http://writingcenter.gmu.edu.
In Class: Course introduction: explanation of syllabus. Short Talks and Essay #1 explained.
The class watches Ralph Leighton's The Last Journey of a Genius.
Outside Class:
For next week, read Trimble, Writing with Style, Chs 3-7; also Richard
Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! , Part One
(pp 1-97), and What Do YOU Care What Other People Think?, pp 1-59 (Preface
through "It's As Simple as One, Two Three"). Be prepared to be assigned one talk for the term
from one of the five books (see Short Talk
schedules for choices and dates); bring Sacks's Best Science Writing 2003 with
you as well as 2 Feynmans and Trimble. In Class: Short Talks Given Out. We'll discuss Trimble: What is a Thesis; Line of
Argument; Openers; Middles; Closers. How to Write and Fill a Paragraph; What is a Paragraph;
How to Link Them. In-Class Describing a Machine. We'll discuss what is science writing. I'll
introduce Mr Feynman.
Outside Class: Read for next week Richard Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr
Feynman! , Parts Two and Three (pp 98-163) and from Part Four (pp. 165-74, "The
Dignified Professor", 199-219, "O Americano, Outra Vez!" and 232-36,"An Offer You Must
Refuse"), What Do YOU Care What Other People Think?, the rest of Part One (pp.
63-113). Plan for #1 is due on Tues, Sept 13th.
In Class: PLAN FOR #1 DUE for Tuesday session.
Thurs, 9/15: Short Talk 3: RFeynman's ideas on what is real scientific learning:
what ought to go on in a classroom, be in a book &c (e.g.,"O Americano Outre Vez" and
"Judging Books by Their Covers" in SYJ and relevant Letters in
WDYC); Short Talk 4: RFeynman's Adventures in Areas Outside
Physics: Biology, Psychology, Art, Music and Anthropology ("A Map of the Cat", Always Trying
to Escape", "But Is It Art?"; "O Americano Outra Vez!," "Bringing Culture to the Physicists",
"Found Out in Paris", "Altered States" in SYJ, and "It's as Simple as One, Two,
Three " and relevant "Letters" in WDYC). Outside class: Read for next week: Sacks's "Introduction" to Best Science
Writing 2003, Brendon I. Koerner's "Disorders Made to Order" (pp. 194-203), Joseph
D'Agnese's "An Embarrassment of Chimpanzees", Leonard Cassuto's "Big Trouble in the World
of 'Big Physics" (pp. 228-37) and Richard C. Lewontin and Richard Levins's "Stephen Jay Gould:
What Does It Mean to be a Radical?" (pp. 237-249). Read the rest of Trimble (Chs 9-13). You
should be working on Essay #1. Essay #1 is due Thurs, Sept 29th.
In Class:
Thurs, 9/22: Short Talk 6: Phony Science and Science with Integrity (from
Best Science Writing Leonard Cassuto's "Big Trouble in the World of 'Big Physics,"
pp. 228-37, and Richard C. Lewontin and Richard Levins's "Stephen Jay Gould: What Does It
Mean to be a Radical?," pp. 237-249). Outside Class: Read for next week, Feynman, SYJ, Part Five (pp.
237-346); WDYC, Part Two (pp. 113-254). Essay #1 is due Thursday. Read the
rest of Trimble (Chs 9-13).
In Class: ESSAY #1 is DUE for Thursday session.
Thurs, 9/29: I will hand out the take-home test on Trimble. The class watches
Peter Jones and David R. Axelrod's Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude.
Outside Class: For Tues, 10/4 print out, read and bring to class
student models for the book review, one on Darwin's Voyage of the
Beagle and Mark Ridley's Darwin Reader and the other on the two Feynman books, and
the on-line popular book review by Michael Swaine, and the student
models for Essay #2, "Some
Observations on the Orangutans," "The White-Tailed Deer", "The California Sea-
Lion.", and "Deserts, Wind, and
Water". Read also from Best Science Writing: Jennifer Kahn's "Notes from a
Parallel Universe" (pp. 115-22) On Thurs, 10/6 we'll have our midterm.
In Class:
Thurs, 10/6: In class midterm. A Book Review of Feynman's Surely You're
Joking, Mr Feynman! and What Do YOU Care What Other People Think? Outside Class: Read for Thurs, Olson's Mapping Human History, "Introduction,"
"The Human Pageant," pp. 1-7, "The End of Evolution" and
"Individuals and Groups," pp. 11-53; also Wallace's Digging the Dirt, "The Poetics of
Depth", Chapter 1, pp. 1-26. Prepare plan for project you want to do for Essay #2. Plan is due
Tues, 10/18.
In Class: Outside Class: Get started on or do your project for Essay #2. For next week read Wallace,
Chapters 2-3 ("Romancing Stones" and "Unearthing Bodies," pp. 27-78); read Olson,
Mapping Human History Parts 1-2, and into 3, Chs 2-7 ("The End of Evolution"
through "The Great Migration," pp. 11-135); from Sacks, Best
American Science Writing, Peter Canby, "The Forest Primeval" (pp. 1-26) and Michelle
Nijhuis, "Shadow Creatures" (pp. 123-31). Essay #2 is due Tues, Oct 25th.
In Class: PLAN for #2 Due Tuesday Session
In Class:
Outside Class: For next week read from Best Science Writing, Trevor Corson,
"Stalking the American Lobster," pp. 138-159 and Lawrence Osborne's "Got Silk," pp. 186-93;
Olson, MHH, from Pts 3, 4, 5 and 6, "Sprung from a Common Source," "Who are
the Europeans," "The Settlement of the Americas" and "The Burden of Knowledge," pp. 158-74,
193-220.
In Class:
In Class:
In Class:
In Class:
Outside Class: read Wallace's Chs 6 and 8 ("Rock Bottom" and "Trashing our
future", pp. 129-50, 179-204;) Olson, MHH, "The End of Race" (pp. 224-238). Finish
Essay #2.
In Class:
In Class: ESSAY #2 IS DUE for the Thursday session.
Outside Class: For Tues, 11/15, For Thursday print out and do Practice 1 for the Abstract and
bring to class. Read, Ofri, Singular Intimacies, the following selection of chapters: "Possessing
Her Words," "AA Battery," "Change of Heart," "The Professor of Denial," "The Burden of
Knowledge," "In Charge," "Immunity," pp. 17-32, 53-70, 89-129, 139-60.
In Class:
Outside Class: Read Edson's stageplay, Wit, Ofri's Singular
Intimacies, "July 1st," "In Charge," "Merced," pp. 71-88, 113-29, 222-36. Plan for Essay
#3 is due Tues, 11/29.
In Class:
Outside Class: Print out and do Practice II for Abstracts. Do
Plan for #3. Read from Best Science Writing, Ronald Hoffman's "Why Buy
That Theory," Jennifer Kahn's "Notes from a Parallel Universe" and Ofri's "Common Ground"
(pp. 222-27, 115-122, 213-21).
In Class: PLAN or ESSAY #3 is due for Tuesday session.
Thurs, 12/1: Short Talk 25: Theories Matter: Ofri's Singular Intimacies,
"Merced," Ch 15 (pp. 222-236) and Ronald Hoffman's "Why Buy That Theory" (Best
Science Writing, pp. 222-227). Outside class: Read Ofri's Singular Intimacies, Chs 13-14, "M&M" and
"Intensive Care," (pp. 188-221); read from Sacks, Best Science Writing, Michael
Klesius, "The Big Bloom," Susan Milius, "Why Turn Red?", Thomas Eisner, "The Mosquito's
Buzz", (pp. 168-75, 176-81, 182-84).
In Class:
Thurs, 12/5: Continuation of Progress reports. Review for final. Questions for
Sacks's volume will be handed out; answers to be typed and brought in the day of the
final. Outside Class: Finish Essay #3. Prepare to write in-class 2 book reviews, one
comparative of Mapping Human History and Digging the Dirt, one of
Ofri's Singular Intimacies and a film review of one of the four films we've seen.
Section 302.N09: The day, time and place of the final: Tues, Dec 13th, 1:30 am - 4:15
pm, Robinson A245.
Section 302.N08: The day, time and place of the final: Thurs, Dec 15th, 1:30 am to41:15
pm, Robinson A109.
Bring with you printed out Research Essay #3 (it should have an abstract and annotated
bibliography). In class writing of two book reviews, a comparison of Steve Olson's
Mapping Human History and Jennifer Wallace's Digging the Dirt, one of
Danielle Orfi's s Singular Intimacies; 10 questions on Sacks's Best Science
Writing (based on the essays we read since the midter), plus one film review from a
choice of the films we have seen in class.
for Course Materials, go to
My preferred email address is: Ellen2@JimandEllen.org.
Advanced Writing: On the Natural Sciences and Technology
Required Texts
Probable Films:
Required Writing:
First Essay (#1)
How an airplane flies; or why a building doesn't fall down (you can use any
kind of building); or how some aspect of the Internet works or how to use a computer; or how any
of the following work: a radio or TV or car or roller coaster or ferris wheel or bicycle or vaccuum
cleaner or coffee-maker or microwave oven or zipper or other household or personal appliance
(e.g., eyeglasses, hearing aids, a wheelchair, food-processor, thermometer, doorknob). Then
there are fax machines, xerox machines, elevators, subway systems, the internal combustion
engine and sewing machines. You can explain objects which need man at the helm to operate
them, like sailboats or cranes, because to make these work the individual using them has to
have mechanical and scientific knowledge of nature.
Second Essay (#2)
Third Essay (#3)
The Short Talk
In-Class Open Book Book Writing:
The Take-Home Test
Reading and Class Attendance:
Grades:
The Problem of Plagiarism:
'"Plagiarism means using words, opinions, or factual information from another
person without giving that person credit. Writers give credit through accepted documentation
styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or end notes; a simple listing of books and
articles consulted is not sufficient."
How to contact me outside class:
Other Help Outside Class
"The George Mason University Writing Center is a writing resource open to
the entire university community, offering free tutoring in a comfortable, supportive
atmosphere. During face-to-face and online sessions, trained graduate and undergraduate tutors
form a variety of disciplines assist writers at all stage of the writing process. Tutors
emphasize positive attitudes and stratgies that help writers at any level learn to evaluate and
revise their work in order to be more confident and effective writers."
Calendar
Tues/Thurs, Aug 30th/Sept 1st
For second session of the week, go to my homepage (see above for
URL), hit "Teaching",
then print out, read and bring to class "The Great American Scream
Machine" and "The Golden Gate Bridge"; "The Moving Scala", and From Dictaphone to Disc,
plus a typed-out transcript of the short talk one student gave on "Richard Feynman's
Definition of a Good Experiment". For second session also read Trimble, Writing with
Style, Chs 1-2 and 8.
Tues/Thurs, Sept 6th/8th
Tues/Thurs, Sept 13th/15th
Tues, 9/13: Short Talk 1: RFeynman, boy and young man: The
Qualities that Make up the Good Scientist (SYJ, Parts 1 & 2, WDYC,
Chapter 1); Short talk 2: RFeynman's criticisms of abuses of authority particularly at Los Alamos
(i.e., his stories about counterproductive uses of secrecy), but you may include stories
exemplifying this theme from elsewhere in the book thus far (so from SYJ, Parts 2 &
3, especially "Los Alamos from Below" and "Safecracker Meets Safecracker").
Tues/Thurs, Sept 20th/22nd
Tues, 9/20: Short Talk 5: Exploitation and Casualties in Science (From
Best Science Writing Brendon I. Koerner's "Disorders Made to Order," pp. 194-203,
Joseph D'Agnese's "An Embarrassment of Chimpanzees", pp. 204-212). Bibliography and style
sessions this and next time.
Tues/Thurs, Sept 27th/29th
Tues, 9/27: Short Talk 7: Mr Feynman Goes to Washington: Why some
NASA officials are driven to delude themselves and mislead the public ("Mr Feynman Goes to
Washington" and "Appendix F" in WDYC); Short Talk 8: A World of Pseudo- and
Corrupt Science and the Value of Science (Feynman's "Cargo Cult Learning" and "The Value of
Science."
Tues/Thurs, Oct 4th/6th
Tues, 10/4: Discussion of Lost at Sea: Cranks or Scientific
Geniuses? How to write a book review; we will go over and I'll assign Essay #2 from the models.
A brief review of Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection.
Thurs/Tues, Oct 13th/18th
Thurs, 10/13: Short Talk 9: Olson: "The End of Evolution" and
"Individuals and Groups" (pp. 11-53). Introduction to Olson's Mapping Human
History and Wallace's Digging the Dirt: How study of the genetic composition
of people today (DNA in genes, mitochondrial DNA, nucleotide sequences, blood types,
haplotypes, haplogroups) demonstrates the origin of homo sapiens in Northeastern
Africa; the unity of humankind, and, together with the affinity of languages, enables us to study
the migrations of peoples over the earth, and the interaction of their mutations and adaptations
to local climates and geological/geographical change. How the imagination is central to
scientific endeavour; looking at sites in detail, and bringing out what's uncomfortable;
Tues, 10/18: Short Talk 10: Olson: "The African Diaspora" and
"Encounters with the Other" (pp. 53-89); Short Talk 11: Olson: "Agriculture, Civilization and the
Emergence of Ethnicity" and "The Great Migration" (pp. 90-105, 124-36).
Thurs/Tues Oct 20th/25th
Thurs, 10/20: Short Talk 12: Imagination and Ethics in Archealogy:
Wallace's "Romancing Stones" and "Unearthing Bodies" (pp. 27-77); Short Talk 13: "Creatures
and Their Earth" from Best Science Writing: Peter Canby, "The Forest Primeval"
(pp. 1-26) and Michelle Nijhuis, "Shadow Creatures" (pp. 123-31).
Tues, 10/25: Short Talk 14: Nature and Capitalism from Best Science
Writing: Trevor Corson, "Stalking the American Lobster," pp. 138-159; and Lawrence
Osborne's "Got Silk," pp. 186-93). The class watches In Search of the First
Language
Thurs/Tues, Oct 27th/Nov 1st
Thurs 10/27: Short Talk 15: The Unity and History of Languages: On the
film, In Search of a First Language and Olson, "Sprung from a Common Source" (pp. 137-54);
Short talk 16: Who are the Europeans" and "The Settlement of the Americas" (pp. 158-74, 194-
207).
Outside class: For Tuesday, Wallace, Chs 4-5 ("Fulfilling Desires" and "Fundamentalism," pp.
79-128); from Best Science Writing, Charles Mann's "1491" (pp. 26-48); from
Sacks's Best Science Writing, Atul Gawande, "The Learning Curve," pp. 49-67 and
Liza Mundy's "A World of Their Own, pp. 68-87. For Thursday, print out, and bring to class and
models for Essay #3: "Improving Life with
Arthritis"; "The Real Afteraffects of Abortion"; "Ritalin and
ADHD"; "Dental
Implants", "Cesarean
Childbirth: A Modern Convenience?"; and "Unraveling the Mystery"; also
Instructions for writing an
abstract. Essay #2 is due on Thurs, 11/10.
Tues, 11/1: Short talk 17: Pompeii and Troy: Wallace's "Fulfilling Desires" and
"Fundamentalism" (pp. 79-128); Short Talk 18: The Politics of Knowledge: Olson's "The
Burden of Knowledge" and (from Best Science Writing), Mann's
1491."
Thurs/Tues, Nov 3rd/8th
Thurs, 11/3: Short talk 19: Ethical Difficulties in Medical Science: from
Best Science Writing, Gawande's "The Learning Curve" and Mundy's "A World of
Their Own" (pp. 68-87). We will go over student models for research essay.
Tues, 11/8: Short Talk 20: Archeaology and Knowledge: Wallace's "Rock
Bottom" and "Trashing Our Future" (pp. 129-50, 179-204). We will discuss how to write an
abstract and how to write an annotated bibliography.
Thurs/Tues, Nov 10th/15th
Thurs, 11/10: The class watches as much of Wit as time
allows.
Tues, 11/15: The class finishes watching Wit. Introducing
Ofri's journey and the topic of medicine as a subculture in our society. We go over Practice I.
.
Thurs/Tues, Nov 17th/22nd
Thurs, 11/17: Short talk 21: Ethnicity, Class and Status in medicine: from Ofri,
"Possessing Her Words", "AA Battery," "Change of Heart" (pp. 1-4, 17-32, 53-70); Short talk 22:
When Knowledge Doesn't Help: from Ofri, "The Professor of Denial," "The Burden of
Knowledge," "Immunity", pp. 89-112, 138-60.
Tues, 11/22: Short talk 23: The Abuse of Vivian Bearing: from the film
and screenplay. How to write a film review. Review of Last Journey, Lost at
Sea, and In Search of the First Language.
Tues/Thurs, Nov 29th/Dec 1st
Tues, 11/29: Short Talk 24: What is the Doctor's responsibility towards the
patient and patient's towards the doctor?: from Best Science Writing, Ofri's
"Common Ground," and from Singular Intimacies, "July 1st," "In Charge" (pp. 213-
21, 71-88, 113-29). Do Practice II in class.
Tues/Thurs, Dec 6th/8th
Tues, 12/6: Short talk 26: When Doctors Make Mistakes: Ofri's
Singular Intimacies, "M&M" and "Intensive Care" (pp. 188-221). Short Talk 27:
Nature's Beauty and Strangeness: (from Best Science Writing. Michael Klesius,
"The Big Bloom," pp. 168-75, Susan Milius, "Why Turn Red?", pp. 176-81, Thomas Eisner, "The
Mosquito's Buzz", pp. 182-84). Each member of the class reports his or her progress on Essay
#3.
The Final: Thurs/Tues, Dec 13th/15th
Home
Contact Ellen Moody.
Pagemaster: Jim Moody.
Page Last Updated 25 August 2005